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' p1 a, Q5 ?$ H3 {* U! p
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- R2 P9 x' P6 F1 Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! U/ A: t( N# ~/ P) F' D% H! v! M: ~"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% u; Z( e5 @# O1 Tanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 u# V7 K' x9 q% A4 L& c4 A45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 H3 z& f* N1 C4 x2 h" Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 s9 q: d3 n: a s! Y8 i" m
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; i3 n# t' O7 hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 b$ [7 L, f2 l; w" ?* Q. P
medical schools.) [# i/ ^9 W9 A: E; c) T
& Z# s( \5 k9 E% NEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ j- @. J ~% A* B. |, b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ v0 G4 s9 }3 Z. p8 J4 U% Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# W' e) k# D2 c0 x% I, z: Massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ s0 V9 F5 H) [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; y; v0 G q/ k: C7 v# K' d/ g
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, v! ?4 u9 H" c: |7 @- Q: F, vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( o+ u& s6 T7 l& ~8 N6 X4 M
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- V0 ~; t. {$ g( C2 R
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some- S# n: g, W6 V3 n V i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! E; l6 U; N' d' H& l0 s4 a/ f1 [ ]
3 K; T+ [1 N# s# ]2 }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, _" d! ~. b6 m8 d% Jprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: _6 `9 b* }( R, `4 i3 T) Dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. O6 l+ }/ l7 d" Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. z* u. R7 ^" Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 G) s* p3 J9 y8 P$ w6 x$ `
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ w* u: J. D! ^2 E# }8 Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 }0 |( x3 |8 g8 ~* r* W \4 eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. k* k1 l6 q; @) p' Za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 F' K6 d: O+ \' Jcharge the fee defined by the state.. i: n8 g7 E6 N9 I9 r( m
- j* ?. c$ R# gThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ X; j7 `, r! von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& n: U% T; \) |0 g2 g& m/ U( Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& T: o2 _0 ~) t* f) G1 i
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ q( o+ r7 L" p% D1 g' }' w+ U5 Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 g" }( Z0 E% G% v6 C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on; B- B: E2 r8 ?% L: R, t
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 N( Q# C. S9 s2 F2 h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: Z3 b" n9 U* i2 {' ^* T1 R
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ q v! y' y+ R8 H6 ]! Bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- V" x( }; R7 z: N& L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* a; Z6 i' @& Q m9 o6 N9 Tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" `1 {, I+ k5 k: i% I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) e: m8 K, {! t7 F/ J d
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ Q0 u; L ]* L$ @- q8 f
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 C! H) y0 p. P# }# m2 U8 [own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 O1 C. i7 M; Y3 v
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# @* ?# ~4 q7 z: f) T( D
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% j! M2 @! |& fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( \8 n1 Y- Z8 z% \
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; {" Q4 l3 N: e u+ ^7 ccar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 l* j+ J- B% v! V, ?' R& t5 jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 o; b1 l8 l: t6 R7 Y$ R2 j6 b
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
