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
4 z6 N) Y0 I5 Z& ?) {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
/ k! O* W! m+ ^. G5 N( R8 pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 n1 E1 u/ p/ K' V" N/ I: c' ~
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 [6 T1 i7 W! u; h- [/ I; Fanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% g& u$ L+ [1 P6 h
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# v! a9 ?! K& i/ b+ ]$ J) M2 L* n
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' }4 ~( o: T& _5 |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ r2 D7 z2 R- Z [. O' B
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: B3 [8 p" K# L* n2 Omedical schools.$ B) E% T7 h/ B2 W7 @+ Y
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 t( t! `0 |$ V
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ o9 } H- N' \$ o- d9 kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
d3 Q( ?! h; r+ @) p+ V6 P/ }assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 H2 q! Z$ q* \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* b/ x9 Q" B4 S0 mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ u( k; p0 w7 A( s4 Z, ~% T! Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 t( U, ]/ y0 n/ Q- F3 dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) {1 x+ [/ r$ W- Z- t- E0 Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some: Y% Y7 g i- J+ I" r3 b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: w9 z, b, M/ V4 ` N
& ?' F; l+ ~7 q4 E# OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 P# K1 W; H, Z8 D! N* j
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
1 P/ {- [, ]0 `7 }% ]6 f2 i# `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 X9 I/ h, A+ K& S& H& \have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) H3 [; }: G; N6 l' V. O/ y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( D- p: E4 k7 l7 x7 [. P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 E6 z( u4 p5 L% h5 M$ x& ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 @7 q; A( @- y" c t' q4 C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. z$ R7 Q( {1 ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 {* F" O, t* Q, `charge the fee defined by the state./ \$ z, q* I; H0 L. S- s) ]
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 o# r- l, h0 ?6 ^8 r7 s
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ O% p+ Z4 \: q; X1 B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: g# N; O& L8 P* F, X( `9 u; Utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, B# A6 A0 c5 S. d. n# ~, i
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: {0 v! Z$ e& S( |7 f6 p+ i+ B" g5 j: ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ V5 n' ^" L9 W Z4 J: Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ y \7 Z% E) kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. | }; ^, k1 c* a# Q* y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. [, Y% a% ^3 _6 n( \5 Q! Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 B; W" E& s2 R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) l7 z, |' x5 G3 W( ]to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 D$ d7 J; N e+ V, ]' M9 p
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 J) F# k' F% o" x9 R' R* ^
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, ]) i9 I) i hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ y- u( _9 y) L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& F1 \% _/ `# A$ x& d' E40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% L8 i) N0 q. w6 C5 S
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; J9 Z5 r0 |0 V1 Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! L) R) X( Z2 l8 i2 p. gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) |6 o2 V9 e% i6 h, H Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 c4 p/ W5 x$ d# t* fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% R! V/ B1 o9 D
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
