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
) d8 v" C5 [- }5 J! hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) N" V. F( s+ v. u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
, `8 y C+ n2 @"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 F9 v. l7 z" v+ g, l1 b- S! V- Danswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, C+ E) \; @) E* T' G' d$ g9 t45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" t" ?0 ]! C# _$ v" c
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 p$ V r2 Y+ T0 b8 _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 z# y+ a9 f6 s- p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, K% L6 @* A$ r8 s
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
+ r: W6 D) Y7 D7 f0 b9 ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 T; R* C7 C$ S! V# |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 n) }! @+ {6 W+ F& H% F: Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ i" h U' g) A
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ c2 g( o1 s9 Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 ~' J8 q5 t7 K9 ?) j/ x: Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& p) o& v% ~8 }* U0 |mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ n4 R4 P5 u+ E/ V! o( _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 G ] d: W; `/ v* l, [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
i8 R2 n, S, W7 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( k* m3 o$ v( k+ tsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 |" f8 `' E" b- h/ nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good b, j) L3 [2 U' Y! e3 L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ d$ R+ }) ?; _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! z! j7 g$ ?) Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' c- v5 O2 L8 P4 sDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
1 g6 |( S% Y. h& R6 }8 @a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# D! p8 E( w: c% B# _7 z2 ~: v4 Xcharge the fee defined by the state.: U u u @& |) U7 X
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* _7 ? X5 L1 \1 P& q1 K* m( fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) e! ^ C- c3 G- d
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 n! l' G. o* M9 p1 ]% G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 d+ }3 b9 w' L& j- I: jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the$ W, H8 |" ?, ~ O$ x3 R/ G* R# O
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
: r; g9 }, t: N& h9 ?/ Q B$ Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; I% Z+ W3 S; C' {" nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& U% W, s4 U3 |' E3 {0 P t5 Ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; w' t% U" f& M) @9 Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( i1 X! {, i" Z) Upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* f3 D4 d. k2 {) l3 `/ @. \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or M' E# R7 u$ l" p, W
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 p- ~* H$ k2 K) D7 S" care spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 c) O4 l, s8 rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ w! ^0 s, e! i( o5 `' w) {1 k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. L2 P5 D9 a3 L40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 L4 k; r4 m3 H h! P, o# U3 m& N
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! U% R& o7 T- Rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ w" r, Z1 c( ?& V3 H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
z# |! ?& u/ ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: M7 R( i" S( C+ E3 ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ F9 a$ R4 C9 |; Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
