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
* ~- E8 q6 L0 Y4 }# Q. bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* c' E p& R) Son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 A( @! m! ?. t( w. }4 ~"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 i( b+ s+ U4 T# r1 ranswers to our pointed questions.
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7 v! N; @ M8 Z0 J( o+ L- w# A# [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 C% }6 r5 Z# x& X& W0 {' ^! ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 [5 ~ h9 s5 zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( C" B7 ]+ w+ \( G. e7 Q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! s* T: I4 X; b" \) G% s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; K8 K3 K& m# G6 S q) t9 |8 Y. rmedical schools.9 ?8 s$ d! b' B3 F T2 d
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ?0 l- `' g- N; M4 h; {
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 q4 \! s3 X9 F: o& sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* h% |$ B) I7 ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ C4 ?" f+ H! M' J0 |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& e5 \: x6 n/ i$ x9 Wover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, L' L6 X, Q3 O. O$ W# Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ j! P5 P3 F. J4 P5 V3 m& m
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 t; R$ E2 Q v+ Y# f
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 g: h# r/ X8 S+ V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ j( d9 e4 P& r1 h
( w, Q( ^; @; fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 |6 W) H# r# _) e3 q" L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, t, j5 o' q; u- f) q" a) lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% k7 ?6 \& |4 x! H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ s1 E9 W0 o2 C6 b1 u6 i Y' R+ Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 ~; O4 N9 B# N0 B- \$ l
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
8 D4 ~7 Q7 Q& m6 Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( {9 @) z, [$ a: G* j; I* kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; ]0 u2 R. p9 z: T! ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ m& W5 t5 ]& k1 I9 w
charge the fee defined by the state.' T2 d1 \1 W+ I$ _) `# n x
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% p5 N0 u( D! N. S1 ^on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 {9 T( R8 p, L5 d$ E8 v' z2 u, n
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* @, f8 h3 F% v$ o/ R) O& e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 ~( ?# E Q- ?0 f! [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the K+ c$ O4 u( O' i1 l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# Q' q7 w/ ?3 @
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 V, s/ k8 N% n* h! V/ ]
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 S, U9 e5 {7 ]4 `! _9 etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) l" p" V2 _# u& K" I1 Ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ [# R" s& E& w% o" k3 G+ X) L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 G* S8 a4 o9 X& l2 q) f! K' Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 [% f! P. E% Y/ X/ C8 k; B7 fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: g8 V Y, x1 C; [2 z- m. v: Xare spaces.7 A" }' E3 N/ v# \8 K
' d& Q7 s% H5 b, T! @4 w6 uThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& X" E0 b0 K' U, v' s1 h- a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
7 f! Q4 l3 W) v: l' r# gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 l! @: t/ [/ c3 M% m2 m" A+ w+ k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ l/ y/ K3 b6 d8 M, U
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& e: k" u* v" ^ ?best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 o6 F1 q* T8 K' q2 q& u+ g9 fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
F- r, y3 K/ X8 R6 C1 L% r* hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 B, T- Y/ v: V3 @3 B4 u: Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ t7 E3 s; | `0 z; J/ S& S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
