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
& {! t* z4 @! z4 e/ v/ L9 xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 ]+ x4 J5 B, G: ?- K2 v8 D9 ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
5 y/ P* q6 j5 G"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& V0 n; X. k+ kanswers to our pointed questions.
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3 D, A2 \& G, G7 n+ M: ^- S" R1 ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 F/ g) _9 g$ J6 S/ ?
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 p8 d/ z+ }0 {5 ?5 q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ z, \) S5 P2 i9 bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
1 k! t+ u; e, D/ b3 B$ A0 o6 tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
* {6 j e" x% A9 Nmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 o( P( `' o' R/ G% v0 J6 q
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ u8 p) h* e$ ~# n5 Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ \7 t5 }" \6 d4 i4 `) S
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, N' P1 ]9 G2 d5 s6 mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# D2 n/ ]0 I$ Q! r# k6 S$ A, ]% b& {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 ~; A1 n% B* M6 O. p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 m* g% b$ i; e( J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. f8 k" T- D, d# Ashortage which the government is addressing by converting some a1 d3 K6 q0 V2 Y: H1 R5 o7 I) _
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* e/ M9 q, Y* M1 v7 k' c5 O7 V
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% s1 K5 b+ g; M1 y3 s; ^' ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 m% U* d8 J: A2 P, k* B A( K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' {5 w! K9 F d8 Z5 a! b: d3 y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, d! w; x+ r) H8 vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
. h1 F3 x9 r8 Z3 ]' Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 ]1 h0 i* e% M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 b+ ]+ {7 k/ P% vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 T) G9 u9 W1 Z) [: A5 M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( l, T; O+ u: D5 [$ w3 }
charge the fee defined by the state.+ M4 Q! \+ d+ B9 M
- H d2 x" Q! x5 U/ uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; g U% [. {2 Q2 I8 |( |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' x8 [4 `: o! b: f# w4 }of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 _( L5 P: k2 c4 \2 N6 V4 x
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 r, _! m, J: kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
2 H+ K! y- P4 `$ D1 {8 h- E$ Xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ }) ]0 d' r* M4 _7 V! u
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 d0 q& g+ G, ]you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% R/ O$ h0 ~: O8 N8 T: `% Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ S( i Z) u( L) G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' v4 X- B0 z9 }& ^. {- z ?people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# {# p/ B+ l0 s( Q2 V7 V
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- i% @+ w4 u5 Y( [. S, t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there `( B* X0 I; M, R, U
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 x6 [! P" u2 U; j
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 a5 P' U) g" D1 r; q% n" A* H; Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ i4 Q; n# h/ r9 B2 O9 U4 l1 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; f2 v6 w @8 p. P5 R( W
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. J) l0 i: y5 ~( B& Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ M7 N4 O* f' }1 C4 q6 E Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, K5 Q# C1 F( K7 q2 b: \( ~
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 W) F7 g$ T$ s& X2 U
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
O( l" E2 |$ h We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
