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 T M s& K, o) p$ c4 |
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 ~; I1 f' u, u9 \" I4 Z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 J" @, m+ ^' k+ ~
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ \+ a$ O7 Y$ D, \" w
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( s7 _! |0 E o; G5 k1 ~: J! g1 N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: A$ e. F* p2 R$ aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ B4 m0 R1 l8 c0 _) I: Cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 m- T# X2 |' T+ ^5 c& sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
! ~% G0 A5 x6 T, wmedical schools.
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5 a9 K2 o% U8 q) {Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 x! D9 v0 L& D$ s7 M" ?( a& Z" T* Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( p$ K9 ?+ j* vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 d3 }) L* Q9 g) c$ {3 d f$ A
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ k3 q! E. `6 j* I8 e3 v) n
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 T$ P) F+ `9 K6 W
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ H, M9 P, ?/ P- ?, S/ \1 p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 a* ?, b' Z' E4 zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; t! M: C1 X6 ~ t8 s
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 F. g" |6 v/ y3 Y' u6 S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 F, K3 l, n4 f+ f) L
% O* M# p; U6 M- s+ ?The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
5 t/ W% H2 e; C% ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; h U" E& l, V8 L$ M4 {
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) s# Q4 c3 [7 i. {0 W' dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# Y' N# c5 F: E; s9 xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" E+ a% L G: O* w4 k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. {& D6 Y: `+ {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; l. }$ `5 @& s+ X7 WDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" i' s$ `' R" V% x$ t6 ]* P- g
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& s2 @; q5 {; b
charge the fee defined by the state.
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2 Z) B2 y" h% \; s: B3 tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' J# L; C; P/ L# B c8 }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 T Z4 _6 g) }of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
) e+ p; O4 \1 H. y4 Z: gtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" D) J. z9 y. u- v; S$ w: d* @8 W0 A: j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 u0 O- H, J3 R- q- J* O& Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" d0 i6 a. ]5 y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' z( v3 a1 v; k) h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 x% b6 u1 _, [% R0 y: |, M z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 D9 T4 ~. Z* v0 D' B1 Fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; q2 P7 [0 Y; g4 L) B5 |% ~8 U0 j! kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ n0 l x6 A6 O4 eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 M2 n8 N/ b$ Z/ \% ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 x# P% S* Y6 P/ Y E- `
are spaces.+ c6 ?% I% t: B' x* T
' K+ P) p3 m# v' f" yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! V1 J1 n4 |- H5 @% d- Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& k2 a) x7 A) ^! o$ @' [- M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- S4 Z+ V5 e |% P& V- C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 ]/ q$ v% `0 w$ X( ]9 S. j3 V" |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 Z: W9 d+ M6 C* u7 F5 D4 _+ r5 q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 D, P$ |: z5 Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 r" j8 p: ?- [" \! }9 E6 c" _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* \6 n; A, F D; l: s5 U1 m9 P' uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 O2 x, {* X% L( r4 e( i2 q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
