我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 m1 V Y6 W8 E, ?7 G! z& Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( q8 ^6 Z0 i6 W5 X; K( B8 Q* _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ p7 S# Z9 j& @: R3 q8 C"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 M b$ O3 y5 [. N3 e8 o' i7 F$ janswers to our pointed questions.- @! m) @6 E2 V N3 Y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! i/ t# ~# D" m; v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# @# O/ Z# S e, P5 {8 l
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 k7 _7 t$ K$ cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 U+ F" |! p# ^ m9 }* p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
! u, l) s+ v8 Omedical schools.* k, Q( G, S5 q) ]- \
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! i, z7 L4 ~; Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ I `2 ?' W" u) B* j5 zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 T# W8 p C; O
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 [2 n9 p" t4 p% i* z: @! Uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
/ k4 s' B* H& Z' Q( x" E, \7 sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There h3 v* G7 B4 Q0 A& t( G
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and B/ z% ~# I+ Y. Q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! k! x! \2 g7 c1 x9 g! `. e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( p9 \& M0 F& T; @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% s& f; F( K: |
1 K0 V( w, j- ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ Y: F5 Y+ g6 o, K+ Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ ?1 }0 ^) D% k
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 Z- W8 @2 {7 J* {
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 q) x. b4 R" X# a5 t4 z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" y" a* {0 ~' L7 [
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) `, c+ ?+ P: S, [0 Q" _
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. Q, w: q1 Q* G- u$ o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; c1 H& s1 _2 k, ]$ U5 w- W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 Z! S9 a/ [" z: T% K
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! f: U0 n3 M* ~$ non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ q6 t- o6 Z Q' f; bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 Z- g5 R; \' Z& N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- g; Y4 H$ V. n! _5 A4 y, F
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
P7 X! d2 X. A) Q+ d* D9 ~# ?% fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) D7 T: B: D( E6 \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ W M- q6 v, d4 w) V2 J; ?7 tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
2 Y2 ]. l' u3 u6 g2 Ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 L$ Y& k; O( C3 F P. b
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 c0 H& F" Z g% o$ }3 `people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, S1 o; X: U' e* jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ v9 B1 }$ Q6 G9 d0 H& E
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
7 n1 O4 l$ L3 ]2 z5 q4 [3 `are spaces.
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+ F) N7 M' E9 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' R7 s( Y8 p. X7 z( G) e8 m" k
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they A) Q; @, g0 h$ v- K2 Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- X7 {7 |; h: a" b: J
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* O" }5 n% T" m, z3 B
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ m9 y$ H/ c% `* f$ Tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 G) h) K& G6 e7 J/ M4 Enice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) K: n6 O y! ]2 g; b f2 rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% J# C4 ~' Q1 kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; L: ?6 \; w7 K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
