我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 E6 K- b I$ M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: V9 w3 [! \ Y4 J6 S; n/ O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ k5 Z" D4 U/ Y6 t! |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# S5 P$ g; I2 } V2 j% ganswers to our pointed questions.+ c% I4 t: |) O+ @, Q
6 h0 R2 v6 A4 G) jThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% N1 H8 A5 W+ q5 X1 {45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 _( ~3 ?5 f! Y( q, x4 _! cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# b' K9 ] x L7 l% D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, D8 ^8 P+ n2 J. N' r
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 F$ w# f5 T6 d _. X
medical schools.( b7 M3 m( s( q0 c* }/ q% P
! l5 W! l" y0 Y1 w0 _1 v4 JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) A" K1 v# q/ B& Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants W& a* l$ f w7 E$ x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
$ R2 r& K) B8 j5 v [6 G |6 a$ p/ \assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ X o* j- E4 {+ b2 g) [is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 f( p0 G. l* A) b) R
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ D8 K! [; k+ t# k5 [, j
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 s/ B# e% V. U4 j, A7 N& rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) {$ R. l7 F+ Z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 x( T' H" U7 J7 o8 j+ W0 H1 k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' a' n) y4 i+ m
2 k0 e( c, T; s6 U, xThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 @, u" R$ D# p* Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 f5 g: g3 @) b3 A) x( C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 \2 M5 x2 V1 d) J
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
. k( n, x2 s2 K. l5 D3 dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. I4 s$ `/ [* x9 c2 Y8 ~% Z1 V' P, c+ Y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; f& y3 e! V! H9 l. O* tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' S% L) m) E9 y; n$ D$ L7 l2 t
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ ?4 R2 L5 k8 va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
O) e6 [% K9 l6 i) {charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. U. i6 }/ E# v% W% }( l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 Z1 S7 b7 |% h9 N9 D; xof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 G/ W' m( D- xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ }5 J T% X G1 o7 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: ?: z6 u( w& g6 B) q6 _0 V4 Q1 X cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 O# k2 O& J* q9 M) S% pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ D. ^. B5 n! myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 p9 P; @$ m& L5 Utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ p- s5 R* z+ e$ B3 b1 Y, Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 q% u) C9 t9 |" Z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 q9 B) f* w5 `0 g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: ?3 _+ w. ~9 H f( b' N
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) L! B) T; d; A r7 I; k+ Sare spaces.
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* I% i6 {7 j W }# B) v$ zThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, ~8 W) H5 L( D5 W7 X+ t% Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: U* Y0 a4 Z- z. W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 P& Y8 f+ a# ?8 ]6 M7 U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ L9 \7 Y+ L3 a/ B a: V( r0 |2 H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 f. }; w* ], q' H6 i$ ^6 M jbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 X( L1 C5 L; C- I% z# h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
4 B5 x0 c* q' x$ Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 R# s% X* M6 b6 f6 Y# p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 I" }) T7 S3 x T' e8 |) {
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
