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
, C" F* B" j# R, `1 tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 s' o2 Z" u5 u+ O3 \on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# {' ?$ G j: Y' p$ D7 F$ V/ Y: B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 N" H; z3 A" B- v a6 a) p/ wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& d! s ~3 J" `! i. u7 l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ ^/ Z& z) o- k: m! k3 d; Q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: N( u% o1 G6 i8 L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: u' O0 Q( } J- y+ U1 x" Fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ @; L: C7 q( v; z. P4 X: M
medical schools.
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* `' L- V- G6 y, A+ c# TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. i* k6 H. U% D, O9 a, C9 m7 ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
k" N: m t! fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 J% D. M- Q* \/ A+ r& Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- U2 c9 T9 h, ? p- g
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 O U. K1 g( q6 M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 `! e1 y' Z( i3 t6 K2 e) Bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! @' U$ f- [5 c' ^% k' [# Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# Z' W5 F& M# u3 R# W3 N; c' k a8 n
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) i" [. c/ _% bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ N0 T. S) |5 `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ ?* n6 A }0 b$ y* T" \8 ]+ wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 S: T$ @, {* z5 D4 r6 W" ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. r7 r& e8 b0 u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% I% [$ Z4 a2 i6 R) H' N, n
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. ^$ ]0 w8 G0 l5 `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) `# n3 g& c. DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! @/ s; B7 x; `+ C& K& M& aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) p7 t" |2 \- B. |charge the fee defined by the state.) `' L, P" l# z; _, z w5 L; A! Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: F# O/ C1 g* h/ r3 V2 B# ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
S" m: _- C) ^+ F4 `5 Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 O# f6 P" L, ?9 L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# {8 \/ X' G5 E6 Q4 `4 d: j, Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 m- x- {: ` i& f0 k
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, _) }6 j* W% B0 D6 H* ?) z7 L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 e4 x( f1 @0 n2 q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" I% U' @/ d1 z% j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ ~( Q( o1 N0 S6 ^
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- K0 m r2 G7 e2 e+ a/ n4 W H C0 Mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 a: `, Y: W/ h8 }* K
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 o: ^2 T8 I9 z1 R
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there K2 m+ a4 r; U3 B/ H
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- U& Q. }: @5 ~" D
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 m% y: F1 F/ s, t8 v* C
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 k( D0 n, Q$ Y/ ?6 f. S. q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 ^8 A) R! X/ a+ g- Y9 @parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 p$ X8 B& J' }* l/ ?, o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
# H. b" t$ ^4 D- k5 Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 P+ k- O6 y6 O1 qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 \1 c1 f+ h8 _8 j& L
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. I W" w6 b3 W6 D! h/ `6 D! D We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
