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
, b0 e0 ?4 V' J6 H* {' \3 A; Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* m( ?/ f3 h* L2 z6 T! a3 Y' D' _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 [& f# \$ f l n. D
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" m* B4 _: L6 h# G; @: }8 h: Y5 I
answers to our pointed questions./ p) N' D; g7 r) ?0 P/ o: z
! t/ z$ o$ x$ _. K* I+ P- kThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! }$ ?& x% t- m6 \45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& ^' p( J+ @% k2 F
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. {7 Q5 _# J: u: X0 w" c2 }" a$ Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: |( H M5 X, h( f/ B1 Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ x5 z9 t$ z* V) f
medical schools.* l' r" s! f; H$ @# n' V1 ^
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# ^* _* B: q* T" r! S8 h8 qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 u% e% r5 }0 J' |: Nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 l8 w5 `! t q) y6 x. Yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: O0 t2 g& ]+ J! w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 M4 E6 @4 e5 z7 |
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# [4 W! z3 G) z7 G9 n" Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 m5 {" Y5 _7 O* B
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- I/ Y: e2 Y) Wshortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 b Q: P4 k( e7 M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 c7 {$ L/ N& E8 W' @6 U# M y
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- k j+ X! H9 v/ ? S
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 Z- V9 S/ `) j, L" A6 Z$ ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) J# Y( ^' }% D9 @* R7 C- }7 S
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" e3 m& \! H% \. [' M- Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 @5 ~ @6 B# b, nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 i& ~% H4 x3 F# e4 w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 G- v: G/ Y. {6 ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ z" q! r/ `! X" D
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( U- G8 _0 E' K+ ], Z( {* l8 `: _& i
charge the fee defined by the state.# C. B$ x: v9 l& l/ d. _
- Z9 b4 i6 X6 ~4 RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" L. G+ f( R* O* Y
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 l% a6 ~2 |: G2 t" `% G) G: t) yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 j, z1 D3 ~+ L7 y; u6 l. J$ n: c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. J! F& X) E: \9 F+ J9 O5 Qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 a" n2 U( F6 Z5 ~1 Z+ X9 Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: n j$ J5 E- g, B
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- K3 W( w) h3 U
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& @0 Q7 U" ?& ~1 U/ R+ t
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch8 T. E: _0 r: u) z6 f2 K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 F) C; i0 U3 P# d) }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% t, a1 @" `# i. [* C6 C
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ {% |$ Y! q( T( h% }buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
* _. a' i8 w( Z: v- m$ Kare spaces.5 `: L) d$ K3 ~- S4 ?
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ L; a2 w" f- |8 r$ P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# t6 ^/ g- ?# S, ~8 O
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ v6 ]) q" P& F! D# b5 A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: m: _# Z5 \0 y( t8 m$ ?: S* }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
/ y: X$ }* k+ z, \6 V1 B& |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; _1 A1 `' q3 [4 R2 w" j" h- a! V
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& M f5 g' g7 C
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, q* ~' T/ J0 {2 x- l0 V3 w& L
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 V: q- ^( k$ b( P& c- M& F We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
