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& W* t% J/ H2 O$ Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
/ L* y% u9 E$ _: |on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ v4 ~- x, o) X# K"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) o; D; Z/ J1 P8 c. yanswers to our pointed questions.' v5 q, l4 Q4 S' h e& o1 @
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 ?# h6 D* c. c3 u/ Z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 s; T4 J, C G) L" p5 z0 uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 L9 R& S/ T6 ?free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ l9 ~4 w. n$ h4 J0 f7 m0 _0 |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
" R. Q: p. |& U% @* K; v& U7 Kmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
3 H0 V9 \0 A T! G& z$ Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' X7 b' K& o; d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- o3 p2 G- p3 { y( ~3 Xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& G3 R( L. y0 \6 \( X) J; ~is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* S* r: v* G+ i+ M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 l8 c8 K7 x6 h: P8 i# Rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' U: B' {5 ~3 h; ~2 C. M4 z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 T, N9 S' E0 ^$ m. Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some% a* {1 H" j# N0 q! ^3 r
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& N* c( E3 ]7 b) Q* X; Q
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 S6 a2 N$ ]0 ~: ]- O$ l3 h: Y4 v1 qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 V) }; a$ p* d( l3 N
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) _, C: o3 U% p
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 U( { T5 {! M+ ^! Gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
+ M5 q. S1 x; Wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 c9 G) B& G: o0 t0 B0 Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 `9 }* v/ f# aDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When y$ u; i! c5 x2 Z; U) j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 q& x$ M& y' b" hcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; L$ |7 y! D0 n1 g3 }; v. }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
S% @! }; ^% i& Z+ {7 I0 }6 J2 [& Aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 L. M4 i" V$ q4 x& Y9 r" Ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 \- w+ w2 z" n% b9 ~1 s1 k- Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, y9 Z9 Y% T7 J+ R# \1 z2 ~& Pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ z% j" V% I3 H9 O. R' u6 x
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 K# i5 i6 d% U6 R! t L2 B& ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' E# ]! v$ ]: P8 g* Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 w& y6 t7 F6 o( p- e
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) l9 _# w. F1 Q- _5 |% |( i
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 n* P% }) ]5 @
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& I3 i; t$ J: g' P" o7 p
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 {$ p& N1 j+ n
are spaces.& @, c. C% Y" x3 I- q8 a$ W
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 |0 B& Y, \0 C* xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 N% P$ W! \0 P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- U% t! m9 l! K0 z+ Z4 ~) b2 Z2 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 T- n- ^+ U. P* G8 F# bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; {7 R, }# }1 b4 w* F! u% g% Wbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; ]" E6 ?5 O3 T, g. j2 a! o$ Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* E X) j$ J0 `3 k0 z; [% Wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
4 [( J* d) c6 M& I& O0 ?. _' @8 z+ Eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 Q. D/ e: M3 L$ n: E& v
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
