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& P5 |4 {4 M+ ]3 Z* v& g4 f% _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
& H- G, `5 _1 P" U1 C5 Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 b! t) @# U. H8 e$ |. B: Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ u( N* O2 \( o5 |1 G2 ganswers to our pointed questions.8 |( H: l( v9 t$ `3 l4 S
v& L2 ~9 s4 d; l: OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
" W9 N& Y: \6 T% b: N45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 \) P. C( P7 T1 ?6 Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 g8 \/ T3 G+ Q8 E3 j! \! zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 U0 b+ V* v6 k
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( Q% M1 |# |9 Fmedical schools.! L9 _) s. I( [$ {) M K/ C
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 e+ q$ S7 K8 U+ A7 U* Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
9 V) o! ~. t; r, _ L. |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* i. y: M- v8 `8 c7 s7 yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 j+ I& `) R) v9 D$ e
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
`* e+ x3 G( G6 ^0 P7 }over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, q9 I2 @! h1 ~3 ^, B5 ^9 m" v
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ x- G0 v; p+ I% Dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 R( K. \: D' Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 y2 S" W5 P) J0 _
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 Q% V: z5 m9 f; B' `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, W% x' h0 o$ `, J6 |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ [. x- \9 v, Y" Y% Z5 n5 W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, C% {5 t4 s4 l2 t+ {5 e
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) K) `, n$ U, u5 h3 o! vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 c+ e" B1 Z7 E6 J+ W6 Z" Kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 W8 K) k1 m# V; hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 x9 _3 O3 E9 b% @8 ?. d# Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, y; h( X1 i: p( acharge the fee defined by the state.9 X$ ^$ b# i; }' X. f: t
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 X1 j: h! L4 e Z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: k% w, ^& R) Y9 I; G d% Aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 n6 x7 j3 P6 i( Utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ U: G' u6 v. \0 p" X% O0 [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 b; \! i, l; R% lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 ~5 H! j- P. W! k2 H1 X0 O' w
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( g/ N4 ^4 b! |
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 v! I b. {) h# {4 d1 o, z+ gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ z& W% C0 H; V/ r+ }" C) ~: U
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! I- e) l/ u$ L2 d7 S* E
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* A! D1 \7 M4 x( k9 Q2 ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( Q$ }3 b$ ^$ b8 y0 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( S7 b" D; K3 H9 _1 \
are spaces.: I" E+ q8 Y, a" G' Z c
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( D( J' w' u- \5 v5 ^+ V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
' T$ y7 A; ?; g% U- b+ n9 x+ p- o# s qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; e, J: K+ u# |0 J9 e. N8 o" f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ D6 [; a2 U1 V/ | C. ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) f2 i/ c/ A$ D; Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" t, {8 H" ]" a3 Tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- |, X4 R+ f% W4 Y4 @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ Q7 K4 N# S# v# t' Y8 Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! i0 h" d' u! O$ j+ `
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
