我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living) R, p; r @5 h
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 h3 _ _; X' ]; O2 V$ }4 Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
- f4 H/ ]* Z; J/ x"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 \' W; V% S# Q3 Y& M# U% ?& W; U* Q; Fanswers to our pointed questions.9 `- B, B9 e5 e" d4 W3 @0 N
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. d8 c% g" X u V; }% i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
I5 i0 }. u( _1 ], \7 wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 a1 o5 G z @
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. K: W; z+ g, k6 W& q8 H" H* mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! ]: g1 _0 p1 L5 j; ~1 h% s0 \
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 w4 H2 E6 m9 p1 D1 ^: u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# g, u, z3 Z* a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 Q* [ L8 ^2 J3 d0 z! q4 W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 Q* o$ L% w$ e! e5 \. h6 ?1 ?- _8 f3 Wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& E( s0 w% S9 p6 r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 ]; `4 @! a. r) S7 }. ]seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' C" ^1 k; {: s' Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
' J/ p/ U# n# |) A8 jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 B: S6 T4 i" ]' s) A/ m
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ W3 P" L2 g; H1 ?! G
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' N* X M6 e9 S! H( Z0 ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' ~2 M# v6 T- L4 G# l3 D7 J* g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- m; p$ R6 M v$ D. P" H7 ^ t9 l
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 r9 G) z) Y, V1 f7 t8 k: w% @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 w3 x; |% a: p" W3 csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; b$ w+ n8 o/ Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- ^& `: d& E6 ^% _8 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" l& i! J4 Z+ F5 |a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 u( x9 y% F6 D$ b1 q
charge the fee defined by the state.: |& w# m! V9 x. [5 ?4 W
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) r" V3 A9 T: Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 [. {: y2 a0 X ` S( A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; s4 I6 t7 |# ?/ g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* c( I5 F% a5 Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 Y- |/ I1 e+ A+ }, M% i9 ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on2 ~2 R5 G) B9 p v0 q% F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 h3 h* d! I; P% fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ v- v4 W }9 B+ V) xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# u; _& H+ ~. T& O; {7 k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- o4 I/ @ Q0 j0 Ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* F* Q1 x+ Q: d2 s' q$ C3 o' M2 oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* D" ?0 t; u8 a! n* \
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; w4 L9 y# \* Y" i8 O& Y
are spaces.
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7 F2 }' P# m' NThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 v% T4 `9 y$ a) l6 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; a2 J; ^4 H, X! h" U
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 ~3 A# O4 {3 u8 A2 l; @5 _
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% a+ c9 j7 T+ u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ |' f |" b# [+ l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; y9 A V: O' D' Z9 l Tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 i4 R3 G3 D1 f' l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 R; _& M2 O( }1 E8 vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 O+ }( G, N, N ?5 i- M0 `- }
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
