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
/ j" @# m) D& j) @) l1 }0 S! fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& o3 H5 K% c/ ^6 f/ j% v9 S
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 A, L/ r$ V+ L5 I"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, H/ h8 [/ O, e5 ?$ _3 P) h
answers to our pointed questions.! i. K+ R3 o; Z
) Y$ \/ D0 h, GThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 w! t; o* k7 S2 o
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- ~1 _7 n5 Z3 Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' Z1 Y$ e6 m* b: J1 V
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
@. f* Z- J' Vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 K, C) {" x6 M& P: o M
medical schools. T4 a5 [3 j* C% i. ?* e7 d9 s
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, j2 ~% n7 u! x2 [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 x! L: A! ?( h L; ^to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% a) w3 W; E- J
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 D& ^ U; m; ~2 R& b) d
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 Q6 x5 y1 j, E* s% n/ z- pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* x6 K, \% R+ T" lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 z& R( A9 T3 h: U/ p" ]5 @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" \8 X/ N* F2 X* ^( `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
G4 z' R& F6 {% w0 U" S4 Lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) ?6 ^0 V2 e5 i; k. j/ R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: k( \% U1 d$ f) l1 c4 _( xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ b0 f4 a# \# {) V& vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ Z4 h+ Z( O8 O
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
- I$ |6 b4 o5 R+ r6 h* z# U% lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 m- |( \8 p0 \& q5 |, d: r/ E1 d
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 X+ \" S, N; c" o" fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.0 d8 j0 L3 b# c& L
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' o: Y% ~. U8 A& ]0 h3 D0 I9 t- o- @a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only) E6 F9 E# g E& R- U
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" m5 d) s! v! R2 a& I8 B- Kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' g' s4 w% l W
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" v" {0 A% _. k
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! N7 v1 c+ D- E3 K5 |8 R0 j4 y
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ |( g' E& c9 b0 R1 P" j( B+ N4 Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* r4 b g: X# G
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ w9 `4 A6 H: i3 nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 Z0 Q1 X9 U+ f$ ?& A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ l; o" Z1 R3 \' H j7 P3 |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; H2 ^0 ~) X; X6 upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* L1 T: H$ Q4 Z* ^0 |+ T# I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 W7 O1 g6 T, c$ F- `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: D% S0 h/ W6 J9 W. ware spaces.
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$ [5 p2 c# n) }1 z( h9 a+ o% K( dThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! k! {' S$ \1 Wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
' P# p, j% i" E* T/ lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ c5 D) }* u% ?% [2 h# U. H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& |! H$ @- o* mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. O. q8 r) E6 [* l) V
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 [% b( l9 P3 Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, e" w6 h2 T& M+ S' @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* d3 K2 }9 }# E; c4 i- p4 qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ m4 }. s* t! |6 h- R8 V; o0 p We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
