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' r1 o" K- D3 h: |
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; } j8 @% f: I. x. L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ _$ E2 L4 e1 S& D0 C- L8 A9 ^4 V
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# Q9 E& A! r0 a' T% y3 _0 e& s
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 F+ j) G1 x+ l9 `/ w45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 ?( U/ _+ L' w3 bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 }3 g }* g: H( h$ `( s* A
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 ]4 g; Q0 K' @2 q! c, [
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ D: q' F/ E5 B( W5 N- jmedical schools.
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* V7 M* Y- y/ eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) f) R1 k7 p/ J4 G0 l5 Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ A9 m3 R5 Y7 G( J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
1 @; T8 {+ U8 C8 \assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& z! f+ t) F. n3 q( F
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) y- O4 p) s; B% Z, q; ] \0 R4 kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 y4 D/ |- h0 F) _/ {
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 C; j9 d; Q' jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. z/ S; s+ K# y* S
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ a. g( \. \+ u: @& [- Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. O3 E* f0 P: n$ O& b" H
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% |4 v' P) Z' B3 _2 J) xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" w; @+ C7 I8 L/ L" |" n) z! e* Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" U7 Z8 f' [9 d7 ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
- C( l ]6 `! J7 a5 ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" x$ r1 q- H0 f7 h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; k$ n c- F" g7 H9 M9 ^; U3 h5 D' Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ Q$ q% L% q2 r }9 P; }$ s7 NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ e8 D) F7 d: o: B
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% r% f: m3 C, J8 ]
charge the fee defined by the state.! ~( P- P1 v5 N, P4 r
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 |( R, Y2 E1 }6 Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 V- a& E# `/ ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& e" C5 H* O6 o! X$ X/ P3 Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 ]+ _! r! u( W9 y; ~0 X& Kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- d- K# _( D. ~6 a# Kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( j4 C+ L# F- E3 P
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# m+ |7 K8 d" r4 P8 P) J/ L& Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
F% `( u1 j, ?2 j8 Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 t Y3 o( R5 ~; ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 H, i9 c) o8 K' [
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. Y/ {: n* s! ?3 D$ m
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' B2 @$ ]$ v* F% V( B6 u$ T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( W# |) l2 K3 g u6 D& o" Jare spaces.
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$ g- w7 S) v, x7 cThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 D/ @' G' `" V7 m! {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 N* O+ h( l0 G
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 B& j8 o2 w$ Z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 R5 c+ O) V) W3 N0 f3 y2 g$ O: @) jparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- s* e$ H m7 K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% S0 A! k7 Z5 a0 B! ~" `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& M2 H( G3 O1 e0 Z, g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: ?0 U- K& a* W! ?+ g( D9 X3 k$ Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# G, h7 N6 b+ c1 C+ z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
