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
1 b" m8 q2 [0 O. v0 m8 Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
B' }- m9 ^: B$ C8 i/ }5 Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, W2 E1 K- @7 E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 T: H6 F" }% w. x/ p# E$ i: banswers to our pointed questions.5 j5 O: r d- u& ]
7 r& C6 Q9 o% Y3 }3 D2 e: _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. c7 |9 K0 R2 a* @" [5 u
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 E+ l' z) Q" ]6 N+ I3 a
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ g1 L* }! G8 I4 I: ]free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 t! b/ v1 j9 T+ c% Wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' ]( X) j' q# D3 R* u' Smedical schools.2 u8 F. w2 \+ E3 s( L5 L
) @) }" ?2 D4 y8 i2 O% e+ `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the- @# z* D2 a( a' ~
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) }) j! E/ g& z9 r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# z6 @7 Q5 f- k. Y7 p$ x* {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ k( o& D3 }0 d: Z6 q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 Y- k) k% K: C- g6 |6 H7 Z7 g" U6 ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 Q1 C# h. x! T1 K( ]0 [) u3 mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 O5 R! B) F7 y- ?. x) P7 Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. J3 ^) i0 K! Y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* e0 p* H* F/ Q6 _7 c3 [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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) E5 i' ^) i8 I6 z CThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% q! Q2 n9 m0 e+ e& C& r0 B1 G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* Z4 V. @: _4 j) H1 t+ f# }* I8 ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ P& q1 ]- ^; p. ^
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
1 N$ n1 }# D: ^# x- Z5 Fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
' p) o& u% N4 g* csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% ~7 h: k% B' X5 C
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' f) h8 t9 K! {' I( E- u& h
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ j1 N) \& V3 \8 L3 u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& ]. l2 }# @: _$ X. m0 Echarge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& ?) r( Y8 c2 Z4 @' `
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ q: p( m# o+ bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
) E4 E6 s2 `! ~: Z1 J: l$ G5 O$ Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& f4 W" h5 p. w' Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 q3 C% |+ c& R% y2 o6 t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
: t( N& N# q/ L2 B- N* aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. b2 p3 m# \+ @0 w* N/ L
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 G; C, a. C2 j1 gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ y/ o9 X2 X7 x. ]% q5 _
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ w3 m b1 T1 u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
l/ }8 x7 c" \. o- ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- B: X. l+ n7 b" Kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. O9 j, g% [4 C6 P7 j
are spaces.
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; S" T+ y7 b) M9 P: [5 D& HThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi }8 N7 ?; `' J3 x- h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: k0 p9 x# C& T+ T' Y7 a
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% v: S5 o2 ?" u: f; v. I: e
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 `1 T8 j; _" \) {6 G: I! ~$ hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 |, Z7 ]6 g3 y2 Wbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% E6 J) |! _/ K* p5 p5 X4 znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
& X: |3 \, h& n% ^6 Z* _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. g* O7 r2 I/ C# ?6 p( u1 zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. n3 D/ \* s& u2 C" y
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
