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
- ^+ U' Q" P) N" L% |% \standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
6 s- Q; K& u+ @ z' Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. l% C6 ~8 l. V4 V* b"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 ~, {- L6 Y6 o3 T4 S3 w3 Oanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ Q) J( |6 I9 y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) C; g5 j& _% Z4 F8 i; Aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 u% v& ]6 W1 W" f5 P# c' L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* |' ~/ K# J, \) yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
" a6 c3 B$ a1 Y& }medical schools.6 } k3 S3 D) p
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 w1 d2 p( K( V& Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) I2 `" _9 Q3 F9 P' s* g7 @% w) y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% u% i! O$ X- d$ q1 uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* B, w9 }/ ?# o' w2 y1 ^3 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* c: y5 x2 @# l( U$ [# @$ Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 P: ~5 S# I) F6 ]* P- Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 J" {) j% g3 z, U' F+ c
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 c X4 N) `& V+ X2 x9 m; ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" D4 {/ `+ P8 g/ K
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% d) Q0 h3 X2 T" f
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
& G2 L1 h. [8 P4 }private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 T( I) c) c8 m3 v+ |: h% V4 s) Ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ B/ a; b U, v: Rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good$ I" m" a, n% P3 `7 o
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
; Q; i9 P! b" u* ^% tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* A3 Q# P# P; p# |* W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ ^8 X) V# n# N' [Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 F- l5 H$ c% a8 t9 V' l* i' \a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; [! W5 C0 S3 q, \+ Rcharge the fee defined by the state.0 A7 C% q2 i1 Y1 b" p
, e% D V' S, ?7 w7 `: FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# E/ r# d" l" Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, i8 |$ ]% A0 a& i% I# ^1 {/ B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" e3 x Q. \' _* V( }8 K3 p+ `3 Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
; Y# R+ R. b0 s7 z! d6 {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. I3 H0 n9 G( H* Dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& z6 Z0 K9 s4 {
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ Z% Z$ |- G. G" T$ X9 P0 q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ X3 w8 t0 G1 A- ^" o. r! ]
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ P/ Z& F- e( W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
8 S: V% o0 O: r ~: Z5 h$ ^( Npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# P/ V X y, }$ C. e9 r5 N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 W( \; W: _9 J! E ]. J! R* mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% U3 w6 X/ W5 y9 X
are spaces.1 C) d0 v. C1 R/ q
5 z6 ~: B) p3 \/ M" Y! N. b" lThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 x' w' s3 E" i$ M- y* W& R1 xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ m2 u& N) P8 H8 W$ o+ Jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# @0 b* c$ O5 }: k
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! F/ g% W$ A1 ~! E9 @* H3 [: N& u2 T b. ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: a6 e7 P2 E9 T. k! n j/ | b
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* a3 [6 R3 I) Z( n2 Wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* i/ |, N$ `9 T
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# _+ Q% n* n3 @3 E# W9 c( Q' e# Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! \2 s1 G1 d$ V- P We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
