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
" _0 L3 l" J. Q$ S2 B$ [standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# `9 A8 F7 |2 g& }/ X2 G( B# ?& yon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 W8 i* x! Z% X! I' J* u- p"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 k: J8 \5 Y' p3 v: I5 W Y B! Ganswers to our pointed questions.
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, z9 [$ ]* G' C- }, dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 ^2 ?; m5 u0 H% W. s g- D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& ]- [3 d2 q( Z+ d2 R/ C4 k E
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 }$ k+ C' W9 o" A; b' lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) ~/ B6 L, G9 ?% J3 xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; {7 ]" I4 J4 M; R
medical schools.3 z' r; h4 t9 V( s& t- D
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 z$ `' [: X, l1 w2 Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 t; ^3 g: H G9 R9 {+ y, wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 o6 S2 m& Z' y+ D. N) Eassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 I% ~3 |$ U% ]( K; D: c2 w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, b! u" K5 L3 x) f* ?6 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! {1 ~) C2 A6 wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! x! N, a4 F) q; k! [0 v% K8 ]8 d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 G3 \% N$ u. f8 E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 d+ N x9 K0 W7 S. ~. T$ \! v( `sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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6 _; e$ k' s& X2 e3 |2 q! K6 N/ ?* yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ S7 g& `, a7 |- L& U I' S5 Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 z$ ^$ G) c f, z" j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& ?9 ~1 X ?- D& Y& ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& i, J b- t( l" d6 Q: |& L) Tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ k/ j: J3 D4 Y9 Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. r8 ?: M" K- e- Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; C! _0 d$ P6 r8 f
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, Q# c# A( S6 B' m1 T0 s( N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# h/ x ~) C. \
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 O% `0 X7 x% w3 t' Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 q, U+ E: P3 e% ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
$ u6 ] s8 V: Ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( @$ c8 [ H5 j* t4 W3 Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ J) O9 |, n( g+ d) k+ a: Uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
r) c6 B0 h+ g0 I( O6 M& n" Kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 Q1 V7 g/ g9 F) y- i) ]+ t: F, wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' I7 J2 X! n: w% S% Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, i/ U! P4 M$ c4 e2 |7 n- p' N: u, Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
R$ n0 l% V9 h2 ?' @& Y3 Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 Y6 m4 }$ [1 j' x a7 V
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* t+ V. e, O. O) _ d: C9 sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
1 t! J" [4 n vare spaces.- }- _( W0 Y9 [+ F
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* u4 \6 I8 g5 j& h' v" E! uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 m/ X4 ~+ W y! c: S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- P$ G8 K8 ~: u40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 Y. C, |$ @( _+ m Z$ D6 `. M
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 z, `) T" Z3 a+ L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) O1 z4 D( U7 r$ {( wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 A, z2 f) H; B9 J8 |" y8 k3 Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ n" @) s+ t1 F. x! H7 [: t$ B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' M, d6 Q6 b( Q& L' q# r r$ M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
