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
) O* O! E! {/ v2 ?$ z3 Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! F9 k+ ?5 D+ _$ O l) B2 @0 m+ R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* j8 s: Y k/ \; e"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! o# Q! m5 J7 n4 ~answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) J- ^0 u( D" _3 \% i1 d% s3 V2 q- f' S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, k3 ~5 p& s( H4 u/ ]" Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 R* g D1 }; ~3 c: ^, @2 T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 r" E; \2 _" ~/ x$ _7 H! z, L1 h' Z$ v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; u% }1 p8 p4 q7 Tmedical schools.2 J" U8 Z- j/ w5 k8 N
" O0 a, v3 ?% M! n5 w5 nEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 j6 X, a2 U" P# ]- @; v
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. H) }6 R2 z8 kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 _5 `) l: x" l+ I' [& ~
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& `- r; o/ A4 M* R
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
: _# d; X# A. ?4 tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 g( O$ T3 | I B) a e: u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( N, W( n+ \% n$ `( v( l: O: tmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- B. Z) w/ _( w7 M0 v9 O8 g. Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 i! P' f4 p( i' `9 ^
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 K$ D/ b; S. ]9 c- j5 A& d
. c0 o2 R# g: G! zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- X) c. h# |) o' s0 ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- R |$ @! V0 N2 n$ ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* c0 M0 K& u2 ^8 e' C- ^3 @3 z7 I7 ahave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( L M/ q. x; a0 l4 C' a
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
. g/ E" \% C* ^" `. r2 \sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ r0 n2 J" a! b" Q9 f. b& h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ p) k9 ]; A8 uDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* L' a2 `% o. O: V- Q; {8 \1 e: P0 Q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 C, x+ ^ a' c, o5 Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 x# j% s$ T; @! d$ _# M4 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ k2 Y W4 ?0 x+ y; D' b
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ U& P9 e# b' X' k$ x: \1 x
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 L/ x! I/ W6 N9 P% Mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* s5 @5 b& q d5 L! M; a
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& K/ a3 [( [7 J6 {/ w2 D7 d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, Z! K+ V7 n* y. E c, ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 M; p2 ?6 ~& m1 Ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ w0 W/ i* z1 W, h$ n- n# p
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# b7 S% l o3 N- ]* y; T
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& a4 _' L. c A2 hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" ` m4 S& O0 t+ n* F1 h
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- g8 p- K( d/ m* v8 Y }9 ^
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi S; c9 v2 u& k0 }; {6 @5 T1 ^
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ P2 \. p. B* C% a) v% m5 Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 O$ \! J _7 M" ?2 T( P% m. A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! _$ E8 p+ U% oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# p2 }) {% I3 N* v9 P- Q# v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ `& _2 G1 _- I$ ~# onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. {8 o" v( x( t8 \) q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 D6 |0 R! v& E7 F5 d, ~# U) \. v) Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( x) k) y7 O0 x/ S' O/ W We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
