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
A! \0 T9 H; M! I/ Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( a+ Z- m. r/ ]4 z% O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 n q+ E/ r1 o) J" Y8 `
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" y; j W" {7 t. D
answers to our pointed questions.
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/ X2 u) `" `4 X5 H' } u9 q- nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, k( N) x( [6 q' Z- V# V; A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 K% b y9 T0 {5 w( C4 |
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 ^) ]- Z9 V4 |# R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 @# l+ t6 U; f/ z1 w( f5 I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& r7 }& T9 @2 }7 k& r& a
medical schools.7 E3 v1 i) ?4 q8 w) M1 C. q
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 J$ \. S8 |4 v) z7 Ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% |- F: c6 i# m v- p9 p6 Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& Y, |; L: e7 N3 Y- H! Y# Q f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 D7 V: _7 S- w: a; `' Y# A. {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% @( G9 Z7 W2 s
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
t+ h+ G3 Q3 s1 Y" _seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 s% A0 E. U1 M( a7 C4 M. X- Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 w- f0 d5 `6 y0 A" I* L7 H9 v+ b2 G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 o3 D. p; T8 {1 R* B
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# K& U! Z2 q0 v* {
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- }8 I u1 K& N9 s6 g. ?% ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ d7 `5 N+ g7 V5 z% N7 x9 n% q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 v4 L- M( e0 b e p" _2 v! v
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. |0 a9 Z" i7 g% Vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# }6 H8 R) B9 ?
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 Z& q; P+ S8 ~9 Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 W t' S; `. dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- p7 m2 Q" b" b1 P2 B% B# r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% A% Z* Q9 V q! B1 n) P6 ycharge the fee defined by the state.
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7 A9 F. H7 a/ N5 c$ ^There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# K' f: C. U0 z3 B* r& U7 W* Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# D: k4 k4 U4 H" D2 mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 h6 Y7 j, ?4 X; G1 Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 N- T7 l% R, U6 x; Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the N- T5 `, f' h; Q& c
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* @' Z! b+ _$ d/ O$ u# {- Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* s9 o: K2 A9 e
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 @* P6 h& R; s3 X3 Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 v; e, S8 G# s4 X! mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 o7 M$ r# r" B$ N. {0 _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 f% }( D4 T% o
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# j( I* M! C B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 P( O! _3 k! W1 g0 A r. F/ Rare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi. Q0 S- S i* y1 u6 h0 Q. B$ V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they9 n4 g( x# X, g* _3 V, L+ C) W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ }" A& C$ `, k6 j4 I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
+ u: l1 a; a# pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 I2 k8 V; N# k' Y, r- v2 D9 a8 cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( Z7 U( H: @3 r0 E' D0 b8 ^: [nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' q1 I3 J# O0 r- b" r( i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; _7 r% O/ j) W V& _& r# I# ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# P" k5 i- x, c! i: D% U
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
