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/ }* b. d8 n- F" c4 d" S; }; v/ e9 j
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 a/ ~0 }2 j) Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
h# P9 p6 h: h9 [; W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% @( \% r0 @ b1 v) N2 b: a+ O
answers to our pointed questions.
+ d! [. j/ E3 U
\* e9 I3 r& p4 v" NThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
/ I2 M* s, K6 R7 R l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 S: A2 `( o1 \7 Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' u# F% Z4 C( I- F5 V& @
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ T6 S+ S! E d' @
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( A) J4 O0 w7 Z* D) J$ J9 w' \/ rmedical schools.
- K+ C* Z1 M& D6 d5 Q# N! F4 I, S7 z" N3 U) C# N5 ?, W! g8 P
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the' F- `! R' v+ U6 X
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ `. @) `" @! \. B+ a2 g5 h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# D% ]! q) C3 h+ Massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba Y% W5 |' i' i' u! m' Y; B% X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) l7 w: \" Z& N* z2 o5 _$ Bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' a# \$ q+ n1 P7 i. tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" u1 ^6 K4 P9 e" wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 H6 v/ V6 |& @; ]$ c- v R" ~
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 _) E9 L. f6 t: e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 `: {! `/ W7 x6 @3 f' s
' o5 W/ X0 n& E) N8 _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; G& N( D6 W1 S: U0 |
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& {" Q# C) f/ u& E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* u5 ?7 `" k' t+ Whave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) J. L5 B+ G9 k# I' F4 ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 v, ?' F0 `% {, ?' y6 F+ o0 _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 Q' ?% N6 v4 ]% f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! ~' }' _( V7 E6 C w
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( b$ \0 I& q, d/ G1 G! @$ Q8 N& n# ?
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" d$ [5 i% P& l1 G' p: r
charge the fee defined by the state.
( O7 t4 N2 O# F% T5 |. |& R' m' U" R9 i% j+ t
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% h3 _, P8 D# V6 ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ l6 c W2 Y' ]. F M
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; Z7 X% A9 @9 F! z/ M% dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 i) i5 }' G; r. g2 w# ]
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 @8 P( f. i7 H# _$ y* G
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 ]2 h1 d5 j7 q, T5 ~7 L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 b C' j% K' K+ }) {2 Q- r7 }
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people \. P* \; Z3 U1 b; h$ u- ~4 \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# ^0 F% N* {4 l% C/ z( Ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ U2 T; M: b$ G' Zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 Z. Z. {8 o' o2 m" N% L: Bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 m" Z% ^) K1 s0 Nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there c) y+ V& \% T3 {% H# |
are spaces.6 R. V! R" W3 w
) _6 v; h/ B8 X% s
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 n3 c! Z+ Q6 i" A2 h( r8 w$ ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. M# G7 h a5 P% v) ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ e! e( T4 l8 e5 c# y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 B8 K. y6 ^& `2 v7 ^% N8 P( @4 [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
5 S: y" L& L- T% T+ `- D% Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 {' c5 @* V j$ n1 S7 Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 J# j( v; {" c* E+ S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 v$ f' g. [; f( {, D3 a
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* I# A q: r) \) P
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
