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& h [! S, V/ p/ x4 s
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 S8 n: g3 l" \4 w0 C3 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ C7 Y9 J- l! y5 d% t6 d"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; C0 H. l1 ^3 Y6 L# S9 z- L
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# e+ |+ _0 N" {+ H45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. ~/ M# \- O( V' o0 b3 }out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# e( F" G; V' |% o$ M, [
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. Z! P! q) U0 J6 T7 {: r( S: X
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) J/ E& m8 p: p. y% Z" T3 nmedical schools.
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/ [3 P* r# w6 _$ ~2 ]' u+ vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" C7 m% `- x7 a# t; qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 G/ f* @' w2 U3 G" C: t
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 V9 E; E* \9 [5 nassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ C- b$ K+ j" B! U/ h1 ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 u/ c* Y. c" {& G/ w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- R3 ?2 W/ S2 [! Y0 y" h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) }+ w+ w Q- G) k6 W& a' vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* B( a ^ t+ L' V9 L- _8 ^/ }" O
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& B8 I! Y4 x+ j1 F+ M1 _$ g- l/ p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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! b; [8 b; `3 x9 u8 dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 H) ?3 t! I1 `" A1 C
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( h5 D) \. v$ ~3 n4 w7 a+ }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 r7 Q8 E* y& `" f
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 Q. p/ ?/ k1 F; j$ |
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 r: B6 N% U0 n4 j2 p, I9 ?sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 T8 p* t6 b) }- s+ V8 C1 g; a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 H3 J, {, M9 D- ~( g* d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) N% k0 t: C% S b8 q! c! b& Y) C
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only K' i+ I5 w$ D) c7 p
charge the fee defined by the state.4 K, l! J6 v2 H7 @% Z
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 n1 F9 t; u* x) \2 E* Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type# a4 e) E0 N+ F6 V% V
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( Y% P4 N& N* l% Z0 a* |8 Ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 I8 Z. Y* O: F( z1 [. X. ?3 Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the$ b, C) r {- h/ t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" x3 Q+ Y# M) X4 w7 @8 m$ @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 T$ ]4 C V! h5 i% q- a* |. ]7 dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- i T9 f! P% |/ p0 c' rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. l/ |) ~3 I; T1 Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ]; v9 m( _7 E& i5 c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 S O {% r7 ~/ k, J2 z# O9 s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 a. g$ o$ Z/ ^# E4 Y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) j; T0 z* \0 i# O2 F1 q
are spaces.9 ]; l9 ~( o. s" j3 ]& L7 z1 C( ^! m
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: p2 s7 S! l& X, |& e
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 h$ I9 Y$ d9 Q X3 ~
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) r! U/ I* d( I- o( {, d! F2 u40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( F8 j6 a4 u1 a. ]9 N6 p9 D8 R
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( I- Z! N8 M$ B( H" gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# \6 o! @. A# x2 V1 P
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
4 K. o+ ^8 z* hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 N7 {) e5 z$ z1 his a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' \3 @8 a$ g5 s+ a% M
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
