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
* Z4 B( y1 h pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# X6 o& l h2 H7 u) s8 b G% ]3 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,5 \! }! j, V& [& a. {' a+ Z5 |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* o* [- g3 Q" W* l# ~! l5 Xanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! ` Z, y! e) _+ B7 k& }- V, H& n
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) L6 D5 g! @4 K4 [
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ J) Q8 q; ^8 v: c+ ?/ H8 e
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. G1 ?1 m5 G* f6 T7 O Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 l) U$ v5 n6 o5 r' B( Y2 S4 \medical schools.
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, X+ z& \1 x, f5 ?1 E1 X; B( m3 p- REvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 l8 c& n4 B# B2 B" r+ P$ Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# N3 ?' n3 ~: E
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 n( H" h3 w5 H) Q) {- {% r; |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ t& r% S3 b& q0 xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 u# H7 j% O2 y0 Q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' k9 l$ q0 j; F5 a( fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ e; E1 l% u8 J" R% E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! ~* d/ R" ~8 fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some: t( b; A+ X0 K4 U: ^! F5 q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 ~5 d# c; Y: I4 U2 `, t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! _/ [. ~; H8 a2 ~2 D3 Q7 |1 }- [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 F2 f! d0 N! {% j1 C( G! y) J3 Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 f! C4 s8 t9 ] c D x
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 J* m: G. ?& e* Y- g6 S3 L* r/ m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 c1 G I# h& Q9 J9 ]. y Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 {; V* s9 T, s. D% BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( x4 u- b, P( A
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 Y# k% |- N; w2 s0 g) S- e: l
charge the fee defined by the state.& w. r0 c: w' F" G, R) P1 k \
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
Y, m* ?) d# V2 e9 v+ gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 [; n0 G1 @2 o/ g9 J2 X, lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( c. |# z4 \& ^+ `* Utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 }$ ~5 i7 o1 [0 J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 h* l- O/ G8 O( g3 f& j" ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 ~: G2 S7 D2 x4 E) Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 F6 i& |) G0 H" Z% Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( V. \1 P& ~8 D* ]
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% M$ U! F4 f3 p, Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# O6 l: \' A# M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 d0 f/ n- L1 ~( N! Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ o: I2 q2 i0 j- Y2 W# Ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( \# a9 O) z7 H. `0 S8 W, t3 h
are spaces." ?* w' Z2 G) u& u. o
8 q! k6 ~9 k1 M6 c+ r/ j5 ^# YThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" p7 R$ x) \$ i! G3 Uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: F1 K S* {" S: K) [own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# d. O+ T' z( k8 Z s40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, B% _1 E0 Y) }$ Yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
5 Y* S& u2 ]5 k; ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( Q5 x; R3 T- W( L$ L# z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of |, [9 t/ V2 \
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ n, i P* B6 @; M4 K( @
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. g& O6 ]# H9 m8 Z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
