我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living6 A' @: v( o! c6 u& k
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 }8 `1 F0 L6 x
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 V, e& U% u9 s9 e& n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
( X/ L! I. n3 D5 Y4 v2 y* ^$ Canswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, ?' E6 \( J5 [3 H2 H45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; U9 V9 a) ~5 `6 s/ ]9 K. v: V$ f! p; Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 k! }% s4 n& z' p, \
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 @4 W) J" f6 O* U, H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) h. @$ I* c% F
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 p- _6 x6 |; J1 _, Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) j8 \3 m2 g/ o, i; N! j
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- u- [ w$ g5 R( D' T7 Qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ Q5 R7 X% b& D( X& e, u, v, z" U
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ B3 S) l# F4 Y) r$ k
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- I* \' B6 v( E3 l. d+ ~& rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 h: L" q' t* O+ d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, }/ v0 f; ^2 S" R
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& c) l3 s/ Y7 @+ C+ c) \8 L2 |
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 U; c9 Y" e# o. ^2 n& V. g; N2 T
4 K, m, \" N& e' w* ]' K0 B# wThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 W) f% K6 k1 J& w4 {
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, K% n) R; ~$ o6 L3 Z$ T
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ I! t8 o0 O) s: q7 ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
4 i7 V% W% Y: p6 E6 H, E6 J0 xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( A- q7 K/ W% g( v# T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 {1 O8 A& A2 i; N% g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ i3 A0 Z i8 {- c
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 {( H6 q+ _$ Pa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 E, w6 u8 n8 S) X3 h3 h# f( B" F
charge the fee defined by the state.. F0 ^2 G7 m# i. W# T7 D
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 }+ r- y. F3 ~, C: V$ w# G# }
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% t8 E6 w7 I/ n1 I5 Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 Q. Q- I2 ^. q% G$ c% @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! }/ r& A0 P4 W4 W$ J9 dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! e( E2 U' U% n! q$ lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
0 {$ Z, }. T' oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" v9 Y0 S5 K/ v% ?3 Y& u2 j Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ m o3 G7 N7 z9 X' s7 E* B
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# c2 R2 V) @ Z! F* ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 o3 i% n, C" c7 k/ Q9 U! S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 M) @/ ~ o' v) B" \( _; ^
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: b. W% V0 h: z b5 ^, R2 m" f
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 e' {* s" a0 ]; q9 f
are spaces.
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$ |. c3 S! y& Y5 v! `9 QThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ ^' r6 G3 Q" F" d
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they+ K1 R* I" G* D# [
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& g8 ~ w1 n/ `; A' p3 q/ j4 R7 U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 o/ e7 Q7 y; e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 [% @7 c8 s: w9 _$ ~+ l* c/ obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! \$ V" X2 C; |nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' [7 a% j# g' _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& c2 B% F* _4 @# ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., m: x p' W- O: Y" h
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
