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 B# W; A3 J, b$ U$ q2 |
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: H+ k1 }: Z0 Z1 g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
, {" I J+ U' V, E/ E5 ?! }! a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 |" Q9 T/ T9 [( u1 Yanswers to our pointed questions.* ]" y1 `. x8 D
- o. ~4 p+ z" v4 H7 qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 k. O, ?4 ?/ }2 f- ]/ ~1 O45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- S% L* i: y1 M: T; M2 `" H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 ~" q5 o9 _2 p/ Z# Wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 Y* y f0 q0 d# }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% L$ g& G1 h4 k6 {: y
medical schools.
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% a; L; ]/ Z+ {! sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 N5 L6 d$ P& E& xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 X2 u# b8 m! r5 x# p! Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. A5 N2 | W* A! B3 Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 ~ f7 v- Z0 Q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" ?, s t! v# H/ i4 z8 rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! P# g, {+ \- t* s, f" `% K2 Z. R
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" `( m+ F) k E# V" g T- a5 S/ h4 Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 C q6 Z- W5 X( f! r$ Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 L1 `! `: x1 s$ c
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 q4 A1 e3 T* \4 ?7 ~$ W' t0 Z7 Q
[$ R& J- @. g5 f+ v0 X X3 ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 p! O+ z/ C$ Z" ^) n5 Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' P j" U7 y+ ]3 W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 C' s2 L& d8 O6 E3 O8 B& d' thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) N: Z, m" d5 gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" p6 M$ b# {' m& \( d, q$ |) p- b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! a. n0 a& X0 w# ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 ^# _7 E4 Q, E+ G% P5 i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 h9 _; v, k$ @/ ]' f% \; ]$ c
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 l, Y- r' \7 Y* J+ w
charge the fee defined by the state.
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9 R0 c, U: N5 }/ d# C8 SThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
^/ Z* h+ } @4 X! T6 Q/ ?: P5 Hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# O5 ]* e) F& p4 L) aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 a5 j0 \. Z( K; x* {5 O
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! f1 E, Q& m V- Z& o8 o. Oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& ?* o" w0 n/ [, bworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 T0 }9 d- R. y ?5 `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: V# d* z# w6 F3 C+ ]% m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- V8 B2 j. P/ A' I$ k
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- @+ r+ g* @' n7 y$ x1 a X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 H7 ?7 W% y; y# N% i, ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 @, z! Q& y9 M4 i! i( bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 I- ?, a' G" p8 \* m1 ?/ q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 _. t3 [4 o4 h: x3 T2 v
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
9 K# _2 D, P$ c- x$ D% Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! j3 ?2 [7 _) K4 q2 o1 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" f' F7 ?3 z1 m2 [# Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 H3 \7 Q" q! t2 u9 A: Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 ]% P$ r/ \% Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) l7 |- R8 z1 Y c J. B4 {/ qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# ~- G9 U/ i9 _
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it I. w Y% Q, Z$ l; G, k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 }) q1 h5 y4 t3 L: {; i% _- h1 } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
