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
! k3 P- P5 n- Cstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went l+ |, A( T' y- q. R; u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 ~0 y+ X* t) H3 B7 W* L+ p4 \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 [+ u) z: e, a J4 V% ?- z" Eanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 k3 q' q, M" V
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
* U- c6 E* S9 B' Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( _4 F6 \+ @1 J2 C4 I% z" D! r
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! X' ?0 S8 L* z/ r8 u( ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! q2 E/ _& C0 A3 g2 n
medical schools.4 |2 i/ S3 g% t* t+ {8 E
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 U1 Y6 ~. y0 @; i( s
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 |* |7 f( x1 W3 q i7 j6 Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
# e8 x, X* U! _. K8 B; {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 V/ m% {0 }: G# x! r4 O$ L$ Eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 v, M6 d4 A* U4 r) K. Q) _% Z& Z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 X- ^0 L. V- y5 O
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' d$ c, |6 O6 p0 z# [! n
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- P' T; d+ f) X2 }$ ]1 u; o; c6 Y" k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: W* P. Y1 z- B6 x; ]) M: lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( o* \9 Y7 B. f H, r* L
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) y m+ X1 l( b; V+ Z& Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 ~9 |+ O2 s0 N2 T6 I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 E3 o: f' A9 _6 V$ Uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) x8 w/ j! a O2 ?6 M) |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ ]) e+ P" r+ ~) C( X' |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- f! Q/ V- ]) m/ Fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- o) w" ]7 a+ [8 N" q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. a/ E. G% `% n" c% ^a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( F9 y. {; M6 {8 z' {9 L1 Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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8 F- e7 j: C% TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& G* ?* f, @+ j$ b
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! |; L. z# G# x$ a
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; _6 j0 E) _9 b: Z# T6 D8 _3 a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 i' T [* c3 U) N# J" u1 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 k7 k2 [- c& G4 Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! m, i1 s- W" W* q8 K- Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 y$ @, ~ F* O1 g' z( |, m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ X4 y/ H% b& P& qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. O2 O# `+ A! Y/ H& o w+ r) Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
4 a5 |0 z) y+ `4 l' x+ ^people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 g- A2 }+ d( Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ C9 q6 q% c" R0 t: _6 ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" ]) ] [/ w6 f; W* @are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* t/ L/ x4 y) c& W6 p) u$ c* u% d+ d# Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% l( A1 a3 `; ^9 R, V Y, F/ O
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' c- ~& R6 I+ B. g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 ~* w7 I) z- q) G/ {, \' vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% u1 `1 _4 g2 w9 V
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
9 y# e; i# f+ ~7 y& l7 M+ q3 q3 Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 `* @* j0 U& E2 [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 m2 v1 s+ J/ `+ F! j' b
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 \# ]/ a1 F3 ^+ T$ K
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
