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
3 C- S/ E: K5 B" N/ K6 ?) Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
9 G/ {' o* W" H& Non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' E/ {4 g* y0 I
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" {# B4 d% p/ ~. n' U1 P! K! Canswers to our pointed questions.
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8 P. d; O3 f) hThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# _" m/ F5 m- i) s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 ]% W* F/ F% V( M. ^- K- b, ?
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* N$ ^% E0 w. A0 M9 d) _: O# _' xfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 u8 o5 n( M [2 b- u: l* Y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ R& J- h2 I, a7 \8 h- u; ?# ]( @- y
medical schools.; O/ D8 f* w* j" j& l9 u
' w6 s ^2 w4 ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! r2 }' X9 M$ ]: ], W% [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 o+ [2 s- r3 a9 j% B- w7 _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
$ r' w# { i" y( q0 d7 ~assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba R* s5 T4 S- Q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 |! \9 [; O2 Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
m, i% K8 w. ~3 j8 g" Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. n% o+ b7 i, U, x `% \0 S" ~9 ?mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ ~* \ V4 S4 m6 y6 K% O
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 P) ~& W! X3 W
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) X* K- _, ]6 J' O' W
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% b+ |: s9 I# a, L" `/ ]9 t, {
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 p$ q4 p6 I3 V( M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: x2 R1 p* A+ S% |. |have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% ~" y4 [) W7 C
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 { c& d; c/ k; ?; k1 Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 v. M0 s, c, D* L" N
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) n8 K4 J5 S0 ?+ e& w( K! bDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
4 H- K' ?' ?- R2 _4 }a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' U7 y( n4 s- O0 |2 e L( p! X: Xcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! r. S, V: R$ i6 r+ b
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# J" P' |' h- _. c8 {# n( n& S- @of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! F l6 c/ p9 ]0 m
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 G. @& z$ B$ q+ `" S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 Q& i! p' T, I. b
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: ] w+ U9 e1 c0 |7 ]4 q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; D# T q+ f$ Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 K/ R2 E* |# u K# w0 Rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 f/ v7 i' J+ r' Z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 Q1 T) h! J \( }4 @- d4 f' upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 l% C _0 W4 i& B/ n2 ?to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, o, y6 @( q& S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' u" _1 U" K: [are spaces.
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: P: B9 h8 @6 _! Z* H7 L UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# ?, P; x$ r7 m, x8 r) {+ O
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# ]" s: j( b0 _" L5 l
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% M$ D- q/ s7 ?7 G- T' f! e- O2 |40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 ?0 a- N+ l- O, R3 D$ {, g+ w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) n O: {2 |0 X/ `# Q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few. t" L5 U# K2 d$ T
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" R6 ~& ?( ^9 |5 n# wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* X4 d3 F. s0 q9 c, s
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ }! z: x; `" D# q: u/ D9 H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
