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
% m' u4 g: b, c/ `5 Ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! z( R- h4 b2 Z& {' }on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 m# R/ l! o0 r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 K6 _' q/ y7 x" `answers to our pointed questions.
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3 p; U; o5 x% J3 l/ PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ g6 O H! Y: B7 \4 S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, S5 }& ]/ i( W& Q# gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' Z. t9 P' d: u5 b6 G; v+ Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. m {! w( N7 G" z. n7 _2 q& |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 y5 C6 l8 G0 m+ m; zmedical schools., n3 ^* R2 `+ C$ L
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# s! l+ y) B% V7 g8 |% Z. ~8 j$ tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' E8 x- a, M9 p! a) K: b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 g8 s: ^ Y0 G' g: {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ o/ C+ X2 ^# {. U: |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 P& t1 X: L7 Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( I5 I9 Z' M( l) X& P) Y5 P& ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( B/ w2 J' ^# a) z$ Xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 {$ d6 R) s `5 D1 P
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ ~+ Y a2 k* |2 L9 Csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 S9 F8 T5 ]3 B, }# h) T5 S
+ | L" P6 e' m& r) |* PThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! w- K4 h" o( F
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 \+ J4 s% i% V; K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* D4 f& [9 o( J/ Q6 l* v0 V7 X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* x( Y5 G1 W8 R* g: I( Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 T) g/ T3 F1 S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
9 o0 r3 H0 A$ R* Y9 J$ g l/ idivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# d, s4 _9 z1 V& F! G# m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' u2 H" f# i7 | r: S) j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. T* P, T1 |: I
charge the fee defined by the state.
" w% O& S) z# t7 e' [$ y$ K& j: n' P e& B6 ^0 q0 _4 k6 ]
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
4 x0 h0 A5 y6 h l% I( m+ `9 W& Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' \4 n# M! F5 q4 p' K- Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
' a) Q: q5 O: ~0 ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" [) a. r) r3 X& Y. O, |4 }
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 w I. H7 L% X4 Y6 |& pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 D* \ S3 N3 b' c1 Q( t
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ t8 q5 q! c; \! }: Iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& K, J" u' ]0 S, _8 D) C
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( S$ t: C4 _% g7 ]: \5 u. thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 X8 w& U$ ]: @7 `- F" B( D) l
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- w. h( D4 X! c# E+ eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; {! U4 y& C' ^" Y; i5 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# ~: G' b; ~! U, G, Q
are spaces., L* H/ X' D8 w' s' @3 n
^9 F7 R4 y$ w/ o+ d
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& Z& |- |* Q o3 ~6 g2 W
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) M+ ]- e" J Y* G( V; s" S4 x4 t% Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 ? H6 m4 ^ }9 n: `- u
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' c, w# k' J; a. X2 s) c/ L1 Z0 K
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" {3 g4 E* x' Y& D& } S# D" m5 j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ I/ z+ v* h& Z, I( snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 N2 D, S8 C( @; e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 r/ q3 h1 h& x P- \is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. ~4 F9 A5 C6 } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
