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
. b! l8 |' }- k1 P$ _, m, kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( H% ] ]6 }7 N7 \/ \7 O6 y$ {
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 w8 w+ y0 M& R+ G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 R. |) F4 N" vanswers to our pointed questions.
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" y h8 ^$ R1 PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. e; _, l/ B4 a, `7 ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand u1 \$ u3 A, C: b- ?7 B8 o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 M2 Z# O8 x2 G2 ?# sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: g2 U) C) {) i) E+ m1 E" s: ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( y* x& I$ H" l+ n
medical schools.
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) K+ I* i4 i/ t+ ~. ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- Y7 U8 b5 ~" L$ t8 _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( O9 H" u& b ~ c! m
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 w4 f. o. V, I0 @$ c' M5 o. t1 w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 V+ b7 {$ K4 K! E, k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( F! U6 q9 i# W9 p) bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* k2 Q. ^" [) G9 i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 W7 C) |" I( B8 B! Y' @2 v+ p1 ?mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* B" l I' m0 Y* u% ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 j, N4 i) @9 v! l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! Q& X" k. D' H2 r7 ~3 t! ~7 L4 f. V
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! V, y, h4 i9 s3 u' O7 r( ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! y' O+ k; n: k+ k6 z/ Y/ J) K# x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
$ I6 E8 v- x) S& \$ `8 _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
P: E; Q0 b- A( ?7 Q" b7 Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high T1 v2 i( \2 W) @) f6 }& v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 J& U7 ]$ y2 K" ]- z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 W) m$ `1 M% p; X: Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- X, v( a$ B3 \0 ucharge the fee defined by the state., G' z& i% v7 r& [: V+ ?! K* v+ r
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 ^) ]7 y, d( d# i9 p v3 _/ l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" n, `) _/ j$ E$ a2 T c) j! E
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# v0 R8 {) t# ]8 D2 M9 I6 _8 j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: b8 [1 _9 z& m# s& H4 A
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ x% t; H F. }2 _1 Jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
W% F( j. \# w9 G6 a2 v$ eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 t3 N* n: p1 T2 ~2 U
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; v: U% N+ P6 T
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, f- ]( P. v' {4 phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ E+ l* `- u" l& W
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: H, X: t- t* h* Z l- Z: wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( W9 \' l% x ^+ E6 mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there r% d! _% D" D8 n' I5 `% h9 y
are spaces.# s1 v. H0 C& J$ w$ }0 b2 y
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 x' N) U2 s& _- dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* [! q U0 L4 K( V1 r
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 \ ]. G8 P" o0 U( X, j/ A
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" @) t7 W% k! R: g) V8 Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
, |3 G; }' {2 c! p3 S4 m+ G% Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' W, O$ v& m/ A5 _. ?' B0 T
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 s7 B1 j6 I. \, vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) b; y, J1 t& h, N" \; Ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% l( Y# y! X1 j& z; G( T We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
