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
' c9 g! r5 `- Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. f( O: W% L9 m: ?- ^) J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ Z0 f) l) W: k0 H
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give6 W- b5 e& n1 n6 g9 V e
answers to our pointed questions.
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6 I4 U3 Z1 S+ m4 [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 }: R" I6 Z& M
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) h1 ^' X4 @# i0 b0 P; k6 Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: W& w4 L, P# l& ^; M3 I5 @( X# H9 Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( D f, P: C3 g8 {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ V8 j- j& k7 C: v
medical schools./ F( [! w4 T: R' u
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 T% a$ F# K( _2 e6 ~; u p3 ~1 Kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% x7 P- h& F! H& ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 e! p" {$ h% u% n- N0 D+ W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 p& d6 k: H! w; J) ^ d7 ?# ^4 I2 Dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, l9 a7 J9 D; uover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 r! O: o. ^6 J9 B# D1 \* a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 k7 l3 x; k& {5 ?' v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% Y9 ^; H) ]2 c* ~4 @3 `& W' p- V+ hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 [" \$ A" n$ s) V/ p) O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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5 A. T+ `7 C% f( Z9 p: y" o( ?The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
$ s* R* C. O8 k) e/ o; kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and l. a+ X2 @% Z8 l6 V& f& @: L- I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 j( Z& [4 d n% G
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. g% D9 c5 J. `2 F) b( \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 _) e$ e6 O9 }4 L, \0 S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ \! H# [. d1 @ a9 r O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 s. `. w0 J1 k9 Q' F, |5 _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# O/ V5 i0 b* ^a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ s H! K7 A# U, [+ |# c. `" S
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ u/ H. h0 p4 E1 `. p7 m5 E( ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 P" q1 x# g; V! Z: a8 B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# d1 z1 @1 x# \" S# q; Ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. T; J8 H& z/ x6 q/ Tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 I8 R4 N$ \9 g9 W4 b* V; D
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& d+ K# v8 t, c4 t2 [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 M+ V- ^6 p) N6 | {, j
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% T$ a8 o9 H" W% i G* ^+ {trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ ?6 ~# E8 ?* k( D% {+ ?0 y! `hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& t0 ]- y- G2 \; N0 v8 i
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) }# B' _+ U3 j7 @
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
@0 y) I2 v( t" \9 Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
, U3 G/ o0 Q: @4 b5 mare spaces.' v/ w3 |6 M, y+ Q1 @5 S9 j4 h
. M* g- g4 @! P$ VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 u$ e# i- ] M9 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
9 `9 v1 [) ~0 D6 w h$ z' x1 ?own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ z" w6 ]& G+ j4 t. i40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 [& ]8 K+ c' h; {" rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 _9 u1 B! {( s7 \: abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ _, W1 l# P0 r7 w$ d* gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ K" B& i. k. L8 k$ S' B
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ y. y- h6 n4 Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 o. y% b: S4 h7 ?& ]" N
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
