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
- ]7 f% C: m& x3 G4 Pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 p' A0 q3 _5 S. |, I' K
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
q- \/ N( y: F2 p8 _"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* X q: m# l# g" ]: l* N* T/ \answers to our pointed questions.
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5 ~1 x( }- X R# | {. }9 _* L* [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 \; T3 Q/ N3 ]1 ^' ]/ |
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ i8 h3 b; p% _. N
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 ]; Y- t* j% E; [) k% d6 S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! k/ e& y) z9 Y1 m! S2 sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 I( c1 e( ]( k. h, L( z: P u( G
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
|, J9 h$ T3 V8 k9 R% ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- `! G+ m p2 r) {7 B1 Zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 t+ b Q( K# b1 S5 Z" hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# C5 c2 `% a; K
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 S }! I, `4 Y0 Q9 E8 F
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 n$ u* b4 h9 g
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( r- \' H/ y& U8 J& b$ c% h" u: _
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# E$ W6 W0 n+ d1 g! l5 z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' a; [/ F5 r: T6 ]0 v3 l5 P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' A4 ?- R$ @& j/ o. E5 ~3 vprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' @# m& Q5 o& ^2 Dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- U" w, f3 a# y+ Qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: I1 h5 a) {$ ?3 s1 Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' F9 U- B3 i# S& j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ ~ ]$ G5 @. n( ^" h) |' l; y( xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 t- D2 x. z9 P
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 q. d5 S" {% @+ e- E
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- |0 C6 L2 P5 A
charge the fee defined by the state.
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2 T, F/ [0 o: ~* P0 i% P, Z5 XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& C: b- g) g: [& W- d7 L' Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type% b1 e1 _# p& R0 x& l f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% q) G0 v! F. Y2 v4 ~
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 R1 h/ q+ S9 A( ]' c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ Z) @8 w# k0 P: z0 B6 Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( J# k4 @6 ~* oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if/ k7 X7 J! @) I! _, l( P$ g
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) ?/ s. x8 M5 Y& A$ }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 \9 d" r9 X9 M @1 l; }
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- W9 H2 d; g4 V/ c, M _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) r& ]& N$ L4 Y \% q# `1 }
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 _ I# P1 r* U/ K5 B3 v3 f. `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( F8 v" S% g& ]8 {8 Q( _! `6 U
are spaces.4 }! T1 Z6 t* |7 |& ~; [
0 c8 _2 n. C) ?5 J d. d hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
- G9 X% r9 C7 p% F5 Z( t' s& Cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% o9 J5 n) d* Z' J; k# i
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* ^: u: y& ^& Q# B( d g
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 d. L) {- M, |5 R( a3 I7 kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ N; ?) X5 t* t+ g
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ w+ M7 O4 x/ vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" D2 X* W" k8 u( N; {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 E& C) [# W4 f0 _; I( R ^
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 ~2 M; L& D8 T$ a$ W
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
