我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 f# K/ K' [( q. o' f2 B( R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 q5 d8 L% x o6 @' J9 r
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' z# Z. b. u! H8 q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& u, x7 }" f7 b6 u+ y
answers to our pointed questions.
2 T5 b5 l+ m: Q% O
5 m [7 U& N5 p# U) v# TThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 z% ?% `( }3 B$ C3 Q' `3 L+ a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! C/ z: B9 j* g4 r5 [1 |* R
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* v/ I9 q0 Q% {- b# ?( ]3 p sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! s3 H* x4 U& V5 s4 G1 yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 |, R7 Y0 G% ]+ j9 m; x) E7 |
medical schools.+ I- y: M8 W0 u, g2 r3 T8 n
1 R. B a2 A0 H7 g6 ^8 d; U2 p) vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 E+ L0 d& e; n: `! g4 i# lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% W- j- R! L: A3 Z% L/ `to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. v9 O3 P; E) n, Sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 _# {7 X+ g) r. ]is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) K% t. Q: }7 ?7 u1 t
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' g9 Y/ f- H2 t4 P! w, B1 kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 b4 S- v S3 N. r4 S& J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% Y$ P" @& p) @$ ~3 Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ Z7 r8 X5 R, |, z0 x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: V$ @& C* Q4 N+ f) }
2 X* O _ ^2 A9 I3 jThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 K) N8 h @+ t1 @1 w* \
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. H1 ?. Y! }; D7 Q1 }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& n/ W+ B) _; K
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 Y/ W* W5 E+ p; b+ [& Gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 R) u Q6 p9 zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& |; j/ J0 a3 ]' E$ wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# a# |9 G- _! W) m! w: m- t
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: b2 J; |" G" Da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# g D2 m) [+ W; ], g! K: \' v
charge the fee defined by the state.4 l9 d# u' d# P; Z
- d' h/ \$ n* F. i, E; jThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 y9 C0 ]5 @! O- x% S& G9 ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; v& z/ j9 {$ kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 t' }' r' ] u. V% f% a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" s# ?+ D! F9 F2 Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% O) g6 t6 e2 R+ \4 h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 Q. }2 X+ ^) u- ?! h' H7 N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 J9 e/ i' T% j/ Iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! s- j1 `& j5 L3 btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
]4 ^. Q+ u/ p* Vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ s' |. V9 h* I9 ^$ i7 W3 D( @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ J/ P) O( b- x' U( i) p0 wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
) L Z& M( z+ `: r& V( Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! Y8 P4 D" G6 ^; A; N
are spaces.# _7 ]* w/ s' \8 J$ A: @& Q: s" H
& ]- K! S4 H* \5 f% y' i. l3 v8 |
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- G% Y; b5 ]; ]0 P J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 L2 g, l! d R% Y) I8 x$ jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) v5 `- H0 q4 b9 _40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* Q7 |+ ?: D7 c, V/ Oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 E, ?& A1 Q) ]; N3 h; {! Hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% a; `% |* m$ c# [" ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 d- x& L7 r( B5 A I
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. m# W2 P2 j' p& b
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* s% u* r' h$ p* @
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
