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' D; B" s2 c c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 Y. s" A; v, N! A! A5 F
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" i7 O% V+ M; f" H; l0 {6 M% ~"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. R- i& p# K% U2 r0 L7 fanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& k/ W; h9 g+ C: [0 [45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 l$ G; g- X1 o* ~0 Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ |8 [7 g1 W7 o2 A1 ?+ |
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' I; y6 g# g) k9 W, t( P3 K
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 y' q6 h1 C, r0 O
medical schools.) ~+ Y2 o/ d1 C
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# r# o5 J! @; H1 l) y$ X( E4 a, D5 egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. K* R! K$ h* S* k
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 T7 |/ a" P* S2 w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 _. Y* s: K, c7 Y) i
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# Q/ ]; K+ ~7 \/ i4 M; n( L, e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 ?# Q6 I! l% J5 Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, l% t% p: [! {) k! @' c
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ O% C' Z7 p! \1 ~( b' O7 e6 [shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 i L0 d( L1 K8 t7 v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# ]7 I5 o) d+ K; `; \! s' W
4 n4 q2 m) ^7 M5 w- oThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ @/ N, t" }' ~2 J/ c+ {
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 v( @& g) o B; {supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! T" q2 N, B C( j6 zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ S) P: F# x, E4 |5 j! B
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ ^) ~" k5 v4 R4 X; h; \- `" V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- P/ D& K3 E) U& z$ g. D
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 \& h' r* R4 x2 ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 F, }6 t" f) l$ J4 ]! ?
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
" h# `/ Z. c: W4 A# W# }charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ [: m9 o+ y+ a5 Y! v: B9 Uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 m3 Y0 S; p4 i. v/ N# W \2 N# Xof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% k) K" j! k/ k. B/ f( H- ]2 Ftruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 V; i9 V3 D5 ~) X1 A, c* ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 M' s" w( O# J/ T% _working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' d) z" R5 d, ]# x% V Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( }3 R" k f3 [5 xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 `; n3 Z& l2 |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* U& R6 X6 m% Q/ i3 l
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' [; s4 O' y0 H$ h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 X" X" O" U8 p* C( D8 d! `2 U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 {9 L' m& Z: p6 s! O6 r$ }% n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) l) s* Q6 b. l2 A, D$ K$ e1 n3 i' Nare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 d( a0 b1 z% |" n0 W7 D' P( Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: }9 l( v, e* @0 z% p* ], g6 Hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ^; P0 ^' E4 l8 Y8 U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& Q) m- h! V+ ~' `5 G2 V1 T
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 L8 F0 W5 D4 q( p5 Zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) c) p( u& U' R1 Z* r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 ]" W% B9 w+ f0 h/ Y/ H \; z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it Y0 D% P9 _$ ^6 d/ w: F, r) A
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; {& n% {* R* B# Q) h7 ?
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
