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
2 V/ R2 P/ b d- B4 ^standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ i* e) g; p( ]2 bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ }7 a$ n; v5 T' ?% R* o6 c
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 C0 N4 B8 S5 O- d: M
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 B5 [1 J2 B" ~; y; T8 I; n. ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" k- @+ i& c) e9 f- w4 _8 [out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 a$ G9 ]! Z6 K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
1 U! C- t s; N' uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; G3 w. G* b; s$ W6 A4 o
medical schools.. M. |; `2 ?1 k; u( ?1 N8 W
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. h* K6 A" M/ M0 e
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& \( ?9 m0 B5 a K' m: Nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. G2 K8 k' Z4 q% m9 s4 Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' s" |* H! l$ L9 Z7 B' _; E
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. ~0 t/ a4 D. h2 Q* W+ V
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: D( O7 d; m4 x2 h( N5 c6 Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
$ \$ H7 e( e0 r8 |mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# _+ {2 q; I1 Q7 J5 A& ~& a) Jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. e' r$ K U. u8 |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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2 E4 E) w6 o0 R# yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" r" D _$ L4 ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( h$ x8 U! P% K# n: y* qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 T4 k; U9 T+ |" x7 h- x7 i' h" }have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 @7 Z; S- B9 f( b* X$ M3 b' ^
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
l8 w* Q/ l) w8 P1 xsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ z6 g- R+ L4 w9 F cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 N7 D$ ~2 a8 wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 c4 z3 C/ y6 }' Za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' H! O! G/ v) ~% |: a; wcharge the fee defined by the state.
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; V6 T9 }$ [; Z- w3 }: q, sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ d+ Z* u' t, h, b+ E9 J# fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ I: v3 E) v6 h; ]; T$ {, u" Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 Y, s; q0 d- V5 _- C3 P+ f" T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
; M' B0 H( V, U1 _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 p/ H ?& r1 g) c( ?
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& R0 A! P) I* _+ S9 A# h/ x+ Nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 O5 c3 J3 M' V" g4 |6 E6 Fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: o D: B( V8 j; q% C6 @" a$ o5 @: v1 e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, P2 c, G! Q3 I6 ~5 L7 ]hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 [* }& V4 s5 `: \" n1 ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' N% b. l0 k4 ~0 _ _ v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# O7 P0 c6 i# C
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 S8 o7 A, t/ Z9 P8 [are spaces.
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9 [" f( k% Y3 p. L0 hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi" I i6 y/ x* M5 M! G) z( x! c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
x5 G5 a1 H$ ^6 Q1 M1 T8 iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 m- E L2 M1 _ w2 f* ]9 d2 c
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ [! w: [7 ^0 @2 S; r8 l1 m9 d
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 p- A, Q4 [! J9 A% j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
3 C9 M" u8 q; e3 ]! ^4 C& L7 Znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% Y N2 `( \8 L2 {; O' e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* L/ i: D' R: D: nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 W% K Z* i5 R/ u
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
