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
* U9 d/ n( N$ Bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 Q0 c5 c; b G9 Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* E! y% `+ E5 D"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 v( }: r. S3 Y5 F9 Fanswers to our pointed questions.; ?8 U: ?4 D9 h0 v2 K4 u
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) S9 P- v7 n, o. a2 f% f4 L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ X1 ^ h9 z/ k6 L# N/ o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 q5 @$ f- U; Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& w% ?; L* J( P% {
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) |( X: f4 X: w; Q6 w4 N
medical schools.2 C. H3 G8 i. |3 q- P) |5 ~
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, L: b# g! ^0 Z0 i1 Jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: P1 A- Z# ~* W6 M6 c8 `8 R$ O
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( L/ j- d; y2 ~& W! [) S8 Massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
K2 Y& E0 a/ R0 F! nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ X( g( i& O/ @% S+ nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 D7 t! d8 N zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
[) V$ i+ [* A3 Emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ E6 W6 D6 I* R" J; e- {shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& a- X9 n( b$ W2 `6 _
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 U: v$ W+ Z* d- l7 d1 Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 b6 Y) j0 P0 Y9 ~6 c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 j+ s0 {- |7 A' \# O( W; u
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% u% n4 r' t, m$ D( L/ n
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 J; H7 b0 V( V. fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 h+ E% i0 f" Q% D* h% ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% { x" I' m2 ?% J! @' a) q6 ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. _. j# P# J% \ ?! P3 {" la lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% F+ a: ^: [5 w8 _# z8 Qcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 c9 }' Z8 |! A2 c# t
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& ]; x2 U: g& z6 b
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: Q9 y8 c) C ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 v5 X" ] v) S# w6 L. j$ f3 B3 M
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 O' p: h* u' k6 R% t5 B/ s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% D; a4 Y, Q v: g( S$ Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- @. @) h( F; |% C! d/ P1 I/ Q& `you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 v: \. Q$ k$ y% _* V0 T- z8 o
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 Z- J7 T; Q' m' ~hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: ?8 p O. V) L4 I+ `people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want h# A d) g+ p! p# l! v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 M+ N, f2 {, [! u- Z& n" L6 F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: W+ M+ d9 U8 s2 [3 c( t fare spaces.
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% ?2 j$ a% _& x& d: CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- r* L) A: I7 h( G4 L
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! t8 |* G0 k; a$ P' S+ n' yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ I9 ^( `$ A3 n: `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% H$ C! V8 M5 X" s9 R* z7 {& Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 I0 L7 h+ l" l5 J( B. o2 {! ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 Y) ~6 u6 X4 D6 H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
8 R- o# t! }8 @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 U1 U, O% Y9 F' l2 Q. k" T! h, t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
* J$ R/ s$ ?4 s: o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
