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
" x7 |5 Q# g6 jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; S2 @6 J8 x7 N/ y5 L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, i2 ~# j Q- l( f- c$ a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! j& l! H! C8 B6 U& S+ \; k3 nanswers to our pointed questions.
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& G7 \. v4 l1 T! \: i4 ^; h4 w6 {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 ?5 D6 w q6 G/ q, c% Q# k45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 _% R" j6 j# M- h j: A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 @" S, U# F {7 s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) i7 {! M# b' p8 w, n7 Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ y- f! R3 }, e( Q1 {5 O& X
medical schools.4 N' p$ W; C( w7 Z3 `- A# z! Y
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- v, W; M, I9 ] [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 r7 J8 d5 O* S* P) I; X
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) ~/ r% N/ k. @# m0 p$ ^9 E
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 D: a1 O, ~/ d1 o0 @& fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! A. [3 E) b2 u/ g
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# n( k2 c/ E* U1 S9 U/ B: `1 I* {
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" X8 u, C$ _$ v9 `% S6 x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" k3 ]4 s" q1 S
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% q0 T0 M$ m9 T$ T* G' G7 _4 B
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ h, k! d" l' _ M/ c/ Q+ I# w
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' q+ z' d) T* n4 K' L$ \
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 u/ N2 n) g& ]5 o, O" W/ @
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" g6 A* C$ c& a, k/ [8 B% Q' hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
. @5 m) T7 }! i* p, I1 }sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: B7 c" z3 h- Y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 Q6 N) T4 @2 }" I& H' LDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 @7 x7 @; ^+ d* |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- w! I5 p& U, H7 f; Q) g: l
charge the fee defined by the state.
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" M. U x9 Z( U0 ]) |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" c7 L, J$ I: F, _: x* W9 M
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* l+ }2 [1 T B; P0 `6 D4 y% W
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 M, N, n( J/ }% k: l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" r; h/ H$ X% ?9 n& O R) r
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: s w' @6 G/ R" q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 P0 ^* _/ I) \: K: ]7 v, H0 uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& h7 x0 d$ V( W8 @6 E/ d0 Oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ [) p+ [: |/ [7 m
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% T4 d% C+ l; s$ Q& L9 Z0 ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ @) H; ?* U0 Y2 L# `( v/ [
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
O3 r0 F2 e- Qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) d5 S: S9 p" a7 v6 P
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Q1 z8 j; \" P, N8 W& mare spaces.
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; r4 w( F( H9 a: f% D5 Q* ^% X8 |. oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* v& w% L% M# }/ J; c* a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" d% g1 ^/ o5 @7 }own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( G k% b9 c4 f" E4 e: o7 x' l8 b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
/ n: q- K" h$ u+ F3 R' `parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- y- {: g6 p; n$ S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 K* q. J% q0 Z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 u, D D: y0 c, a4 i" t, rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& Q5 d! w0 k& W3 Y9 a" o: @
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) |2 u- \+ \5 }) A2 v& F' o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
