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
4 a! U) y' j& T, B/ bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- a5 O: v0 G9 r8 d% ion a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% t. x. W. K8 X7 h: }& r, q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* B+ o4 Z, F# {! K$ @answers to our pointed questions.5 N3 u9 ]1 A, Y. R; u0 i
, x5 k% u- ~: [ v, DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% p6 l6 C1 j& ~6 K: K. M. A: y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 a/ G! X& n8 dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 w6 O, N4 Q1 A+ t
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 V$ o( r9 w# C6 X) y8 _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 o8 Z2 _1 r8 `/ H8 l4 omedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 ?! Y5 A5 e/ ?7 P# ^8 {, S( Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants y- A, l8 l6 h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! y+ Y2 F' k$ t5 f, F$ `assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 T- `: u; j! e$ r* U3 C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 m" N& v7 c! Q4 g/ Dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 {% [2 ^" q! Z+ r$ D
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- n1 V- Y4 [+ N1 `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) F* r. b' {, L( ?( }shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ @! L. l) n: e7 o! bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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4 b) _8 m" |& QThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 L5 V5 g3 w' H5 b5 Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 c8 Y# r4 @; Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- d2 z! L2 q: J. u l% A0 a7 Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: O, Y% _8 k' L' ~
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 m0 ?. b' ]# f8 c- `( U" }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" p/ S8 o2 ^9 A- m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 E3 X' P3 _9 L7 `- J- X- cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ]" O& Z3 M+ p* L7 x6 \( H
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- q; M7 D+ l. s0 L5 |" j
charge the fee defined by the state.1 n ?! h- D7 d/ l6 L' a, O
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) P/ G8 _1 |* ]9 @+ ~, S8 ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 P$ r' e6 G4 B8 J3 a1 }$ R
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, m* s$ D& Y2 y0 C+ w" struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel Y4 w2 D9 }6 H6 L6 l8 T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 v8 n% {2 w6 M9 X" `* P- N' m: C Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ I/ B; m0 }5 G) ^4 }0 u) k
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ r) {$ ?9 o, Y% [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 v2 v) _) S& Z2 ~/ t
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) a. B8 [9 H( n- w0 |) Z* A) U
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' S0 q1 b4 ]+ ~+ J
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 ]3 Y! o! ~$ }) o( i9 I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
w4 Q+ A3 ]; a/ \) B# J- ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there z/ ]0 {! _% R/ k
are spaces.
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# {" o% A5 A3 X, X; N$ eThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 V/ {( I3 [1 ~: Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 S/ o$ ?& t5 C8 C3 V; I$ |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 ~% s! t1 D7 t% \# A: K! ^
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. a9 \: I* F& s- A0 qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ V. \2 `% B3 f5 ?) {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 T" L+ T$ V. Y5 D/ n! i
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
; `, n0 G+ D, y3 I9 K6 ?car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 L% s9 C) e: v" R6 e
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 J7 e& g6 ^: g+ v* ^' ]7 A
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
