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' S- B5 b, k# A _0 l
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ Y8 ~7 b3 L- ~# x9 \9 `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 `/ ^/ `2 F3 Y5 G- E9 y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 z* r" w* J; K0 X, @' V* kanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( o$ [ f& E9 q2 }' f
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- J. A1 K% W' U( S; E, z4 W% t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 ]7 q9 a1 b; A5 wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 x; x$ G3 v1 {8 |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. T2 v( a: N' V( K
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ C1 k) L/ J9 ~3 p" ~; ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' Q, |' m7 p3 T# Q! j5 m$ e
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; ^$ q# J1 j" i8 G/ a( M# W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ o1 d& C3 L$ `) b9 C Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. Y7 n; \' x1 n' d4 Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) v. m C% h6 H% Z) q3 xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# V( c8 N- N8 M' h, b) H* Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- Z$ f7 L8 s! x' \4 T" J1 [' g& U7 [shortage which the government is addressing by converting some' D# P7 _! Z6 {& w8 p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% L' B9 |4 ]7 n' J
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' S4 x% u2 _5 l- m: Uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 r3 R0 c' w0 Z1 t- h4 Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# P+ \. v6 W/ W) ^3 n9 y! K0 V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) [8 @& {4 C8 N2 k5 K& ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) z$ K+ p, n: N" u+ a: msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& o$ I4 O7 L0 r) S3 Kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% X4 f# [" c tDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( F8 N" ?9 O5 j6 X3 k6 R. f8 e6 [a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 i5 Z( M/ J+ p. |charge the fee defined by the state.' H6 j0 |* o y6 @$ C9 y/ [+ u* p/ D
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% ]% y- g1 @/ v9 T3 T0 Z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 r* b6 j$ \. n' [' L2 j* a& ~6 B; [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big' W _" |0 V$ x. F% [0 x
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# m7 A* z& t' i0 a2 Cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) B$ r E9 \4 V4 s |
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. r0 f$ g4 Y p7 M8 N* r7 }5 b0 v5 \5 aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, }1 G) |% V5 d; {1 \
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ T# y: V5 R! P4 \2 u# P8 |% xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch8 G1 I: Y' U0 v3 B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 r! O f7 ~1 e q7 C; B {$ z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 w, J, c9 H3 W4 F! `# G
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' c, l& N- ?! Z/ S. |( L
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# R S7 x/ {" b) Y2 q9 U3 ~
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ ]) ?' A! m0 G' S6 h! \to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% `* Z' r, ^) z: q! M5 N M1 z; I$ D! S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ V8 I p9 c8 r4 u4 `6 U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; U% t$ [2 c u, J/ E: E9 Cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, X. u# ?% {8 a7 b3 E4 r- c" q, V6 R
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 ]! o2 J8 `' }7 Y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 E" U! j1 I; p, J$ j% W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 l: a3 Z; a% H6 a8 p- O+ D2 n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) p0 |0 Y' L, L, ~" u1 u
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
