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
O) ]8 a1 j& S4 e: L( bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 d2 ~5 M0 r: d! N3 R: l" N/ Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( P, s& f( a3 z- O"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& \2 r9 k; [! K% i# ^
answers to our pointed questions.
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4 f$ V0 k& `; C1 UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ z5 E2 H1 F" ?$ i0 G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- Z& |$ Y! P6 q2 bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% G& Y6 d+ k; K2 Wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) ^1 q- |, }3 Z" c' L7 G- y) h; _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ F- Q$ w7 F2 kmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) O( Z0 y/ Q2 V5 |2 Ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ S! N3 L$ d8 x4 Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ r5 \3 K9 C6 w2 k1 f9 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 s% L5 N9 Y! J. K' E1 @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 U9 Q) I7 a' c9 S" k. p
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 Q6 c$ ~$ F6 P4 oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( a% `; A5 j# G3 b- E O( V6 Z l
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) l! m) S0 |: f1 T; W Y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( K- Y( D) Q" {/ @" Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" z- }0 _3 g! ^7 e. Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
; y. ^9 w |& ?9 t2 w4 Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( _1 x6 _3 a0 W6 @( M! [/ V0 L: m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( ?8 q- f, u- Y) sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( L/ B; w1 N9 D' P9 ~sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
% L) N* y8 \2 p, l, N: cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' J( Q% v9 v! y( `/ |5 O. UDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; s' X6 _+ a9 V7 ]" ^9 E& S( L Ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 u3 j9 h, f/ E' n- u$ e' vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* S# `8 `5 g0 p! S; t+ M+ R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, i: w2 f N, v: ?2 X& W, dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: R0 } j6 n7 \( Z$ j Q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! C; y3 J! J! c7 M+ e# s3 n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ L9 F0 s! ~/ ~+ o! Z' O" o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- \& M$ h j& q' w/ E( s; ~schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# A# C0 ^- `' b0 y0 M% M# Tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 Y6 M* Q! `4 c+ ^ e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# t( ?3 H+ v d S7 K5 _/ O+ f' c6 K5 whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 r% g/ `* p$ \6 u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ K) {. Q; {5 S. q) ?) n. h
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 D, Q( v$ S& w" y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 w7 S H0 T5 @; o) x6 ^are spaces.
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/ }4 f5 k) U8 w) c6 yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# }( {0 j0 p% L% Q8 g
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. f0 z# J: l7 j8 K6 D) L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% Q2 @1 f6 Q$ @8 g3 N5 U! |) o( T" q. Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 n( Y* g& ?+ r4 Q( V. bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 Z, ~) ^: S, n4 {! _( M/ |; ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 |+ b8 u" @$ u& i. z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 R% `5 y8 Z# [7 Y dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 P9 l4 I! B* m1 t/ d! X0 L) ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) ^" ^) o9 _& D, Z& J; h0 t We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
