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
" }/ |1 Y9 G+ a/ ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, c, K" q. ~/ s5 m- G
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) c/ |! g( K+ b! D/ ^2 s
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) b0 Z M% |) W7 ?answers to our pointed questions.( F. d+ d5 T, s9 _1 H
1 \9 C4 ^+ J: s9 DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# V' l" l# O x& m5 ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 R2 m( [* M$ h# \4 p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) S4 z- ? F8 X" m, V
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 D1 W( Z& M/ s! X3 Gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, v; h( c' \0 }& l3 a
medical schools.8 g1 g7 L- [$ o: |
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 r% G* k! i6 Q! f! bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 g* K9 Z. e' h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 b. j7 T: W: `& m1 z; v. Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 C& B" \5 J1 Q: M9 r y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 m) F, e, K- C& c: Eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) }; N" |& L4 v- V2 I3 oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 c' P g' ]+ F+ s/ Q. wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 m* A2 l/ e4 n. I: \& M3 A
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' f5 m3 v o4 E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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1 u4 h5 @% U- Z+ V$ V" WThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ {( A- w) U4 p8 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' e; J0 _$ T6 e, {) y* |supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% L. U* i: j0 ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 {8 v4 s- L B* V5 _/ R. ?% e, G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% k/ V* J- B2 r+ \# |4 r
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 ?& S4 b- {% S! J0 w: _. ?
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! w- s% z/ N* H# M( @( v0 j/ HDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
/ | j3 k, {& p& Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& j! c/ m+ ^' s) l" `3 `charge the fee defined by the state.4 H8 g( I& M k4 v
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! ~3 e) m5 s1 k4 [% P' ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! C) u) B9 A/ o8 k) x( [+ k
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ W: J: K4 D; D7 o: [, W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ \$ V1 h" z4 I0 Cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: b6 J. L, M0 h- K+ r5 F$ T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ s1 `9 k" q7 D. g" A6 Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" @6 n8 W: {3 u; @3 Y- N+ t: Uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& C2 R% C7 Q/ p, P0 C
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& H. Q' ^' ]. o# K+ M0 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that( d5 S7 i9 U3 m
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) m8 c, a: L' i3 p1 dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. i8 y' K5 _! {. e$ `2 P! ]- l
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* T; C* ~. I: s3 O
are spaces.
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6 Y) G; L, N; z8 Z I/ yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 t) |; O) b, u+ X B, `3 b
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: D- O, o; ?8 c2 {2 K2 aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( p& U k. r2 q6 X( S
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 z! L! M ] ~% |( a& e: o- v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 D, R1 S$ r% {5 h2 J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% W) o w: e4 N+ i; Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ O+ H B7 o+ R0 A V- n
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) b* [2 k* p! N, n. ?+ _
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. g3 P5 [6 x1 m: i: s# K
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
