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
& j* l* b6 y/ }4 Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
% e* ]9 K% a1 R3 S' {/ Yon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- u! A2 w, l# ^. |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: t2 W- X$ V1 q6 g' [
answers to our pointed questions.
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' Z# S" B& j M, T' _. y/ |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) F- @2 Y. C" U2 I2 a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
Q* f3 E$ w1 [9 T' G( v5 \) g3 r Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 S5 ~8 {0 s9 g; E9 ?2 ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
A' ~& q* c9 h: N8 ? \to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 n# `" X* U+ k8 S9 ^" z; X( Vmedical schools.
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+ T& [# D1 C- m+ X( o2 G$ x5 |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& [! b' n7 I3 @2 Z" F/ i# B/ wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% W' n& n7 h8 z8 L* w" s0 Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- s& I* R& k3 @5 P0 C0 U) Q% \3 F
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
c3 L0 [- l+ b+ I/ G" Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ c& C) q+ \; _ l7 h% @$ K' w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, |# u" Q6 |: V9 W, G8 x- v# iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 O/ u' Y6 ^) l [4 g' K$ a$ Q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# V! m ~4 d8 e& x. Z1 ^shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 N8 }7 r% g4 w9 n
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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9 F9 ^+ V- @( k: ~* E E+ T1 d8 JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 v/ S- \5 e5 B$ n. ^+ Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 e1 m& G( T8 e- f0 r7 s' `, [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
" X. J0 a5 |. u0 [- ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ d$ a* e9 i* ?& `( O& V
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) b( Y3 Y5 ]+ F$ r0 u7 Jsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# G/ b3 ~) ]' @5 x) z5 T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 S1 |5 m; Q8 c9 `9 q1 F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* \4 |; q+ ^1 w8 Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only v! [6 v4 Z' x% ?( w/ c
charge the fee defined by the state.& Q9 v/ B. Q; `# d# K/ F W
- h) ^; m- y4 B) ?8 wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( |3 L2 d+ ?! f( @on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; L- w2 ?% a* s9 N# ~* i4 J% Eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
I* }6 _( ~6 Y& A5 B- h. K0 mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 k# X3 [" A+ g, a6 V/ Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" Q- @5 r, ?8 f) H6 z4 f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 q4 C [: _# D! x; i5 s, s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if L' o4 B' [- {4 Q1 F" o: d6 }7 Y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 R5 N+ z8 E) q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- @2 {9 {2 C( e& u% T
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& n# [9 H( j8 d" H8 m+ B$ h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 r2 \5 d" _2 i/ Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' s0 r" q. j. W# t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; G- M+ `. t' x
are spaces.6 }' I7 K. `$ C7 e3 @
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
$ X% b+ ^, E$ ^0 I7 H) n0 eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# B7 x! F: i- i1 w( F
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 i* O/ c$ }4 B+ e40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 R7 M c$ ~: f- y. q, ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 k* v" D! k- H. J _3 h. \- [3 ]9 Z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ t( ?$ o" n* J! lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( w. I- I& v8 ^, u& c& @- n* gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 a: j5 n* `% f. n8 l1 mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, E4 i2 X2 g+ W T0 t" l. x We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
