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
8 H d/ j {) I! Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" \( ]2 M7 {7 P0 Q' Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! h! C; K1 d0 J$ D"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 u( w* E7 u' s% m" nanswers to our pointed questions.5 y( C8 U/ J3 K' R
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- t" `0 |& ? @) ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- V W G$ Q& Q' _out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( s9 g+ Y6 ~5 `% Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( f6 T! N, S' h2 O; l) fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% k8 ~. e! X- S7 ?9 X
medical schools.
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( E, ~3 L$ ?4 {8 c; J- w1 k# zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 Y/ U" B3 y3 q* y1 F2 A' cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 d. J/ ]$ O" E- {$ s
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 l8 j+ Y( o1 g- M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba I+ ~) Y. T, b8 y+ Q3 M0 b ~( L6 A# Q, \" |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% c- O+ e& x/ Y- }7 b9 q- u2 a
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
W! Y& B2 A7 ~) i2 }( N; oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ v: i2 {2 h! h6 b3 R$ H4 ]
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* U) H- J) v% I% n+ Z6 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
9 l- ]9 D6 d! _6 i7 @' isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 C: n: d# R: a. P' C
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: i$ Q! l0 Z9 Y6 `' K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; R6 o- y( ^* u" p$ Z; B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
s9 O9 l; A c0 khave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 ?$ d/ _' M# C& r9 l) {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% a8 O v7 q2 b" Z; i: Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, U6 B* y w: y9 M4 g# Q# K% A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 ]/ g5 X" m3 `8 w" R- ^, i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& J! ?7 G& S' |6 Y* m! l& ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 J. R& I7 v8 x9 j) A8 M( {. S3 p
charge the fee defined by the state. i8 b; W; H0 \' o1 p/ S
1 w# `! h+ P, v$ q, C9 H- vThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
, U8 o: f1 Z* v7 R) G+ e% uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 H* p: c' g: y3 E5 ~5 J! D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& M5 @3 O5 ~* n* Y" G6 n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 ~+ ^9 M. P/ S- Y* U3 T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& q% K ]5 f z; ]( m- R
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 ?) I$ Z, n7 \8 |schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* p2 \9 F+ C9 ?$ m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& j5 S) G( U; s7 b; jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 ]0 F* ~7 f* i& g. F8 _5 shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' ~0 ]' {# ~% ~
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 T v9 v; _) m& m' vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# ^- t8 H5 |; F& ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 ]0 V+ Y, M- P7 \0 Dare spaces.
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# \& v- |, U5 y' x6 o1 BThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# I/ v' `6 c7 v) r9 j6 T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 x* H I$ b8 i+ W9 bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& W4 {7 ~; \3 l2 v$ u2 p40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' |) @. A7 a( |0 }# ^* vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" Y6 i2 V2 y$ v9 G$ ?7 t# F# E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 D T J c. R$ O8 @5 C7 L
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* X$ r1 J& t& L( m$ ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( o; @& V+ }8 X" ?( J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# t( O! C. U. o' F$ R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
