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
8 S) s, l8 c* k& kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# S9 O# [" U' I; Non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 \9 z) W6 s' z) m: j6 G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
T% t( H8 S3 T7 ~3 @# tanswers to our pointed questions.7 t0 S" S2 \4 n! w0 T. H- _
. ~, \# i1 H u) A3 I! }8 i
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 {9 A6 w% s2 a _2 p4 L! S' s& p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* R% X7 Z' A; }$ Z- O7 B/ ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# E- W5 e" c6 y8 [' k8 A. S; F
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 c1 z' h/ }, |/ x
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. Q9 q' i1 [6 M/ H
medical schools.) N: b6 Z5 g) x
/ U3 Y n* b( ?. Q' g
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 H6 R- _( k$ `4 Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! e" G2 q* T5 A2 \to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 f- ]" D! U1 A) F, M7 `assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
. D7 U4 j4 _/ r& X7 ]$ `7 i/ K" his from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- H/ L' j- t L: Q8 @" K4 e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; M% y* p7 K2 S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 ` v7 Q: Z& p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ U. D" i( _9 k j0 \# ^6 W% U
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 {# p3 O) D* K$ P8 ?9 wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 Y" R; D: L+ X
" o9 {6 B2 ^" ?0 _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' ?) P! P, T. u& j9 z- O i% i5 k9 W
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ m. q) e# }0 ^( Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' h/ D6 L! I$ u3 R3 Nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! C( _6 r# U: cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
: A$ ^9 T. S* z* Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 Q c: G- `) |) D- A- K0 mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 Y; m, P p3 [6 _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 @5 y8 c3 [$ @- S0 H
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ M4 o7 N: F& M9 v: `charge the fee defined by the state.
6 ]7 J, A. H* a7 @. t
9 ^9 j9 _8 ^6 [& D4 H9 g# P6 HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 U! |, E9 G1 C6 c! W4 T- gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 u4 X( g& s$ `; w% y" n
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. g s5 b# @3 `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 B }, { W8 u( Z1 Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, N1 P: ? W9 e5 W; dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) p/ p" J5 J8 Y7 ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 P& j: r% N p4 K7 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 k# L$ s- D6 f1 g8 k2 q! _trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' d/ r) t( }) q0 D& q- E4 N3 Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 z/ }/ |& J' P! h1 ]; m
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ W: c/ K6 v% U! `- y( eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 ]# G. _1 @- `/ K" U5 x+ M3 ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- V& y8 G/ R4 h( x
are spaces.
+ x2 ^' c5 j+ \+ }1 h6 M2 Q
# K; K3 ^! b/ B5 n. eThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ j4 x h- q- r: B U& L; G9 Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( m( ~ D8 x+ |6 T% R* sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% j5 B. |6 C" z- s! p7 ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# }" Q& J4 f! W, `3 q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 z/ q! b" A4 ?9 o0 I
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 [- m( T( k/ Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 g: F$ w( p6 }& j1 O& E$ y+ H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 a& ?2 j/ ^4 d: y# ~is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
6 Y4 C6 B# ^0 Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
