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
% B7 z+ D7 {# E5 vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! U4 C$ i$ f% P6 E$ ^. Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 h. T& J# M( ^: c0 D8 J
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, Z$ [9 h6 l# N6 E
answers to our pointed questions.& O$ f0 e$ U. n, ^& @: }- `
) t& H9 p" H/ L& x q5 l+ o' [! P, n( ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; t6 r" [) I6 N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% C) R! T/ h( n. ]/ @( A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# P( X, [- z- _! \5 K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- B7 ^3 C4 J$ h# O
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
& k! ]' k" O2 z* S- Q+ ~medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 e8 v; e' ?' E0 I4 \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ v4 B' u) @8 ^
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 ^6 E$ V3 a/ q% xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 e' O- Q$ e6 n! g. Y5 D
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" ~7 N. Z7 A9 A; }: I, x0 e! fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% }+ q9 m% N% i N. U. Xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! U7 R; e( { w+ H, [+ A% `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 z# y$ y# k" W; @6 o* E3 E7 g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' e. k1 [ q/ ^5 P" s0 ~' U3 Hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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8 g0 [" J: e9 Z; r# r) u1 _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# t( J! T% w% ~5 ~7 Pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 }0 P2 H3 U7 j) [7 N! T9 W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 C+ T. H6 y) \6 N) i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
$ b9 _# J0 L0 J. g* B N. H8 Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ n* L: X- I' L9 Y5 o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& H2 C) x D( P1 i8 ~2 J; o! f4 Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! T7 p' K+ ]0 p& w7 Z7 Y7 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 p: y ^5 L4 Q- e9 f; L8 j |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ t8 a0 }. a- N8 o- n
charge the fee defined by the state.# ?5 p9 I' s) f/ Z5 A* I3 g% r
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; P: O2 u1 m: Q( \ oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 l9 V( E- y1 H' p9 R& u4 i' ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big } H( [" ]- E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" S ^" K: K& e
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 ^# H" {% h( P; @% c! o+ [
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 A% Q, L- B" Z, R* ~
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ R5 d) S0 f" cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 X; d( O3 C/ K* {" o3 E ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 i" M% ?" B4 p" U" I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& I5 A1 V6 f% k7 vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 g- |# Y) M0 z6 tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* e+ f" |$ a; |7 ^* V) b1 \( H
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 ?) p* I3 L2 l* U1 p3 `* J7 Nare spaces.
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0 Z0 O* n( g+ X+ |/ z; JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 N; h1 J9 h, D& S# A# i; bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 p0 }$ n, M6 ^0 u7 w# zown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 e! m2 [' ]9 o" Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) X$ A1 N% `, _$ J7 zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( U% D C+ p& O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. y- s, w! `% vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 { {; ]/ G. r# m, t/ [& lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( w: G0 J) X {+ G3 U& ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" O2 d, E0 ^$ a- @ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
