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
7 H% n5 M, P5 e# v nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 W5 y& J- u! E4 e' p; }
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 J3 H; F( O- t' ["George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 A3 W) A3 V' Q" _answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' m) o$ }- S5 S& A. C) }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; D; ^, W; x2 W. H5 @' lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) L( E2 j2 n$ {. n* V9 R' K9 C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 K: A! f9 ~- @' T% {9 Kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are d; E4 v4 x4 C2 g, `
medical schools.: |1 z3 m# }- i% d
; a, d1 v B$ o4 J, vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! [' t7 ]3 B7 {6 U& d- D
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 ]# W2 p7 f. T' Y% Z" A2 n$ g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 D5 C9 ^. c9 V8 yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, d$ I, u3 W* u! a0 p4 |4 q# @% V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 g" w- r% w4 w6 F* J# gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- y3 ~% D9 ?: g6 ^( D3 Q! S2 W3 X6 w! R9 \seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) X& X$ Y: g8 v2 A2 T9 Umostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( e3 Q2 x* `; b* x: q) l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 s* n+ t, [' g7 v# W+ esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. G8 H6 V, }) D% \+ H/ D! {The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- |8 Z7 ?% ?6 dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 p& @: M+ G- T/ l* Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 E: ^6 O$ E# {" Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" P+ O9 V( N! l. d6 i. [- ?thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 C0 q& u1 o$ r, [sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 T; l7 P9 q7 j6 |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 E8 d! p' ^- c* C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' |. x! [& I' F9 _) H, R6 w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only `/ F* s0 A7 E8 Y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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" D. f+ s5 R' [: r0 P5 B sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; W# A3 [& A6 P" X, V2 q0 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& y6 Y) |% d: iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" z& f; v$ ]& V% d6 S# z+ v7 @5 F
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 T+ O* u1 N8 B, t, c1 C- p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) @5 u: \. I' g, q8 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# s: |$ Y- v# {* n1 j. Hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
9 ~& }$ }5 r9 r: K4 _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ U2 O" k7 s) r+ z( Htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
+ M {# I/ b% ?1 I% ~hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: C9 _1 H5 w2 p k8 @1 @& @# B" W
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& g A: A0 g5 j5 d* [8 R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" Q7 Z+ V; ?; K& m2 v0 [buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 m0 X$ z0 m2 |, y* |9 `& {, \are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 j) d( v! a& ~& D* x0 M
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ B, z) @' s; P4 f8 E+ E* U
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! h' `8 u$ g0 e3 A4 E/ h$ ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 t& k5 g. _* J* Z' s
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. u$ R$ H# V; j. mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 s6 D3 s |% Q) ~! Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
@" w/ ?) X% d' n7 s: ? a7 |6 @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ J$ y$ @6 C5 g% ]4 I) j5 j X
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& ^* u: [0 e; ?8 o* [ d0 W3 ? We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
