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
: x" m' _! j8 r: g* Pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 T/ F/ P* Q( R3 Y' ]) W" v" r
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
S( }2 A- x- R2 V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% i! ^" o2 v# i0 R8 e; U+ c/ y2 f- R0 Panswers to our pointed questions.
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4 q, F' D$ h$ y: ]) aThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; l- m4 X, G+ F
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; w3 J; G) G. B) [
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# ]% L* f$ {: L- [4 e& w" L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) Q, d5 Z8 G5 t0 I$ c4 |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' N5 A8 X+ p0 J, M+ l; B+ emedical schools.: u; E$ P( U8 f
K. s* q/ F0 E+ mEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 ]& n4 W2 t6 f( |" `5 G+ \! \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, r, _6 @ H4 S0 ?8 o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 v1 I' S6 v! \7 P+ N a1 d
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 ?! ]0 A9 R* B! c1 w: U l! dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- @; L8 I9 ]$ ^2 k# eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; L, ~% x' ~5 p+ N' I0 bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 u0 V8 [' @: N. l
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 y/ Y6 f- r x7 Z2 ~# y$ j0 d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 ~# e) f. t$ r. }1 Usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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: ^5 y$ X) r. w. S S- K/ @) H0 OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no X6 q" i( r4 ]+ n! k' d7 i6 `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 X# |4 t/ X6 a7 B K/ O0 v! L4 j) y) Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
( Y c! ?9 P7 n- l2 ?# Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- X! C! A( F g; G) y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( x9 }( V* h0 rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 c; z; @% X% o" p" G; mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
: B. R6 Y+ _, P# Z6 G, TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ p& d$ G, ~: b6 j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( K/ Q0 B" c" C: L5 O5 B
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% R+ {. u/ u( ?3 O" c& Ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; c3 b5 K( [! m9 vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. t/ g! o) N2 ]: E0 y1 R
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ I3 ?, e& _) [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 V0 W0 I) g+ a. i/ g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
f# v" C; ~+ b# V! rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# h& P' v9 C; jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- ~6 [0 Y% W8 @3 xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, F1 |% ^: g `4 Z5 J r5 J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: O% k$ _* T, z! ?. _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( ^) x+ j f# Jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 N& I5 {& ^0 ^8 I, a+ ?buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 w7 i8 @! s( R Rare spaces.$ G2 I& b# K. ^. f9 O
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 i. ?$ Q' x7 Y* H: T n+ Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. ]) z X0 ?4 @" A5 A% town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 O" H8 [5 T8 v# F7 p- \2 A( [
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* p4 }1 }/ e8 [9 T1 S! I. \
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 D6 P, B2 V% cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- x' l P" i: `/ a* Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. B* ~1 Y; A2 i6 d) S! r
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% }2 [( a6 b) Ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- I8 ^, T5 Z, B5 ^4 x8 `4 M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
