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
% s& |/ n! D/ L- o- U% Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 O$ u' k6 e/ qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ A1 ?" u5 B, ^3 \8 n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! R7 ~" w8 l* E* K# Y
answers to our pointed questions.
: n/ @0 D w+ u4 C M4 `: A+ Q8 U' W
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; V' k! u) ~* W1 p; o7 @) _ U45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: I7 I- E- m: t8 e4 n1 V. vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 G% S A% M' Q; C# Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ J2 f- s9 y% }& [9 z, d1 }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 u3 K7 A: r/ L( Zmedical schools.3 \& n3 W. K2 h/ k
. [& f' @+ s# u F5 w$ W* b4 V J! mEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
{5 A* ]9 i4 n; \government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( _. g/ ]0 `; D+ E* P0 Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 ]' Z8 l! G4 l( K8 r) {6 q( Yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 j9 y+ {" C; Q: @. b% Y( u: o
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 k, y+ c" n+ l" J# P! _ \
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) c# ]0 E0 \8 U) b' a! a1 X4 |
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
+ c, i8 q9 O3 p) Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 H8 f( Q( S- f1 q7 c/ V8 q& _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: Q0 C! K0 g; q; y5 E" J
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# ~" e v/ a! N; s2 x2 n2 j
6 o4 s: N8 p2 W) s- |! l* `
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 `' B. y: i* T4 l* Mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 |6 e4 M8 I, K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) o N9 H k: n6 Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; g" \8 E* h2 o5 I ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- s6 E1 M! G: ]: p" x5 N
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 c/ v, c# N5 P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 R5 v$ i6 S4 @% r8 PDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! r# o! v% E, b
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, q0 t9 s6 ~4 r2 qcharge the fee defined by the state.. b1 H6 U9 U0 D' v9 ~' [/ a" i
% s$ L& {5 J/ Z6 i+ t6 q! ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; Q' |9 Y) d. a0 r8 n8 Mon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' Q! q) j$ ]5 C+ r. g J6 A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# ~, Z" P( Y+ z) mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 F2 M/ w7 n& ^. \/ _
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' C; v6 A8 j' f( g4 w8 T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 P/ q8 f* `# y' d Q" [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 |0 `. X! N: M: [) y# ?8 C% J, _6 qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people Z. R; m: P3 l% X' l& j9 Q5 P
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# w9 f6 j) t; N) c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 D$ j9 O* `7 upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ u# V) m6 [) e! }; G2 a$ L7 \7 C/ vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: e& s8 E" X1 Q1 Y+ u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) A6 |/ J$ j/ I4 ]0 ~* k* l
are spaces. x- C; {" p8 q; w6 E
- [$ ^7 B; q. ~% o+ b% V- y5 FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 r2 u0 x5 j1 f fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, a1 L+ k$ d P& R3 L. e: \
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 O. @5 W9 Z% a" |0 a5 z( B9 y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) G2 x0 B4 D; X/ w! r# oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 o/ ]9 F/ B5 C. L6 w6 W* ^best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- l" ^( j) R: n, q& ]
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: f4 H; G$ I% t- Z- S" \; u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. w' Z- [, @3 P' o
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 C* L J8 n+ j) A( P
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
