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: r1 Z8 W! K* Q, U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 Y; U2 X: ?! d( L- U& bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- c e$ I" c+ x
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# _& k$ {1 p' x* s" k2 U
answers to our pointed questions.: Z- `* r9 b: K& H
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 X/ f2 g4 J' c M45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ Z$ ~8 t o9 b& W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% ~( D! g% s& b% O8 @& jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 V1 a5 [4 e gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! U8 |; b! P' q
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 [+ e! A( |5 L) z" b9 b) M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 H; H, _! m \% l6 y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 S# H9 O3 \5 Q* ^3 A3 f) s+ e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 @3 F: ?7 s- ~3 l' c# P6 |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 P/ D4 i9 E" N) v4 {
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 U) _( _" L5 x s8 n# ?# a7 j
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" a1 o# J( W) }! \/ |
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 M3 W* s* p6 I: R1 m; ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some) e8 }" b( M4 U. M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. H* s4 {2 j" M- p8 m; {
7 I' U' e+ c" P- B [The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 o) S$ B( I. M% J( h# [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
& |/ X7 l7 O7 e G+ j, X" rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people \0 G& @/ ^0 @- B9 o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- T1 n: J$ b0 Y' R# f$ T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( r% p% g& m+ T) qsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 e" t+ v! N: S& \$ Z% U. Y$ v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 s1 w p" A3 uDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: T% P; c6 \: V# I- Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. N+ n4 d$ x2 K; kcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% [' _, A8 k8 ]7 q' o. V
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) J4 j+ K% }5 B3 J1 bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# w9 r4 k. c3 s! I) Q" \" j, Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. g6 O' w4 m$ M8 ?# N& t( a
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! c a: [/ w1 c# K) Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% E+ S0 D+ u( o" s" fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* y3 t$ u) g) ~8 C" y4 Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% ], _+ s m' m+ S7 y# D [
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( P$ {, T- e! d: y6 x) X, [( X" ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 F- h8 f6 z$ Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, h1 J/ T6 {0 |7 {7 c% H Tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# u- u1 ~% p( R# @" o2 Cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; P c7 b/ Z8 Q, V. I8 V
are spaces.
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" d3 h: U; g+ i- `% h9 t, |There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, K: w8 t* f/ w) C* z
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" o/ A' u k; U3 c% J& F0 u/ Yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* P% J+ e) G, Z& S' g% s& B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 n" q# v8 ]4 `% o: F+ ~
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 q. G; n) F# c+ C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& o6 p* x# `" Pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 b# n: x& D" e0 V: @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 P/ c1 [( Y9 Z' t0 b/ Yis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( u. i: P, _0 c: G We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
