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
8 h% P6 ?- }3 L( Z3 t+ G' t) Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 l$ p/ h+ h, D: q5 `1 Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 M& x$ v" h# }2 }; b; ~3 I1 x
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give {( o4 F( w0 _0 m: j+ w; ?6 ], z3 _
answers to our pointed questions.( l; {; _" T+ O, J7 z' w0 X
$ n6 c- {1 F( L% L7 O5 P0 dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; \" m0 u# F2 }3 u
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" o7 i6 k2 d( a. G& H3 Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, B* x) C7 h$ f' K6 h9 k& a. R- C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- L5 }: g7 ~ ~1 b9 m% }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' [2 I3 L" I; E i- L
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" F2 l5 K9 [7 F$ ?& A5 d
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 o) v" f" I S$ _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' o" H: T9 H5 V! [8 fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
% b0 j$ }5 p+ C2 o' }) r9 his from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 ~. c1 F& X) j' O' [over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; E' E& h0 @* E6 y/ t; xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 @! f) g2 S- P/ f/ E, m8 Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 _; v3 D8 P& d$ @) \8 }7 d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 N3 F' q* ^# i" L7 e7 N
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. @+ m4 [( ^0 @ A7 i
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no. j) L# T4 J% y/ G0 |8 d, E
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" e; A) Q" j) M7 S6 msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 f* Q' o3 \1 _, K: {& N
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 a% I1 }$ r0 p0 H7 I6 c3 X O
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. f) g @/ D: G/ \ b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; q: k& T9 ^! q. i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. V, @. X" Q7 s" \+ l/ v' b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 U, b ^$ a' ]
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 J3 E6 O e. o6 h# y0 Hcharge the fee defined by the state.. q# X4 J, W3 `; F' |- Z
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 d5 F7 {1 [4 o J4 a+ Jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" x Y% A8 ]6 |/ o& r) m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; @ k" L: J$ K
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) L+ S! ]' n5 g2 d, eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
% Q9 y1 f7 D6 A: Y2 _9 Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' T8 I7 m0 Z' a6 u5 {schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 _* U% X: u. `4 ?6 f2 t* P4 x6 |
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 H1 m4 Z5 Y, u* z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 p6 ] P, ^* s7 S" Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) }3 V- B2 G# o( F5 I- l- C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 Q0 h8 m1 p/ J/ |3 F8 yto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# _* R& n( M; r' e& D" Y: Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ J( z0 e: F4 U! i7 Yare spaces.7 T/ j+ ?; }/ l: Y
6 u) V6 t! W, z) f5 `' N; W0 _There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 W+ T7 J$ v/ M
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 O0 ~7 `8 P8 e: E L8 B" L f4 \
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 U8 _- Z" o5 x/ p2 u* A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
+ j' F( z( Y# `& m- K @parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# v: C/ r" j7 g8 e# [) M
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
# y2 N2 y) b) y* o+ i" }: Znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' g! u6 i! P' Vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 ^& B$ y. Q5 gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., E. Q) X) i1 O
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
