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
% B# L7 v* [" | w# xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
+ M7 T: v H/ F8 K' H4 _4 V- d) R, zon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ g, W8 J( d, o# q' V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ D+ Y* X- b" ^8 H! K' @answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 u* b6 @1 `# b0 }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ E1 y2 i' A7 t0 Mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
& _. Q3 s6 X" ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ \% O7 F3 D% E3 \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 f' @* `9 {4 a J* j# Imedical schools.4 c9 Z( l# d ]$ K6 K$ p5 S1 Z; c
) R5 a7 @! V# I4 e* _
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 r, T% @) p* K0 S/ l4 sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( }' e4 v$ z0 a4 m4 l( qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 |! Q. j% f% ^5 o8 Yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- _. K8 c M- z/ r0 d1 p
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 ~6 m0 ^* R4 r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 \6 M$ s: P5 Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- h' V) ]4 O. ?1 {mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
' x6 t# s7 z2 I. r" mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some* J" A3 @$ {+ p& R. Y" u v3 T+ L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 i3 N- r5 e# m
7 o# u; b4 i$ P. E9 L. GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 m5 N* y" ^% z9 a
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, P6 ^* p* N P, n! Esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- s! T; K, N, S, b# n/ }& q* ]+ C! B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; @$ w: y5 Z3 @. D9 Vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby B E" j! ?# n5 x" S* Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; z3 B( ^" @% [, g- y% l) ?- ^* x6 x
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ w0 I* F+ ~1 NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
g! h! e, q9 y1 ~% k4 a( O7 W0 k) Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 N6 d+ O% y7 ]8 k1 H: ]
charge the fee defined by the state.7 [% U5 [4 c" T8 I, u
1 c+ [' ~" L1 E+ o4 tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; V, `& v+ f# U# W5 J" U2 kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' s6 Q( T& z! Z6 ~3 Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ k0 H7 q) S5 I2 o u+ z& r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 |( t& X Y! k7 Y( V' xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 G; \# ]7 Q+ o4 l, T7 Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& |9 G4 g1 u' A2 |
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 x# S! w3 F0 y3 T+ f% C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( N3 w' C' M/ ~- ~7 btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
+ F3 C( \! G: G s) }hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 i8 ?* }9 }7 npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 P% s" V0 {9 \1 u3 ^, a- w( z9 uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 X" P/ q6 o- Q% P6 d3 l) U1 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) ~, q, d w0 Yare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. G& ]. d' q7 h; [+ ]to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% t, ]" O+ ?7 l# f7 O: H! ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ ~3 n) H0 p4 K( B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& l' P2 K$ n$ n! Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 M+ @0 L# ]# [ s/ N# D- R! s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ d/ I3 j6 B1 i9 k) e( W( Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( K f6 U/ h7 V9 p, kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 o& d2 C+ G7 L* h7 a# _/ Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; j) G+ f; ^. ?7 d4 `0 g0 k1 f We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
