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
0 ^& `) O( L. S* X+ ~" {4 Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; T# `* L! ]0 W) P9 n2 M o1 Q* [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! n. i7 J4 L& j- f/ I
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* x) \4 t" _ [$ F7 v: y4 E- Ranswers to our pointed questions.4 G* n- }$ p% l1 n! i R& {& h
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 z2 R( Z+ i2 G* \$ K
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% @1 k0 i b' m9 p* u+ d5 @out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( O1 }8 Y6 j* E2 x7 X, |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 B m# Z, I; ~/ k
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 j( }% ^1 c3 \; c& q
medical schools.
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y) ~6 n2 j! ?" @" n; MEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 l0 r' G$ ^ ?
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# s; ]$ T8 l2 Wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 a8 A# v, F, c h, _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- G3 E2 ^& ?4 p0 }; m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 K5 E. r' P2 Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 y1 d6 x: Y; W2 ^ [4 Wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 u* l" U6 k9 A8 H, R3 D
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- Q1 x2 x9 n6 q. E- @shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; z; s5 a. f3 @& y$ Z5 _- k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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8 P: j0 \4 e4 n$ ~7 K1 u" pThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no q/ `2 i! R- u% { u2 }9 Y* C
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, i3 s' ? e" k. B) D0 esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 T- U! v) ?/ J, h
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 y! e1 m7 Y- A5 a/ Lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! v- D5 N; i& u* W
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 |1 O1 G; d# H+ b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. d' r2 ?- U/ N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 }; R- u1 _0 B) E) N# V0 j( Ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* @+ W4 \9 O) Z0 @4 i
charge the fee defined by the state.( o# k1 ~3 Q7 k7 p" `9 Q; E& _
! ]8 p d$ H4 l1 XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& o# f9 c( B q5 b+ eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: x# m# E0 s" Q4 w) Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 W0 P* w# `/ i5 E9 J! p; v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' E7 R0 N+ }! b6 T) i% cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ h$ ]: J+ y( q# t) N1 p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) E; u" t: G! y$ ?
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) h( p6 O) L v* c5 O/ G; k9 m7 Q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& M3 ~7 ~( v% f3 C/ t( j8 g* V6 p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* j. q$ r: B# a1 H# uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ Y5 O2 I4 B+ D4 _3 f6 z1 ~; m- opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* I7 X( s" z& {% @# \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( ~) T& t( W. `8 |+ Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 Q: H* f! D0 }) D+ J- S
are spaces.9 s& @ K, P/ y6 \
( ^- V# y0 t1 k2 w: e% sThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: V+ y2 ^ @/ \2 _6 _! y) a$ Q1 Bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 b4 O7 H2 F. ?8 town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& G$ ^8 C/ z0 {2 O8 a$ X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; Z+ z; K& z) ]7 i0 z9 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& E. E9 V, y( }9 }1 dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, r# X: W* M$ f5 {8 J# \
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 |3 W* }/ h4 T7 Q& \. g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 q c. _& `: Y3 w' Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 Z* O! s, ]2 |
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
