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
7 D3 f, x% T3 e* i- Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. u$ _. t. J& n
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
6 k g; z5 t$ c! S( @# u& l"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, j7 _. ^# Y! Y; }( xanswers to our pointed questions.! c% s" u3 O3 K; L- C6 B j
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 y9 t' ~5 F, J4 F' K. j/ _/ b3 l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) W. d' |8 t9 x8 b3 ?out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 n2 H5 P8 A; u: s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ v/ D3 o) b1 E. K
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 W" i) c1 l5 R \7 b/ L
medical schools.* ]/ |, K. a- F# P
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
3 |/ s _9 e+ ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 N+ k/ a' @/ U4 ?% p, A7 z8 cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* ]1 O- A) [6 O! F1 T$ [# V
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 t4 {7 O: B$ U/ P j/ {# Yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" Y$ |0 W+ L) Y; }$ b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 S- l- {$ A2 N. k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, v0 `1 D$ \* d8 S8 R r" v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: D J( U; h4 s0 x1 [$ w
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: T+ t3 e5 H0 w4 gsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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2 S/ Y; n/ O% |, `3 ?" X! @. [- yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 J: N, m8 Z& l8 f% w* h
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ P( m2 @5 ~* B6 Y: c' ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ]- w! w) F1 U5 |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' \& V; J; l# A d8 e1 qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% `+ Y( d" ?0 T$ j/ f' ^* {5 f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& o+ H$ G5 Z- B: H2 B
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 W Z$ Q1 g$ H& |. \ K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ u0 o; J% k T7 |a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; N# y; F& N) F3 Gcharge the fee defined by the state.$ ?8 [0 y) @0 W6 [, ^5 T! D% h4 o
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 d2 A# ~# z2 ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
! a% T2 c' D0 ]' H. A7 Q' U. U* s$ Kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; L! o+ N' {/ c1 R2 ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 e T' n6 X0 w# Y8 gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: o! P- r3 `' e. c3 q/ H& X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ L3 Y9 h- h+ x
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 b7 J' r8 ^" f$ g0 k/ L, u) Q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( O2 {6 j: `7 s
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 W+ r) Y& W: ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
4 H7 O& `4 R: z4 J- V" W2 `0 S% @6 bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( @$ D' Q* ^. ]# A6 B8 n
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 {0 I& w- a1 A' p. [& v( `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( \, N' ~' ?/ ?are spaces.6 ?5 ]* p2 q8 j5 M: M0 p& J" ?) g
3 n. `$ F) z9 j% j2 N) sThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; ]) @: C5 f1 N9 Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# p& f) D0 R3 v: l! lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; [, X e9 u$ Q# d( N; ?/ ?7 M9 D- S7 m
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ P; v! I* _5 s9 J2 w+ V
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 B7 ]$ ?1 Q! o; Rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few: p" W1 q- N% `* O, d
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
& @/ A; J$ W% N3 ^car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; z7 Y0 [ f6 L1 Q# V0 Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 r6 F9 Y C5 ]# o1 f We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
