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( w1 ^2 y! s4 Y- D, C( F
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 R! d6 b* i2 P8 ~0 |5 J0 f1 p/ K; z+ s
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- f, a% u' _) `4 i& c
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ f4 ^& i e! U" b! N; W" U. canswers to our pointed questions.
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; t! z1 m6 v" h7 k' J5 ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! N& V% ~0 C9 V) w4 D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% m) h8 ?3 b3 ~- C* i$ Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 ^$ O' V0 G- I, a' _1 [# j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& M7 H9 i) M# N* h, {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% Y* O8 e- M' d0 t. D
medical schools.
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|& h# p) J' O) z! {0 b+ H2 `; rEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. F3 R4 @' u5 f: X, h" c6 J9 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; ?2 j+ U( T! w pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
$ c4 G" H9 j: u6 T5 rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ E8 n) h1 P; ~# h6 ^9 c- P% s/ ^is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 i/ B5 _- A5 B) h; _ C
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There: c4 D2 F) V) g9 X) d6 c- ?2 W
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( D. W: J( Q4 n1 zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% o' {. q% z1 Y) a3 Y2 d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 b( T" T G% s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! K- S6 r k6 l" m' O4 zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
) k( E* D8 M, n3 q. M7 Z4 i* ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 H3 ` h0 W" U! }& _/ yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! o3 Q# Q- t) Z# B! i% m
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ l* ^ e# }) M. |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 ~3 C# u: u4 o4 Z3 F! ~divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. {" ^/ A* {: m. V
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ j) q+ f% E7 B; C6 Q" q. N" I$ Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& W* x/ x; p6 A5 F1 Y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ w( W$ Y% z- D- `on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
F& b# C9 \1 [; O' l( V: jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. t% p2 E) t! w6 l2 I" p% T' C. T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" L8 N) n8 }; x6 j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 f/ W6 |% k. B! y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 D+ e$ y6 ]+ [* _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 X5 q! ^: t+ X5 `0 Q+ V+ l- Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! V( F5 W3 t+ {2 F
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, K! o8 x$ S! }$ e. V# y3 vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 ~2 f+ {+ `3 h" w6 E9 V3 Lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- v' `& Y# t% X/ E |, c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) M+ n. {9 v' {# J4 ?9 ?( V9 v8 @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! w. b8 H4 P/ }8 t6 x G
are spaces. `1 |; M' |; l+ n5 s8 `: \
) f5 z8 ^' ?( f7 {. V5 u2 [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 [7 Z: |/ F) b, Y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 `8 s5 n% n! X9 k( \) u: j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# G$ S+ H6 ~6 T3 r( }0 A" ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 s* H! q. F' {$ [* n6 W1 nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 h4 [8 v8 a3 ~# k
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' F" n5 c; n. E2 Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& u8 o0 l7 J# R" L( k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 I7 t' Y1 p( r, b; ^, a1 {is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' y) x( X5 T4 N( W We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
