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- n6 {1 K; V2 c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! ?. l( S" G1 I: F& Eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" w( a% ^7 b7 J, K3 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 L, m( q7 r" q, o- C
answers to our pointed questions.0 j# \7 }, S) p4 _
7 `* Y& ~4 a" f/ |# e9 i% J+ g
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& J& @: \( W7 t" q& G9 s! W
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ K8 ^5 B2 e$ z+ n) ~+ L
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) Z$ W. m B& g9 w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 u5 \: k; x# o0 K& s+ t, Oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) Q0 q; y3 a/ i% g; u! j: b( n
medical schools.
! f, k% o5 C; u9 r5 L" T2 \5 ~$ \& b- z% H
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 c1 g+ j; \5 _- R4 S, ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ ~! [3 p4 K+ g+ w; ]3 F( @8 ^1 qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years b/ _' w2 s% ?4 \$ R% ~
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 N) j0 e) g; k; @5 J
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* A3 Q6 L9 s6 ~; S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 ?# X4 `6 m0 useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 U5 B z" w5 t8 |4 F+ e/ imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! u6 d8 C& {7 T m
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- Q: b. M% @, D: ?% ~7 s W! dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 x9 i, ~) _, m$ ]* q. d
) W+ L; V, r/ L8 O+ o
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ q; M- V1 G5 s5 T9 Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* f2 E4 C* ]" T4 g) S8 ]* W H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ n9 S7 G0 g/ X4 p
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 g! G$ U" o; i2 @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* z' o4 y* K# E# H- R/ p1 m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ ]% ]' s0 o) X P- Y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
. d) D: e; _. pDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' ] |- h* Y3 l) ~9 Y! T3 qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' h6 g$ ?" [5 w2 N# ^7 x
charge the fee defined by the state.
0 ^' ]' P" `& a5 U* v5 f/ l, b8 N% O- U4 r/ K- f' w: ?. I7 D! d3 h
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' ~" v+ X8 L9 ^5 n) F6 H
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: N+ Q( c/ H- E7 n0 E
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& m9 y) Z" N+ j; ~% E# t
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) h& u" x, A( M3 b6 t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 P5 V" \& D$ ^1 l& r1 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& C) h7 m$ i- F* x/ p* R* X' W) Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( o3 q0 m7 Q8 S9 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) R3 l$ }1 o: h" O2 M: X" z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( Y0 D2 p# `" ]4 Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! K4 B" c* [: O8 t& k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, o3 e" {) R; T) D6 ?3 _1 D1 ~& e
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ p% \( \ T4 ]buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there _5 ^7 O0 J; z: Y( I( p- }/ R
are spaces.
* k4 O# g/ t$ ^- Z2 a \+ w1 }& q# J, j# ?1 i" [+ ~: l9 z
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 i, B. w y& R6 u( }# bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 N7 [: i" {; y! @own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the9 i% ~0 I* n# r
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* Z' O. `' o# lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: L# g" X1 v6 W g2 | a4 Q% w6 w
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) p7 i6 ?3 w6 V# a2 D7 tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; G$ |" N6 U& T$ {/ L: Y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( a0 r! ]" S, A: z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 \9 K9 @9 F& T8 N) k
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
