我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living5 T h- x4 ?4 G/ f2 {+ ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" ]* C2 e. U; eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' v1 |; g5 E/ ]: C1 U"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; g9 r" ^% l7 N; s) s3 C0 `' @) P# m
answers to our pointed questions.
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+ ~. k: `& i2 g! nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( O- }! h ^: X* L$ P. d45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 D8 Y5 L. U- E# W0 A% r6 K. b
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 I( L Y/ U# `, n, _9 |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- c1 J5 U2 l+ Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# N5 V h* v) W9 Dmedical schools.
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+ ~$ T1 X: u$ cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( J) Q5 X2 \4 B
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. p# r3 W/ U0 m1 J, t) S4 H# `! Cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
6 } _' I5 i9 m: p, Y2 vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 L3 H3 A2 C/ t
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# g5 W6 X+ N1 b1 I0 L' |
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# Q- }1 k# t" H. G q% Jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 K& \% ?* i3 V; q+ S, [mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 j& F7 U: e6 e5 V' C1 Dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ q9 B3 u+ a& }sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! O' u M, _+ A5 k! W2 K Y
8 W# D5 n6 x x+ I5 TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* _, O( o* X4 T/ G9 Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! n+ ^( [7 F8 g& l& `; J' K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, y y' ^% m" F6 N! s) |! D
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 E& h! L% D h- K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 _9 s/ X6 i3 ^" n; m: `# R$ Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
% d2 h" f, Y4 O% Hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! ~* H/ J8 T4 D: gDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. S$ J) T8 B9 I& a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
" I# G' a: g6 a5 B( dcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ b' g+ D5 L) V. N# jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 ?; o3 l. n9 [# i) z. ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ d- o# H( }: @2 n: O' N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, [' J1 r/ n5 s9 L
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
3 F4 b: |; J# E9 {4 {. B4 e! Y1 ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 A# `3 S2 u( U2 s8 y6 s% M, [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: ^, Y1 O8 }* q* W" e# j
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 H6 }# {. C$ l% g1 Z; G4 V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 c# w- K9 z5 R" A1 y+ Z. F; o5 Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' @3 D) y+ F2 `. i+ |& m+ x, L% P6 M# mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 z, p1 q3 R, O& O- }
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; y9 F, k; z# d- ^( Q! U+ d
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# w; Z4 `1 u5 j4 w
are spaces.
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$ q7 h9 I5 k! Q2 ?# S5 nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, a6 X3 t6 ^' p! Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 w! X: i8 N% J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 m& G6 {, ~1 c' j) f3 c2 `5 [
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 u2 K8 S$ q! E3 r9 z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ P, t, [' q2 z+ v' l2 ]8 ~9 Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) {( P5 m- h: V+ onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 J. U; Q, V0 k' u: U0 D
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
, h* E+ v4 q5 f" A2 \is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ }$ k# C' F$ ^5 T6 B/ R4 M$ V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
