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
$ l) {) J- r/ S5 h+ m$ Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 S u$ F5 a) ~& o# @0 f9 x
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' Y, ]" E+ B' d" v8 Z( o"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
b5 ?3 A o- e+ ]1 ]answers to our pointed questions.
; j9 R1 I _! T' j
; a$ k! i$ ?8 ]' N2 A# R% N4 o# }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' E3 [. o& w# ?# i
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: @& ^ f0 w; s5 B: R6 C( kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ I* o- E/ ?- Dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 H9 W0 x7 r" K4 @0 S/ [& T+ i
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ m/ R2 [1 t3 s+ Y" C( e% @7 ~
medical schools.
2 `* a! L4 [. W: d0 s5 ~4 L+ ^; Y- ~5 E+ J" k$ P7 G9 {
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ h) o% P! y. H, S _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 W) _5 v3 q( ~* Y& fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% N8 r6 i) ]6 R9 a9 i: f+ \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ s7 X% ?2 M: E2 T; ^is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ a) y! r; y/ M: @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! o% C/ L) S* I- U$ l0 I* L2 c! jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
4 t' \6 d* {, @- lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! f. F8 v( h& x! z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ q P; C* R4 n# U) U/ Y( Csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
3 y/ l/ _& W" P1 K/ I% m* F' {4 E/ _% o1 }2 u* V+ c. m3 L
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" l- _$ H% a: `; o3 |" ?( I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- e1 R1 i% Q' }2 R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- G R6 f! h. `! f9 I' m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- `8 ~$ ]+ W e! z7 N
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, D$ }0 e' P0 |" K. c
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 g$ [9 q8 J2 G: P% X. e0 y( y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 t0 ?' J" j. y8 o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& P% a! W% e8 J
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! Z6 w; L8 ?- f& z$ Q
charge the fee defined by the state.1 [' I! t% E$ G7 Y
1 A$ M3 @ g2 g `# N7 |& D
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 `* D2 y4 x3 M) y. S8 Q% K5 r. |
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 K5 U U4 c4 G2 B( }
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! E! b$ z5 u' l, c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& ?& i8 u+ t2 K9 n+ Y w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: E X) b7 H3 J$ t# `, U5 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" T y4 B! I" o3 w- s9 p$ s- xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 H9 R& ?) ?6 _" e+ xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 [; H1 b. V6 r! Z6 ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% e8 Q6 ?2 L9 M, |5 w' I( H' w0 B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# [) g6 j# X- N6 ?( O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
h3 x+ `+ ]8 [$ c3 ?( ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
2 r, h( u: a5 n& \/ ?; bbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! O7 j! K k( ]2 u3 S
are spaces. P/ H7 a0 s: h) L$ q
2 I! b3 x6 S6 K) D0 gThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ ~5 q2 z8 x* p" c1 B' u) p" Fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ C/ O0 B- R& R5 [+ j( K; l
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! E7 V) ]1 S: X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 G( {8 a4 F0 k& x, ~0 J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 _/ f0 ^3 j: A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ v- D# T/ A7 \# |' u X* z6 w7 _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( p! K8 O* o8 R+ n1 L$ ?' icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. g! q: P, E) m- j
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, u* M+ y( C2 @- \. j- C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
