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* ?# r. b* ]/ C; l" o, M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
$ O7 p* b S" M' _( {2 X" Eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! f, _- X6 O* c5 W c% H"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; D6 p$ Z8 [6 u, a/ ~% S
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 \" j, n" ~8 O6 c9 n" i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
& ]$ [; ~8 K }1 X7 f' D+ `out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 [6 Y4 ]- P- gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 t' _3 D+ R7 }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 ^- [$ q+ i( g+ _7 ?! `, ~- i
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 j/ _, p- h+ O! T2 O& C5 m+ \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& M9 V0 C) G; P; F l: i5 oto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 W+ q }0 i: h) T; S; {
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
6 G4 l: Q! A7 n: S/ r1 \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to M( s+ \$ i0 S" c2 J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 J3 U/ C4 P2 D Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 p( F8 {# R% [; c) A1 Q# F H0 d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 }% a9 j0 u( P8 T$ Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% |' [- s7 |9 c: ^. ^& W: U; i6 A# _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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/ ]4 T5 Q' P5 k8 n0 r0 u: mThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 m0 w+ w/ b+ y& S/ J/ H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 S' M0 d/ a( W/ W4 Psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, p9 J8 o* Z2 k, z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" V3 h/ n( @: W& ] _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
' T4 A0 v# x! B8 |sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 E* f; a. @6 N% u8 A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 O6 E7 N8 w8 y' U" u& M: [Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When H6 a/ u7 @% g# j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ g9 d* U0 I# Mcharge the fee defined by the state.7 o. ^0 r) H* u' S
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( F" m/ G$ r4 S& [1 c3 o
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type H6 O4 n4 \8 R! c8 E) v) G
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 C6 B7 h. a& [. w4 K8 ~
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 ?" X1 f/ X' n+ P/ ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- M3 H* ], F# [
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 B+ a; y% t% R# Aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, t/ b+ D ]1 n5 I6 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. e& g; m" e" F& ?trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, B# C r( v# e( _3 Q! x* f, J/ T
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# _: B: |# M+ _% {. D! q' s+ L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 ]' D0 |/ m1 x* a5 `) ?. J4 D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 ]( y% P X, ^: k, Q* g. Kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
. ~2 r3 u5 _9 r' ?/ dare spaces.
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( a* x3 H$ Y4 V, x/ j; a5 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 [# j/ w) _0 k' l: T# C6 z3 hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: d) Z1 j6 N) u% pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
v/ m8 w( ]0 d M U" ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. a# ?% U& L( z- \
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% [6 z5 [ f X! I5 J; z1 ?$ F
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! s$ N; R2 t( }6 g+ S$ Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- x7 R/ c% H8 v7 f. F8 rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
& E9 g/ D* }6 n2 L, y# }is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% m9 T; ^4 _, h/ n1 w We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
