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
+ L% r9 Z9 O) Y* ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 \6 I0 R% f% G/ P1 u* h8 N4 U0 D8 son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 T! B4 W( B6 s p" `
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 \# A: @3 `/ u9 V b; o% D' Janswers to our pointed questions.
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4 v3 Q" \" q4 i, `5 x5 f& m: bThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 E& e* g* y; C4 o) k
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: {. O$ k, l* w2 o( j- [out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, @3 B; d* l) j8 x$ u5 C3 t
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 |) i3 N# \/ X) ~! k9 w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# H+ U$ y0 n. X2 n8 X4 n$ T
medical schools.1 d- U% `6 G. d
7 E% J4 j/ G4 p! @/ g: z3 _1 U& CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% b6 P& S7 Z" y3 O8 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
9 N0 Y, F7 A! } [5 wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ } S/ u/ x W, H
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ [ h5 D' R6 [! P" R3 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( @4 P% `5 ?6 ]) Z# lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 e; w- L; q8 u+ k& _, ?
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* p; B: E, [ |: n
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( l" D1 X( P' X
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
* r- j, A# d6 @0 Y4 Q2 m6 T; c- Xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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; O& |1 i9 s- S! @6 _+ rThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; v( s; h9 |1 }5 N0 J7 r' M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
8 I- n) v4 y! C* G2 v: Vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ k: | n1 ]7 W. b. m* w: J- F
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
W9 }4 ]6 r% E, e+ H1 U$ Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
# b0 Q/ J2 {) q7 p) tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 M) Q& K$ X9 g- ^% J5 C0 O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- P- P j" q' Z( q8 v$ Y% E
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ w3 C5 [8 _3 }* ?) @9 P7 x+ {$ l( o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: Y# e, W; ^/ O+ [ Ucharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ W/ d" H7 ~0 A
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 R5 w0 t4 z/ w; Y3 [+ Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big' \1 K) Q/ ]# u& g" L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 P9 D: p% U+ U: K5 t* }/ Qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 S" o* P) K) D7 N/ [) h, f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% L3 i) B. x: `, N& Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( C/ F) ^5 \. l S( Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: {3 _( t9 f+ L" z( H a! A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 H w; j1 ?2 m# ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% v+ [+ y( n5 u5 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 l& z2 \$ ~7 b- _2 h& ` ^to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& p. b& K( Y/ a, @1 x- {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 i! f7 T% E' o9 `4 O
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! y' b$ T' v" d' E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 w8 ]8 d! D, K& j! Q1 h) T) hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 [3 x& p% Z6 ~& O" |
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# X T2 |/ D) ^1 S2 n+ L1 }$ J8 gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 k6 _- N! J. ~! Z# r7 n. o9 r% Tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 E) m% }! Z5 t
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ d" `! ~7 e9 C9 a5 @+ P9 t( N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 |0 A8 Z0 p9 J6 M+ l2 G8 ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! p2 r- _; z( n+ |1 \6 n, O# V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
