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
( h) I& ^. s6 X; ^1 Kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, Q9 ?3 Z4 Z% b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
& r: P, u" v* ]7 ~9 U; u5 r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ D$ G6 J9 }/ X) J: i* M* ~; R7 S) }answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 y4 W. f4 E# y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- d9 u' p2 \/ A* l5 Q9 ]" @% x1 k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ i" \: R! q! y( C8 Z1 b! w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& Y$ g3 a) A7 a; b9 ^/ R
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ ` l( W, P- b" T2 e
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 d) y1 C+ K1 X3 S/ X4 F
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ R* V( M/ \& \. H& M& k; I7 Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" m3 n$ z- h" h4 N/ U! F: dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) ^5 Y0 ], ^( F9 W- `! s" M/ u( V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, v/ b( W6 M7 t8 K, i! @over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There g% ]5 o! }; H! S8 r& d
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" A ]5 _) N I" zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 N: g7 u! s$ P
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 [8 j4 {; X6 M" O% W1 ]
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., r7 Q' `- N. e, ~7 ^1 `
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* F' \' w" ?0 a8 j& l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
8 f/ u0 _( p( U. d1 _supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) v5 a& K7 g* K$ N7 y2 }. A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ D% ^. [' f4 `6 q2 W: u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& y ^# S* N9 o8 I; V+ h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ ]! S ~" f; V& }+ q* o" G! i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 M8 d8 B# `$ b8 D5 w0 }9 {, H
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# Z! A/ Z/ o7 y8 l
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" [' m( v3 S1 L8 v+ Y9 v3 @8 e
charge the fee defined by the state.+ M, D. v2 {) b! {% r1 E
4 |6 d$ _* q \6 LThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" U$ r; }4 n1 d, Q* D6 y" s3 k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 p( S0 y/ {2 k! J# n; |
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( Q% S- ?6 F1 B& r1 w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' E! I, ]3 v" o7 Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ E2 e3 [; ?0 A/ pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) o2 [: o0 n3 v9 `& u7 L3 K
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 e% |) q( T% o' I7 T
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 ^& ^; v7 {7 Y3 ?
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 v. f! g+ x& x( |6 U9 I% E6 e2 jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& F* M% G l3 q5 q* \
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
H {' d9 {# }* q/ {. m; D, Oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 P0 S* q0 o' A# G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 H [' l1 B, I i4 f" l
are spaces.: s" {: R% {2 c
& D1 O/ { T S$ @There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 h @4 z: A) u+ H, k+ vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 A% p3 n2 z- L- S+ f/ G$ [/ bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" A% X) l8 n6 I3 k) t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, e' W; \! t$ ?( _: uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& G( a4 ?* |; {6 L1 _7 Nbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 u# }8 ~& I2 C5 h7 u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 b n# _6 Q: Y$ F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* J* s0 Y% j* g4 `; iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 I- {7 D$ z1 I9 C
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
