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 E, t; k* Q3 u6 N& _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 G) y. h/ R" F Z2 \on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 L- e7 U: O& s" v"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- f! U& ~2 Z, Q' N: n
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 f' P- F5 P2 x# m) ~( n5 w7 G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- b. G; [& ?/ n. K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
" H c& F; q4 Z0 |& ^/ zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
?; ?/ F% ^! i: H; a/ y9 J3 kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- y. z; S/ I7 `0 |! m
medical schools.
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/ j8 d! G/ |* d4 H( f4 r7 e) n0 v& O5 dEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 E v7 f5 ?. ^9 G; r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ ]* z' H& ^0 p$ p2 Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* C& U! R8 f0 s# V( i. |/ X
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 g- T) J) y! m6 Sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" \$ z/ s/ \0 V' g- w P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 I$ B5 ^7 J; e6 Y' b7 Q+ g! Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* i0 Y. r" n' ^, Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, L& d/ P6 j6 |: ?/ Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ T) A/ _/ C5 G& \8 v8 R" `" Ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' N7 v t9 m. f6 }1 r. t) Y9 R: I
" e- T5 L s7 n b: [4 Y/ z. }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 ^) \3 ^+ o5 U, d5 H m1 yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
_- X9 `5 [- C2 Asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 `* y' w# y2 F8 N5 _ ]# qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* C _! a* `4 P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 c7 w- {" q) R9 ~/ U$ B8 F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 R; I3 G3 t2 p. d9 Edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# j# N6 c0 ?- Z0 u) ]/ Q, k xDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 O' g9 Z9 s6 `# [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 d. B0 A- f3 K8 d0 Zcharge the fee defined by the state.0 @" K7 v1 E% j% L8 e
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. |( \3 O2 l0 O9 E/ [3 ?on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- q2 X$ B$ r* W0 S' R
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, D* T$ H6 V" qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& i6 Y9 {/ Z/ \, i8 v
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 v" m+ y. f4 p' K
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% t- c/ m q5 J; W$ [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- [8 B. W" V& \+ u3 A+ P
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 j! l/ n. j0 B8 O8 d9 W+ A4 vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" G/ m; m& x: i0 uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 @+ x- I/ ?" m6 Opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 L) g: n% F! k+ s7 L" ^
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- u/ p4 C$ j& e, G" S0 j/ W& v! u, p) ~buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
7 e! C( `4 l& Dare spaces.' @5 |# m# o/ e3 d$ f8 ?$ M5 }* N9 a
0 V; [: u" I( Q: UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# R7 h3 u& q9 R% L# w& Y; y* Fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 J& ~/ q0 y" ]& q$ j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. F; u# E8 ^4 f9 R# x6 _9 V+ ]# d40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* ?1 m% g, r0 v9 L wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 P7 j) T) X0 Q9 G% ^& j2 f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; n: j+ P/ o" z ]7 E! Q% ^nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# k s! H, Y+ r) ]5 |9 bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 s1 v3 R, O1 a5 H+ B1 }2 |& A
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 U9 x8 p! v6 r
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
