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
" m( X7 G* W5 Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 G' F% |; ]8 V; X7 P
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" V) }+ p3 i, f& R0 ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* @. z, r% N5 C1 Y! I& I% c/ lanswers to our pointed questions.2 ^9 r4 L% {( j' S+ w! I
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 K7 Q; l4 @4 q0 k45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 m) q- H0 J2 d/ @6 z! i5 dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. ]; v0 u$ {. p
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 d' D2 n$ y$ W/ e1 I- n* j5 K% f+ s5 d( Z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 `" f* w$ w& u" e
medical schools.
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3 W6 I' A/ F% v" v7 e |1 KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 V ?6 s" u8 E$ ~3 p9 D4 n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: Z* J8 `* h2 [' a4 s2 C7 G0 Zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* C& `+ Y( t m7 l7 {( |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 n# X1 u: C) u: y, m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
z% F! A/ c. p8 h. Eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 b2 t- M W1 a- x/ _
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and k) ^, r/ ^( n: T/ G$ x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 m* Y6 J. X: z* Rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some# `! N' e/ [' O& z9 v- I
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. a* C1 x9 G% ?2 {
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 Y4 I& \+ s3 wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 R9 ~8 }! ?8 G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 [* J# t. a5 O$ ~0 h4 m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) G! K+ F0 r, K/ [' J, R- N* qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
* ~$ \: u7 G- hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) i N5 J: T: Y6 N: I: z- G0 ]divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.5 u! l, U5 g2 l. k- z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When _, m3 m! L J( k, N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, L* H' ~! G1 @! n$ Icharge the fee defined by the state.
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P7 G+ B& z+ {There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 n) q9 o; m- O$ F( G# Y7 a: J. Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( z1 s0 g/ X- Y$ e
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. _5 d4 P8 i9 {. U6 J7 v; d
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% q6 a( b: n& O( X/ C$ Z4 Z7 U
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# Q6 w' Z: ]+ ` q- Y2 N! Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 R6 U. r& f( c7 M2 yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 X { ?+ e1 y6 Q5 h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
, S0 h) N) \: B& W ^1 Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' ^' w' f. m5 V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- t' I! f( T: O9 upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 v5 z" ^0 a) J x7 M8 Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
6 u8 P- V! T+ Z- rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 _3 V6 ]- d; q6 d2 j
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 U7 L# I1 N1 r# Y. vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 x5 ]5 q s* w5 ?3 Wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 Z5 T: w* T4 |* }8 N( r$ `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( k% k0 W( I$ _( {8 j; U, tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 b8 k) T' l+ ]! V6 D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- {/ Z P# z) H" A4 J
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 u4 y z6 W* H$ R! k$ R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 g3 c5 c- ]" t" E; ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' P! c2 c# O8 f+ n6 g We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
