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
- K* U; H r. f+ D# nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 m& R7 L t( ^$ r$ h' d$ F
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. P% H* l" p8 u5 c+ Z# X+ B# u, S" \"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: t$ v( V8 X( ~1 n canswers to our pointed questions.
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7 c8 J6 [: B- U, i$ `The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* X. i: e9 _" J+ V45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ p W" s) Z9 t' I
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ R! F: N* @: o( F7 Y2 afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" V" I; W( a' E0 |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# B' v# y3 ?8 B6 p6 K0 e% _medical schools.
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7 O& I0 j* A) i- S. \4 c) LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 f: k5 M" K: [) f- R. I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& t0 |/ @' }% r, b9 |- [
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) M: E0 t0 A$ {9 V0 p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" V8 }& U! @( E, ^; j7 l& {is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 T, @( d6 m, }. f* |0 ^4 Q! X5 V
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 e0 n. n6 ~ w! Q+ vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 m( Z2 i5 h' v! X! T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 K' y; b1 \3 D. F! qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 g. B9 y* o& N' c6 ?
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 k' F, V3 f& ~5 r' A0 |
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ {2 t- ^$ h; h- E9 ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) P2 `3 f `% [have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( l- M$ c: H9 Y% R+ I# b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 H, H4 l* h4 I: r: w. [6 ~sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' b( A0 t' m2 \ i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 y# g# y& |+ F, T/ j/ h* G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' V1 ^6 n0 r* m# R6 ~
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 U# V/ D& D5 r' U7 k( X& _charge the fee defined by the state.& Z9 l. E$ L9 C! z1 W8 j
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 ^; d% l" _1 g* v" k$ y/ Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ j5 ^9 ~3 m7 p" Q0 Lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ a2 m# v7 s* p# W% i6 K" Z5 J, c7 n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. c) b4 F7 l4 a1 }# eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( F; y: N* b+ a/ P/ N
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
q8 e: C4 {$ g) R7 R+ yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& x1 W' Y& ]: C! x6 hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" ^7 \. O" m2 x, r; s7 g" v/ htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: D( o2 a: o% W5 j5 y. c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" u2 K' M/ n1 W5 @0 I1 }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 v& K% F+ i' {; x# p0 Q6 j
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 f }; c% q9 @7 K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 g C6 x' Z+ @& Q/ Yare spaces.
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$ P- X; Q$ P( z1 g( U x# V8 rThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" O. B+ W. j/ `6 Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
9 Z- V3 X3 J. y0 [own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( `3 b9 a/ P& q) A2 b2 H! h" u9 Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* w( y7 X0 t4 f& I% s+ T; u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ i5 \ N- c$ P2 o4 @6 F# t; F
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ s* T5 x V8 ~, x4 m5 @% ]3 r; Knice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. x3 {0 d" ?; K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; Z; ]8 n @5 h6 y5 dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% C5 K* {; ?: h" c6 m, a9 V$ s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
