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$ m* Y4 w8 M: a( D% D. n) c, v
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 O$ u8 M7 f7 D1 lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! }. v% ]; t7 {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ h$ }! @4 S* {/ a4 v+ U% w% y
answers to our pointed questions.# d/ E) O9 _% _0 g% ]+ @
" K4 v( j8 Z# H- ~/ K* LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 U2 U7 T0 @; u1 y0 w/ e/ ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: t1 m* Q' ?# \) f6 E! B$ d5 k! rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ W% H7 {, n! ]' U) I
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( D& m/ H) q( g/ z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 g! T- z" R; Q1 ^9 Z- N- D; f |: Omedical schools. Z% _# A* C, R- a
`% B4 U8 ?/ F6 ^
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) C* [5 i g; b6 ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% ^: u# R! ^2 k5 u) d4 `
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' O# B, D$ |. z, Oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# h8 S/ f v% w$ ^
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 Q8 H% i. O% D+ p R7 `over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* f+ A. c4 l5 N5 |
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
9 R K, f i' H, V3 Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 t/ ~ j- |: O6 M. ?0 s
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. E* `( w9 a$ a! E# y+ k O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
5 C, P" F& H- k% f E0 o
$ u: {! g* H2 a, D( | dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 ]% H2 J0 j& n1 v, Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 d2 y6 H8 G+ @3 D) {supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 r( a5 t( \( k( Y9 `5 P `8 _have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. _2 D; r6 S9 A+ j1 n. }1 kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 |! w3 Y9 q5 V8 M0 O" ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 J+ i3 w6 ]' U* |& {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: S$ G& l( g# W5 i6 W5 \9 b; T( `
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ T7 U7 k) g! Q2 e9 Oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% L9 r# [. s5 O0 |# d: ~
charge the fee defined by the state.
# S) \# _4 u( X( p
2 ]( i, g2 c3 ?' v: q$ I$ v5 }& xThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 A/ H8 \" ^1 s4 j/ A- ?$ E. yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) p& x9 R! I5 R" u9 _of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 p7 e( S" M; F, l3 g# |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 p; v0 b v5 w1 K& A b E
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 @; K0 B$ x" I9 g+ G; k' i( j+ Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, C* u- ]( a2 s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 E4 ~# x( F( d7 Y& R) J
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ J: V+ q6 j# v' Itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 ~) |- W `: ?0 b( Y3 h4 V7 D6 t
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) U9 `- [- q4 ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 b) t- r9 z8 u& `0 i" Y3 bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 ^/ }. b, _; ^/ X* E4 X& t$ ^( rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 k- O3 g+ }+ v4 t( u" }& v
are spaces.* u. X& R, y0 |- H
3 q. L7 g& ?7 t- GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# |5 x ]/ B4 qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# V+ h5 h4 c3 f& |, L% J; d
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ K0 K0 ^, S4 [, d8 t. i* b# P40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. D. m+ H" q5 q) M+ Z, lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; x! U2 k8 u5 Y0 I1 d3 C) \3 _6 ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ S; n+ L4 @( n' [% mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: B+ Z. {' h* k4 [5 M" |- x2 Y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 V2 w4 X9 o4 ]3 R; U+ O* ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" J! v- K* x* v5 `% l- L+ L We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
