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
' Y4 z; j! ]! b+ fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- ^& l; b# k- M% w7 _ s
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
5 [% Z( V8 O( ?"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' Q. H9 C! `4 D9 \' m
answers to our pointed questions.
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# L: v# u2 i6 q; \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% t" l" l1 J; P, N$ z" ~" N' d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; H0 B; a* [' d3 h. tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 h+ ] O+ P7 V. b& s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 B p3 _+ v/ |2 W' m/ q# H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) a% l: D! i9 O* @/ N1 D1 Nmedical schools.6 f/ {. m6 H6 B: |5 I
3 ^1 D" `& X$ K4 ]$ l; L, I1 |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ e' ?8 J; j- d
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 l, b0 @/ w& L' b! m+ c- `to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. q! p. u) _* w5 D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
6 t+ x. N# e# j7 {0 ?9 M" Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( o( f9 [$ @$ d: k! d" Y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' T2 O2 {" | k9 }/ H" [+ Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ S, `4 g4 i9 \
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! a# j4 a1 w' b% G& E/ C
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, x- R3 N v' ]' a0 _( Q8 Dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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/ B0 P+ u2 {0 Y1 \) u: Q) OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 {8 l2 l0 [) i& ~5 qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, d$ `% U) Z, ^* n9 G. `+ v
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) L; K3 D9 g" H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ x" c, \0 s6 j# D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ M: `2 d' ^+ c/ x0 p) O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# G1 V- u5 t' W: ?
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( k9 p8 a5 L0 u" oDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 m6 V. `- Y3 ?$ c
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 L- O, W( `3 s0 ^ v9 v( l
charge the fee defined by the state.$ P/ `4 V9 U( ^3 p# A
4 V5 F$ a- Q! l1 y! C1 J0 H: a: \There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) q7 U- M+ Q" [
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' h) Y' o, u, X# K Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- U1 ]3 X7 \6 v; i: X) G ]truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; Y2 Q/ r) `5 F [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 \ \8 d2 ~3 d8 z2 E" _2 Dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 h# Z5 _) E" ]6 t+ D0 k# T
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; w- \0 p7 P J1 H+ o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 U" v/ @+ _) w% Y/ S8 p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# V, v% ~/ t7 b5 m j: w
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% X/ k/ M8 Q/ P5 ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 N1 H" `7 Z e gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: {9 ?, d7 e* bbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' R" ] e" S3 u2 P5 E6 o( F2 Lare spaces./ M, D, }8 E/ r4 s, T
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 ~5 i% {" b) i& Q5 u0 r' S
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" e' p7 l! m& z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# u I0 I; E% A2 r# m, U+ u4 I$ L
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
+ k6 X: l+ j$ hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* ]1 E {; `9 e, J$ _! ?! i* e
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 X( o" P. ]: r; J
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 V5 u' R/ B/ g7 |. | t+ y3 Z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 k) u e. d% a5 ~( L4 d
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; M, ]" t/ Y1 T5 Y# f3 b6 Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
