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
; e$ G1 a7 D3 Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: q) O+ e b, F' gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# h7 @; d! l% l4 s: Q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 Q/ O( X5 k# S' janswers to our pointed questions.
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" L! f! ]6 e, g n! xThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& L* i5 Y1 C7 W0 U& [6 c+ g45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
& C/ l, q+ ~# x" \8 nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. z. r) P- f/ X7 b9 r0 Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) C5 F/ q) F3 q+ O$ H nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 K4 {: R% U9 e9 \
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 a! t6 ]% F9 }- A2 xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 b- P2 D0 Z0 ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# T& q, E# c! `1 X
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* ?# Z! M% i9 L
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* L* h% ^) p6 Kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* Z* J, q& ?1 O3 S8 q n9 m
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% K1 |; j0 v/ W. _& |9 N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, ]+ Z( J6 D$ \; W0 U9 z D5 Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some; E) m- `$ \' E: T D8 P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* H& l Z& d! s
/ H. o8 j$ g& ~) P7 wThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- E; m$ g1 X3 e+ l! }7 W4 yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: i5 b7 l- t% C1 l' R" d, A! d; Vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 t& g1 V- B2 _( n, t; f. i. h8 Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. U0 ~" m! {) w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 u. Q3 X$ f& r" Bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 }) F* U% d0 R/ N j
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 f& M, N3 d5 S3 U8 k
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! h% u; U" y* t% x- ~6 q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only x3 R( [$ x r$ {' K9 a
charge the fee defined by the state. N2 b E5 B1 S$ X1 l- y
. N8 n2 I" L9 a5 o; y2 ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 b$ ]8 A4 s7 b/ k+ @# Z/ Q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 x0 b) ^$ a% f% S }& Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, N& r* N! G" I, H- n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& h9 t: j! r# v! aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 c' {- p7 ?- ?+ _, e; K; H; v7 U" y2 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 ^8 l# K4 ~& a8 B
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& E4 Z" n& s7 w) q! j; ?: d$ n) xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 s1 B% S: @% W
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 g$ {8 U [3 j& k' U Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 X8 q5 ]4 p0 |* u" D- Z5 Tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% T3 b" V v! H' A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 P, F, A: N) \! h. Ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 j7 Y' L& L1 k! H2 A* @# x
are spaces.6 d! O1 a( o+ `* d
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 c% m) @% ? B, Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# u9 S% P) s9 `8 L, X9 Mown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* A6 ^ A, d; W) f. W# k
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' G% A) M3 x0 ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
8 L' i3 e& L7 h5 }: m0 }' D' Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 z2 ^* W5 z3 W% Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 ?2 Q( g0 L( Q M! H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' I" p0 ], f# ]2 K; P8 Z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 z5 e+ d$ [$ ]% |3 ~# M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
