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
6 Z4 B; V* H# H5 b' ^( o; dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! t3 z6 o: g4 Q! P5 c3 Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. n3 H+ s K: Y3 D3 P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( v( |9 r3 F6 G' `/ y9 J
answers to our pointed questions.- S2 t, L& [5 a1 k% {4 D. h
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& O! r: J' X3 t+ z7 R9 q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
+ j' w; l2 Y, k6 pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 V6 C/ }$ k8 ^! b" X! l2 i) @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. l. a* C4 x3 o9 t8 X( ~8 Q# \to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 u: f" E9 k3 ~9 d) u* |: Tmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; i, y, u# n5 O8 E
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 n- p: r: P! o2 U7 p( K. S- S9 |
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, h h' Q0 X* o1 P5 c/ I
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% ?& l2 ~$ a+ ]. {7 [, ]
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 ^$ r* p! ^1 h5 o# a6 F) Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& p* ?; r" k# l0 [" a2 }, P8 A
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 t+ r& H5 H6 J% N2 o8 e4 e0 ^4 l
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 I7 ^2 Q& R" G6 e/ e8 rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
7 | I$ e" V1 U; | qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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( D( r, [$ p& K) @) e. [8 M* s7 rThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- t* O; o f& {8 hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% R5 r8 k5 \( Y- Msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& B5 |8 W7 G* E- ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
2 g4 }' W3 y5 B3 T( kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 M" d2 A! A Zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 k: N7 l F% e
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* U4 c N9 V: C% ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 `, f8 y0 a% I& o7 `- U4 s( g" P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 ~/ [" z4 k' S- Lcharge the fee defined by the state.
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% v# @6 S9 U8 M% N' V- b! U5 pThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) n! I7 l2 K& U Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 n4 d; z8 L4 }; e3 s* z! Kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 c0 g" \- m5 ~! {+ A0 S- r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! y4 J( L( X+ F v- Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! ]1 P% m* O% X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* H" a5 c% H- r+ Q- L; e5 qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ ^; ]3 _# }2 K# r1 L6 n8 Uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 H, M' K" T4 }& o8 ~ M+ ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, s$ l7 u5 M1 u1 E$ P* I0 j' w( ~9 W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
}0 T# U( r( z$ U& X2 t% jpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& ]) }) i& ^1 L: ^* J, [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' q* \' Y9 e: h
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 G3 i9 |3 h' \6 w/ tare spaces.1 Q: P( c& w7 r9 c1 R
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ ]: W4 b" \) ^/ I5 Z+ g: z% t2 Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 Q) S: q+ F' u- Z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* i* V n: }* U2 K! X( P
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, p7 }" v2 q: l9 S% q7 E7 V* lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: M: e& u: D5 ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* Z' Z& b2 ^5 Q, ~, B0 d7 D' n* Z b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 r0 n! r! S* v
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ G/ P4 R; K9 e0 ~1 G3 ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 _; Y# P* {; h" N We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
