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
9 K5 Q& j1 z( v5 l Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
w; O4 m0 H; ^on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: Z9 l6 e' F' ?) H# h# H8 F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. o* \3 j | y- f+ ganswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ {8 c" }* m. w2 p+ ?6 c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
2 f, r3 ~) R3 }& I4 b# R5 z! p) cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 w& ~& I# z p o1 ?
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 A2 K' v9 A, J
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 `: j0 I; s6 N. X. y) }& bmedical schools.
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7 \( C9 y6 q( X8 EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ x* C" |! ~* w/ K, w* {9 [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 v% ~/ W: e/ r& J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ `( e$ x1 N M. A' Qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 L4 R& X+ Q% g6 h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ i4 p* {* @ l J: c8 I/ Q. }9 _over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ J) O# A- L& Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 ?! u9 I4 p( U, q( e- v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) m1 h2 R6 H) ~
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 _4 i6 R9 d4 C/ i, n/ W7 S* j
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.8 x! ~4 e. i4 ~ E# b/ I
# F% h6 s+ I2 zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 l. e" q j- m8 @9 Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, _1 G: s0 `% M7 E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* S) {. d1 h+ C8 i0 m1 Dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 n# Q) A! a" U2 k: x _( T! I
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. ~* m7 d6 ~! p/ L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# a! _6 J! }; B8 y/ c, g. [
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ y3 G6 B* `) P1 _7 b' W* r& wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' s3 G* q. U0 U' la lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 ^# S; A3 N5 o9 r! Q+ D8 g* ]; dcharge the fee defined by the state.2 l0 s+ B% S3 ?! W& F. {
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. t6 K) C5 c, X7 m \on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ z" a1 u" E5 m3 vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 L5 h1 l! V& f. C3 dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 C/ d* B* W% t' X, k& @* fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 h% {+ E" M) N- E9 vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; T2 P9 E$ j/ R' r+ rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ ]1 k$ z ^, V" D8 b
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 i1 O E3 k0 u0 Z: x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 M2 x# M0 Q' H7 q. Uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' h. C! V4 R" z" R9 |
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 W& d$ t5 p2 E$ N& i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# {2 {8 {' L9 k* J/ D- R0 B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 U; E3 {0 a' A! Yare spaces.
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& x8 t I6 s5 M( wThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# l, `1 D* k3 v1 X. `; M3 P4 l2 r
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 n" [- R7 F- r7 v$ r5 n) t
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( @/ L+ z/ |% Y, y+ s6 C
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 ]0 ?* G9 C+ Z7 g9 T' S5 Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 h# m. |& [' ~ Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ q' v7 u) S2 d2 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% N0 ^& k4 p& j+ [ E& F9 H8 Z/ dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 B6 a9 v( \) E* z2 {/ n8 i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! ^5 R9 b0 d2 J% \9 ?, W* w- m
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
