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
0 X0 k2 C! S( j3 kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 x7 b3 i6 b; u9 @+ V4 U+ ^on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, E$ @$ u8 d7 P1 |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% {/ F8 E2 O$ U# _; B6 q+ Yanswers to our pointed questions.' B6 n' @$ I) J
0 M2 B! S1 ]* MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; D# n' x n& R; m7 b: P45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" w' q$ f; }5 U1 o! X* Z3 Q* fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 u3 b7 l& A- S& F0 \0 mfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 z0 U' n- f' hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" `7 t2 v7 k- M3 Y( E: U+ [7 e
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 p5 q+ u0 K5 A6 \, b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: e" j' | ?( U; H! @( Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) V7 D; F2 r2 M1 P" x( K+ B
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ `0 s( |. J: Y: u5 cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% F7 y1 A6 p; j3 w, D" o$ Z0 J; s
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 o/ }* D# a6 D& c: f. t- M& P- rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and. W% S; \! p5 P) C. l5 h# X# o
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 D; g3 \6 B* m( m6 p5 A+ K3 Hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some; Z7 n: h7 T& f; t- e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: E4 z1 c' g0 v, J C$ b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) i. N# Q8 a+ u- e/ e/ R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- N7 \6 K2 G7 t. I2 R$ }* u7 N
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 \! ]! p4 l. l8 W5 _# J% tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 s1 r+ f/ M* |, ?- F: u: n) E
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* m+ w; F6 p- K' O9 |) g W2 H. V
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! v8 P6 W( x& ?$ z c4 @1 ]
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 S2 E: i3 K( F/ d. q/ N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. W2 q# H9 n. @5 I! I4 v0 k6 I+ |! [charge the fee defined by the state.( W2 K2 t0 t6 ]1 X0 M) j
- U. h1 o1 d5 u6 aThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& h6 y2 H) `; F1 j) Son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( w; I. u- M/ `- B9 r6 bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- H! y- k( N1 z2 A+ i. z3 h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 U! ?; {2 d. `2 U' ~. |/ Nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: z4 ]3 v6 N' S) ?% a
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ l% u+ X$ i& ~: k; K0 f8 q! hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" F1 Q" x* K) `, X. `
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
2 q. H/ {2 N# i9 |2 Z, t. B- N: T+ U8 H3 vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 B+ d# @% P- G; n6 H" b8 Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 k7 U4 X2 M: o) `, n. j; M* x! rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 W/ y% m; `4 h4 Eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. z! _$ w, e9 D4 O: ]9 W' B+ i
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 Y" L% e4 ^2 uare spaces.
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, h# S# e- F( Q3 R1 W) b. C/ hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* G0 C+ i5 w* ~+ O& Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, j; }. W6 }- B* Y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 l. R, m1 P+ n3 v$ d& z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( Y9 U5 C4 [" a1 e7 |8 j7 ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. g" Z4 _$ j% d: Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# R$ | S8 S" X( D! R, j$ K8 J) u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! {- c4 r% D, H; g4 ~& { p5 X6 dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) P5 v+ n1 V+ O; Xis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ C8 a$ K% o r4 [ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
