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 H3 X0 L4 t3 L* Z/ k fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* y( g3 q. ]" h! W: R6 t% o6 v( Mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 e4 G3 G7 f1 J; _2 u; R3 a3 c4 O"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& g7 Z% W9 x& v' k# x, xanswers to our pointed questions.# I" S) v3 @$ D" i& X" X
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
/ X/ g: |$ z! S" Q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# L! o& z8 d( `4 r0 Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, m) f$ Y6 \2 q) ^( i& N! {/ i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; n0 E* m: t% ^: _* ]1 ?! s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ P8 Z0 R! E" E. B
medical schools.! n5 f4 E. P, m) C, s+ B5 M. z1 [
% d! J: i5 O7 Z, |, l2 y Y5 fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ w" x$ t% V1 E; ~; d' M% \4 K
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* D0 W5 h! [+ e9 \
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, [; Y# N$ h7 e7 |& z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 B* ~- `5 \' h8 ^9 h: z7 ]& r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, r. A `! `% |* e5 _over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( s6 g" Q$ @6 Z/ }# Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 a# c# D5 }4 H, @- T1 N/ _" C
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 M' V; `+ G. q0 {. s! G5 y& Y, xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ Y2 x/ @0 A* Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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3 @3 Q$ P/ b+ `3 MThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 f. N8 |; ?3 z
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. N- a7 l- u' @; X( X7 H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 [$ _! ~; n1 X& K1 \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# |" Y$ Q7 I b9 y. w2 f( s
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 \3 `" M/ `4 ]* O) @& }. v8 e& a9 z2 v0 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; B; ~* c. d) g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 c) i3 H% Z H7 hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ l u. I- H- @# W4 {8 V; b
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 I( l' \" t1 b8 V/ w. t, kcharge the fee defined by the state." N/ w) ^: k4 C$ o& g' s
' I/ E. V( l" I. a# K: `There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) h1 p. s) M0 Z& p8 q! o ]4 H Lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; G/ i/ V) o- Z ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 P- o( ^1 m+ A
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, N: B3 ?; I; I. |7 s; s# @/ zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# z, p2 o5 x2 A4 ]1 R# p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 U* y4 L4 k; t$ G) K {. C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& A4 r1 c6 K! p9 V* J
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 N: C+ \! T* h" ?trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ e/ ], p8 I- M; @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 a0 b# R6 q+ L3 C! X+ ?; r: B. X
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 z, ]" X# l7 h5 K7 N8 k0 {5 U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ j, k P1 ~6 [; b2 S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; g1 Q, b3 m: C3 I" |
are spaces.# m, M# C5 Z9 K+ Q" r
- X& M. P5 |1 E3 B" } N$ VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; ]: K, `% A, v3 H% ^+ W8 wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ q" S6 w% W9 d6 { n' U
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; O: F- P9 q2 Y' u3 C, t2 u6 `' w! n
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# p3 ]6 y; @ c2 D4 L+ z0 w, O
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
* E) Y4 z8 _& G5 I+ i5 S7 v' ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! A# u( J! s. r( \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 A2 @+ u" y! p& Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# W; K7 v4 k/ D& z) G8 \3 Sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., a. j( h: G, U) G. H- [. |
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
