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 R6 D0 r( |- M# T! Q* @. lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 ^2 v9 U* |1 k x; j `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 u# `/ u4 k$ Y: L"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 h" g- s, n0 t* ?answers to our pointed questions.
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; q1 `* T. U3 }; B) [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 }+ U% l+ m/ v! C3 h8 A45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. n! |. y: [! Z" R, Q& n
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' _+ _4 B, R, U! z" C9 y
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
9 R7 r; @4 f" C* I3 O( I2 t) |, `to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, X: c6 U4 }) V, v
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# C: @: g9 I6 d, k3 `( V# Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: h# f" o' h- i6 `, xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' e8 }% Q& t2 h( ?8 M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! y. ~) e# T3 ^4 ]8 C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' [4 G7 ?5 G, _- k# H% ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# ?6 ?# K) {# j1 C3 m# \; Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# G7 F- P" w' \+ emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 W) j2 q8 K1 u9 m+ Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* h9 V {, y! r% s+ tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., N/ h# c6 l& [. D$ F
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! Y' }+ G& u0 t S2 M6 G! |' pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
H- K! ?1 F- n* qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 R: N1 Y7 J. l3 z) }' D4 Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) [. |, u3 L- o1 K* D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 @2 ^6 D2 o4 V- A# G$ f% S1 Msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' I* m/ O* z3 `0 i" x" q/ edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% g; f$ F0 h5 D9 b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# N# m$ B" U8 ]' Q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ K, c0 z* }8 `1 y, D# D4 x jcharge the fee defined by the state.
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, }7 `6 ^# C, |- W, GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 S+ s. n3 d) {6 P& L+ ?$ U3 e* A2 s
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ F% d$ |! Y( P9 C Xof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 \+ \) H# C# y% V$ o
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) x6 e" X1 @9 B% r1 w2 z& y" xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 |' E o7 ]. c. s" Y6 P
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& E8 A% E$ o: n$ {( t# z3 Lschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 i, B# w$ O z5 U) s5 T6 V- ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ L2 P1 }4 A& l) w7 Q% { u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ ^ _9 M3 e' m) C9 A2 Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ H0 c% z6 q+ f' G5 S6 `
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 \% a) G- N% K3 K9 ?; P2 G% p3 L( S
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or {& j1 @' F1 l; x% c2 i3 t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ ~, I: ]. M1 Z$ _# e2 aare spaces.
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$ e- i/ `. S5 G# D! aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 ^' x( c1 O* o: [4 K
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 v- [2 Q2 l+ y4 ]# Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 V% ?8 D, H! ]7 ]* T8 T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; |, \2 @: R5 t2 L* A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# e' K# r/ f/ P8 o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% o/ [' f% M6 S! |0 j9 e4 H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* l2 L# l4 w5 j" jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
( _# M6 x! _0 v) e9 o% Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" Z- Y$ i" Q! p1 ` We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
