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
. ~/ [) G7 y5 A Z2 Mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 A) F% w* ~9 q3 a. o1 h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, V3 w! f# B! p
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, V ^( J% L4 p. E" Wanswers to our pointed questions.
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+ d0 t" D( j& S! ?$ qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 R2 ^5 n/ F) W
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 r2 G7 L1 s8 w3 N: Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% Q; H9 @2 ^9 L. v4 n; O
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* {" b- q; \4 j6 b, zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 w# c8 x1 R! d5 D
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 f6 p4 n& ?/ a ^$ D0 C7 E
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 L. A4 K8 F+ h/ e7 Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
y& Q0 w& \" j2 Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 D' v4 q5 R' eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; X8 ~ c; @" Y$ e: c, Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ d3 g, g' b# p0 z2 f2 Q5 u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 a; Y' g! W0 E6 d% s; ~& smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ K+ P! T7 j( k# q% ~/ Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 X$ f/ F+ r8 c* M4 v) d
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ l0 }5 c0 w+ `+ f+ H9 Y
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 K5 x8 X! f6 m0 ~
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, p+ ^" {" {& W: d k4 U1 k
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% q* Y+ z4 G: m/ Y3 c
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( p7 _5 B% T' t( |" Tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% H* Z5 F8 p$ f- m. r5 x, H, m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' c$ i I! V6 U& u( W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
k+ h, t# X/ N* X: Y0 n3 TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* ~; D# h1 W/ G& {- i" M* Y: l6 [+ Ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& I( a9 A. S1 m4 J: Q7 d
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ u% w6 f/ f- ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 y$ k: r9 c: {3 U4 K; Eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ x* t* ~( w4 m9 v1 E# f8 m" t) ]6 O/ _
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 \( V p1 K# }, x; ^% c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) V# A/ e2 o* G( Z2 bworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 J* z: a0 n% u% Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; Q) c9 \% q9 T! v" _: A' Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ O5 c; L, K0 v* T6 n" M$ strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ v! a H5 s! Y* D4 N- dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 q1 k4 s; e$ R! S' M, O5 {people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 F1 i+ Y% k3 }" fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% V+ Q6 {; T! ]6 Y
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; B7 \/ @$ L; t. [" x+ b* o# mare spaces.( \- `- H6 f5 ]" e o' h
1 C# @: M8 ]) Z) H8 g9 jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( e9 j5 @( E" d/ t: Bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" e. l5 L# |, B! `$ j; V$ k# Y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# N2 {8 Z! i/ t" U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
$ E+ e. \6 {: ]4 I% b' {parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 ?' l" L7 l, {7 fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 j/ |6 ^7 ]5 L0 h: F; ?# mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: T( W" d; I2 V! U+ b. ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 [- b+ w- X+ wis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." M5 P$ J3 V& S. X& {! ?
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
