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# A4 c1 d( ?8 }0 S' q$ D: f7 G
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 [) y, U5 y" l" V6 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 N' ?. g$ y0 ^1 l4 |! N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: A3 Y! B4 i! @! L% p! uanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 e3 [, L1 Q( S0 X45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! Y1 i3 A* ~, u- T% f
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! @, j5 w, r4 k- i" i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 e% B, X- r; ?( P6 N6 C' Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
}$ [: v. d/ P% Bmedical schools.
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# w- \: A, \" o! D( w VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ Y; U# C6 L. \" E7 Sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 Z, `( @4 l; P$ x4 B" m p+ Tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 G) Y$ `# @' Z; Z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 E1 q# S& _7 @! F# V" v" d; n A3 gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 {6 m \& D' C! U" }. t4 xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ l0 ^; @; P- [' {5 i( d5 I) L& M- Useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
$ z, S' u( Z1 y8 Y+ O- vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! w6 X7 ~8 O; ~3 bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. _6 Z/ C) t2 ~3 _' a( H
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
B3 q* A. w% s" oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and" p2 w4 V9 c: d2 _9 u9 n' \8 s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 v+ N; r' Y0 _& A1 Nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 D( m, B3 P( }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# L# H1 H3 W3 X) p1 @ _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 P. E2 `) w7 b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( Q5 B& r8 x ?8 g* l9 o9 @Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When L. K& P7 e$ {% H% F
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% o. g3 Z' B& Y/ e: B6 O% T
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 l; T# c! q' K5 }( W
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 ^! x9 C; p$ j* f4 X! Z$ j( {- n* Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 U* U, P+ r# Q9 z. J" C6 @3 L e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, l7 p1 w. h1 U4 g
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ Y: E+ j9 v: d8 Cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 H( `" E) v' A7 e. y2 M& G+ u2 q/ ]5 Fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% `6 {" C6 @4 z) [
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
, `# [( A* z, t0 C+ |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- i* j8 }" e0 E/ g; e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* x5 l/ i% |! k% c# \% \
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 Q$ @& H3 H6 |" y2 j& }
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! l! {) V% e# U1 ] {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
- q5 X7 a. I- x; x6 Tare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: ^3 B4 P$ ]* J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 n) }2 g- u5 x Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' R* c/ K1 |+ Q' i' r8 d. ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% w: {0 a% _) r$ U: S5 cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 u' U. @" l, c( v) S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! Z0 Y6 J" h0 p1 W7 p: |" B8 Gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: ~/ b. s1 H( B9 @1 w
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
K2 b* Q7 \4 iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( m7 y. @* |4 N( h ]
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
