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! |2 k& o0 |. W% d1 e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 H3 `% d" \ A2 l. r7 \/ X( b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% x9 a7 ]( ~$ E7 d, k% a* z0 q" a. Q- y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* v" K0 ~& w1 B' d
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
`' t+ P' Y _" u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; O3 k1 k6 Z7 \! b7 m+ p3 _. Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ B: e, y- M8 v/ `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" }1 F4 ?. v5 B& I+ S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ h* E7 z* ]* H& q# i% s* x3 H) M7 G5 jmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! ]% {% e2 A3 c) ?, e, A3 Q4 a9 T/ l2 ?
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 J% R1 ?/ W! W& m# n& }: n9 T
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 k) s- g% x; B- S/ \2 Xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) D/ I" c3 t# ?1 x% r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 ~, e+ ~+ g5 [$ M+ @over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! G- I0 j6 r) M- Jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: U, p3 V' H* Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) m- r# |- F1 [shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 O: J: \" D/ [# J, b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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; U/ w2 G2 R- I2 e) ?The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- d& t; E# M/ _4 E- eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 U. Y6 J, ^$ m0 z# b- D7 }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ R8 O! x1 A; z; N/ D8 S& n- x7 B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. B# p1 ~2 ]/ N% h; H. @6 a2 Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 D8 w# J) h; m; K) r; a4 A& Z+ g! x* X
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ o/ d" B1 f9 I0 k6 A7 S6 Fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 z1 Z) f5 L( ^' v" SDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
3 K3 u9 _$ }0 Q4 u* wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: _8 `) \' |$ E9 j \. L W
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ k8 o: [4 N5 g5 V6 C3 [1 yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, O6 q+ E/ `/ Z* hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 K2 E& y" W/ Z X8 s) h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; h% q( B) M1 ~+ ]/ Y; ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- {- |+ A* G0 s L0 L! f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( x2 l, ^+ d `: ~4 N/ B
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( J% b( J$ x5 l: Q. s
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' A- m6 A# k0 a( V# T
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch U, i# z0 o4 S& j
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
4 C9 i, C! `1 r& H3 n6 q* V" ^* Cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ N6 c7 |9 U7 I: C) z5 gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* D3 A' |3 J. p) j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; ` x8 E, ~: Z
are spaces., s# b; m; W" a% @
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) Q( _ e* Q2 O1 T0 Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 \# C$ `4 `1 d) c( Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& A9 l8 h! F7 |- Q! F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, n% N4 M, T' \( T- X5 z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
5 R, T+ c* S2 n9 Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 l& G7 M' N' `2 P4 \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 a+ a" `) I0 S& Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ ?3 I0 w Q) a: r
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
* L. ], h. O! A6 K+ {% y* _2 } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
