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
4 r$ d/ i; m9 n' Jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; c& d- u/ _+ i' Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; t% W! H/ y- `* I9 a7 N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; ]" c* C5 x( canswers to our pointed questions.9 H8 Q: g. \+ G% m4 J r" I
" @& h$ i: d' K( l2 b& CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# b: K3 L' T P' i. n* d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 W }; O/ V( Aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* Y) D% f' _) h% Q# |, d) Bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 ], N( I5 R6 x/ u# L
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: c E& E% Y5 Z( }5 e$ x9 C7 Vmedical schools.( H3 A, H$ t! q# R/ E
/ ?# q+ F5 H/ \. q% \- ^# cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ \1 C* ?) p" t7 v4 |% A4 f( K. d( F
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 {! ~0 j% W; Y) ^5 h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! s V5 a8 G4 R- w, T5 c) w- B) N
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 f# g$ ~1 N* {# i
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 T8 q6 i; N2 _9 N0 oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ W4 L0 K& q& b: x k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. @! L! E2 \- T, Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 J; r C' z* z, Y% F+ R( w; rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some" m+ q5 s! h6 I% P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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, Y2 v8 p/ E3 W4 `The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
2 U5 c" Z4 D& D# S+ Z# ?/ Sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; F2 ?4 U- G& t9 {9 a, [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% \8 C5 j' o- K$ o; \3 Zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
0 a. f5 e' \7 }5 O. fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# E3 b, i" z7 {: f; k4 L9 g$ w- l: b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# W+ F: P0 }7 V5 W* mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( N" d( R& }5 N a# c, X( r0 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# L! b, h. a. z2 M- R& m( v3 na lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( E& d3 J" v6 |: H
charge the fee defined by the state.
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8 C! b ^% [* Z bThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
8 {* E5 l6 v# k `- ~" e. w( yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 y; E0 @3 ?3 [/ d6 w# Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: Y3 I) s0 \8 o1 c* W' e G2 b
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' V5 s4 }8 d' I! Q$ W6 F
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* Z! _* T. c, _, }working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" Q% r3 C8 h+ k# Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ k) e/ g7 D" @3 B4 d8 ]% {7 S0 }you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
D$ ^% T; N* |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( K* l. Y3 J8 Q, M1 x! ^. K$ ^hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 f( D- h2 |; e4 B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
; O& H7 ~' ^# \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, f9 e% t; [* o# J7 s8 Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) s& v% Q! e% ^7 O! y/ s
are spaces., g9 P$ Y7 L- s3 E; N
, T9 R9 m+ B% b' H" p1 p" lThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 A- y7 w4 [' s5 W' c& S- Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they+ k; s1 r0 U) L; b3 H
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
( C8 a3 ~* D, Q1 v- u6 Q! G40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, W" P2 s6 i2 q8 l! |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ \ l" l: ^; F: I( j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 E+ N8 e' b5 P3 C. ?& I- D$ w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 O: [. B p5 ^# r ~car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) r/ B: p& Q3 c. E1 ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- Q4 K- B* V, K; s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
