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
. ?, R: H8 }/ o! D& H- g# Qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ Y7 i8 L& H4 c0 e; k' I
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 e9 C2 \1 H- `0 U
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' U9 G8 m% u1 `" Tanswers to our pointed questions.( t- X/ E7 [4 F/ L
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& [6 ]( s2 y; _3 H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 ~! N3 R: E T7 p9 Z4 r' U ]6 z& M3 aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' M' f5 M% P6 ?& [5 Q2 Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' B. [' p+ h" f2 wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
, [: k. A2 `8 ~5 R9 ]4 `! ?& cmedical schools.' q& S. r: ~, t
, ~/ M9 z, m. k" eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 _. X c; Y5 }$ ~
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ h' E$ w5 Z9 \" o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& i2 r8 h8 Z1 Y5 e8 Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 \9 C" ~6 D7 H+ R: n. ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 @8 k7 l& K, P9 Gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 V# |( s# t+ r7 C9 x6 s5 f$ c* qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 E8 v1 \7 t' U- I) U
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, s: e# W/ o* B, p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 d5 l9 H. M: e- `5 r- ~. }
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! R' J: J, [( F( l/ A
& D4 _; C4 o# u# ]5 T- {# X. n: n. ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 u9 z/ _! P5 R, I e
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 j- M9 F& \. a; ?4 Ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' r8 h! _9 L9 y% ^$ e" n# C/ S5 e0 R+ K5 V' lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ o2 w* y/ K5 @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 ?/ S8 l9 i( K8 M
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. t: y/ ?3 g, e, jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) r/ [( N9 n; k1 E( w o% w$ K+ @& {( \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 _- [9 e) C# m( E
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 _( r* `- x6 |6 l* o
charge the fee defined by the state.8 s0 k/ S2 k3 _
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& ~/ }" |+ k5 g4 Z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ s n M/ \: c& A8 X. S' b% {of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: a$ j1 K: A W. W' c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel5 n2 z% b% S# c# }' N/ b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* k' s2 t7 D# \, aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
B& a! ~) ~$ |# I: N3 mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- N5 `% Y8 f& U: t$ e
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' A, |* Y3 _/ _0 K1 h" ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* o* q! W. K% S% ` t! W* ?3 O+ s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) x5 Y# `0 z8 l4 v! e& Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) O7 V8 E2 ^' B! w Z$ F$ }- R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. @5 A" |) p2 c* O: O* A
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
Y7 S% o2 c/ G! [are spaces.2 u+ t4 I j- P+ m& }' d& Q O
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
$ c: U0 E9 O3 G7 D- Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they9 I% B. Y; |, K
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 \8 [1 i; g8 ?$ x
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 ^7 U7 ?: ^2 m* G3 L8 b# l
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
, p, s: K3 n8 j) X5 rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; H8 w, X" w4 h- M5 D" ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! A( h6 q+ {" M# q1 V+ {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: n. g. m, c( Z' l( Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& e- q8 b. |+ T) w, F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
