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
$ ~7 p/ T- [6 ~7 Jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
1 ?/ J) L' A+ H, X/ ?! [5 J/ Uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# X8 a8 e7 a1 I"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 b2 K. p, P- u6 U0 qanswers to our pointed questions.
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1 ~/ i$ s* l! n9 n* p- dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 n9 u C5 c5 l5 v& `" `45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ d' b: e4 B4 E8 C5 g& h; ~
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
& w" a4 w4 D) B* Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 U& e) u" ]# _, V! oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. V" R- i- E9 ^) m- n- f2 Pmedical schools.
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+ M( @4 u) S# {Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 p2 @' n( o: c# ~6 r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, o$ A6 s8 D) B& q {/ }- I
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 L) K: s5 G3 l" y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
6 A3 x* q# `- b0 H5 ^7 yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- D7 U( L% @% iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ G# J% k6 O5 C G! _5 ?
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) _3 N1 g. p% b9 j% T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% F! {/ j: d+ k8 w& J2 g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 ^7 q8 ]) F7 |/ a% T dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 Q4 r" D' t! o, A: e
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: A O4 @1 @! _: Z& h# q8 h+ l1 z8 S6 Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and" u8 B! v6 F. t/ g. ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) M+ j5 t* d- a, Rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 X5 Z) ^0 C' m0 ?( u( g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 X# z: j' J+ c
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
! X C, Q" [, g `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) u( I2 v6 v. x, _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# d1 J' M7 L9 L" n4 _5 q: V- M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, I5 f9 h& t' `1 U4 }1 \- q
charge the fee defined by the state.) J) G v! u b5 D5 g. ]" F
0 `7 Z4 h6 C3 T; A; J8 wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get c' [1 L& I& Y2 `
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 P2 z# L- G. @; p" S4 g0 {! eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- { W; v3 ~' J, v5 g" n$ s
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" k% n3 ~) u3 C5 j" }+ V. Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, r( t( L, k3 Y0 `0 ]$ `
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on u$ q+ r. P3 B& s% M
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) U0 T2 _; f) a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
y) B# U7 b$ p% V: Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% `: v9 h3 w# Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! ^& D* w4 p/ d3 h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" p& S. A; }1 W% ], u0 M8 R1 h8 F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. Z4 {/ H! a8 S! z+ s3 l% xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 ?6 V. C& W) v. ?% tare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' a( [* n' S5 l/ v u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; v/ A: T5 p) j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" S. C* F. h9 @
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 e- T# w) c# v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 j+ c: I {, p, h
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% w+ {( u- e$ k- U2 C/ R1 ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 h3 a$ n: M4 |- T3 E+ Z4 @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
( I' n( M! X5 Tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. l- C0 N0 j. F; T: _7 h4 F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
