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
' f2 N8 | M0 i$ }2 C# ^standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) l/ f# z' s1 }- A" u! T! \2 g7 R& @
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," ^3 a9 B' S' X d( ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
c! I+ ^5 {! ^8 f. a% ?3 i5 ianswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
/ ~7 f5 D4 h2 c# _45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 q- d0 L/ z e) j# T `, j: Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! t9 `5 c. _3 J2 S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- @7 C4 ~( R$ t4 T9 s9 y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 l4 ]$ B, r6 d" u& }4 K vmedical schools.
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1 {8 x3 Z3 G* aEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- Y7 @4 e& p8 Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants! a5 W7 z* y" z% A4 S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' k) _, K* Z3 w% M0 z) L; passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' O: V0 W+ O7 C* N- Eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- k0 P% x& Z+ J. bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) T0 @4 N- c0 e \: Xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" L) G* p1 J8 g1 l3 q' {# b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk W) T$ y- x0 }# J+ B7 B8 e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. P% F6 y! X, P8 O/ K4 P; ^sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# l' Y! Y* m6 |% s$ ^
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 o w$ t% Z0 a& E* _. |+ [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and z# E+ i8 k: F- x! ?5 V. f
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
y! L* }7 T: k5 O( }have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
7 m6 S4 c j0 X( I9 |9 e1 d. c0 pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 ~6 u9 ` o1 ^* Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 S I! k _$ g, A1 |7 ]! wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. `* F, [4 U7 |; R* }4 q: F5 e/ U! \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" H3 ~8 G% `8 ^* d ?. }1 r" Ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 ^- A1 d+ K+ N9 C2 E0 m8 U
charge the fee defined by the state.4 {2 C E/ ?# d' s: `+ X$ l _
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 Y1 Z# @* v" ^( D7 M' F$ u3 j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 D; _/ q5 _ g+ ?2 o7 R: C4 h3 ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
4 M; j# n, J4 P% P; a* ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* k: `( ]2 H- X" s% j% O* {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. ?* M2 [# n% X$ d4 K k# o4 @" Gworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 q4 C, |: b4 M. j# Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ P" B8 t0 L% h( W
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 k: l$ l. R- rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! X5 g- @; h: X/ m7 P, m; \3 i
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: r" u0 i- s! |1 Ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
X, V! }8 G9 ?to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. R l: L+ E) `5 J' r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 ^: b0 m4 h2 yare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* _; J5 n1 D3 e2 G* f7 E2 K, J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 \( f/ U: J b/ @( j6 A. @$ b
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
0 p) z* M+ E& j. Z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% _: _; e" M# v0 I7 oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' }: N& R" h3 W4 fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 C/ h; {' _9 q2 q' Q2 w$ b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- s' N3 c. t: F. Z5 {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ z+ X9 ^9 s8 uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# |6 Z F# o7 a, p7 `
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
