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
: c6 h7 M+ K4 o& u9 n: k" l5 Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- I" h! E9 D+ Y/ y won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 g. C/ c' x; n' B& n4 P5 O H% D- i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' n a0 }1 e" a
answers to our pointed questions.& a0 k- Y% j/ v6 n
& q# o, q5 R/ T* l$ w. SThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& c4 r" _3 m, r" ^# I45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ o, A! U. L9 { _! Bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 H2 h) S; [. _+ L2 e4 q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ G" ^# M) s& Y2 f gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; k4 B. E& @3 _& P f" u. |medical schools.$ q6 M, u# V# {8 [ g
% h! Q: k4 a7 Y% c3 r3 eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( N k5 T3 S1 z9 {5 E7 A, {
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 ]; B; o x7 r: E6 m" h4 t/ l' Z$ }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* v1 T0 G9 k8 F. N3 }
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" {5 |& w. N5 v1 v' F8 K
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# T/ V& o7 W& [1 m# ^* Zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
& f1 \: e7 E2 y4 p5 A- U7 ~* w& Aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) j) F# w9 h# _. B- {mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 |/ t. I1 f$ y! E( H/ Gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 ^( v" H& s. c* B4 S) O* [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
8 j: R( s$ w) [) V' y- R: u( T n8 _2 `6 c' N* h
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! I1 K: c0 c( t6 T/ o! o% `0 Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% @: F8 i9 a. Q0 O& t$ t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& @# U0 Z4 J- {7 J5 G
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
6 O v8 o, m O6 A0 f. T- qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' a e" b3 n( l9 i Q; `+ x
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high C0 b. m+ [) T$ g0 C% E" n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% F+ [$ S2 j- ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ k% ]5 G9 ~8 {. f
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 C! a7 D/ l. S4 M l1 T0 u) h
charge the fee defined by the state.9 A2 q7 N9 C r6 `8 T1 i" ^
& r" c5 _# o9 d# MThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& V4 l$ J- f+ G/ y9 Uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
X2 [. m& s* c5 m+ i( K8 Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 W% Q, C9 s/ z; [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) J7 ~' x8 y1 j, ]seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- n7 l; F7 {( S! Q' r6 U9 C1 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) x- d+ X. T6 J8 H4 z: gschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: ]. s; X; F# C: }, X
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ K3 U! D, p7 t* r, z2 Htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ n& ^8 |0 l9 L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ s9 s! c- L K: _5 Wpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ R# }' @1 Q) u) ^2 A" O) q g3 t$ Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 _. K2 [5 \/ w; obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
! q/ {; e! Y, R) mare spaces.! p8 v, U2 N; f- [4 n1 U! Q
# H+ b6 ^% ^: j/ o0 fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! U6 j1 t: D6 }& Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" F, P8 e9 a0 g" z ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 I* j6 G" P6 l: {# j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: f) H1 c0 K0 F' `1 Z. S' G
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 ^+ O1 \. ^$ Y3 {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% i$ \. s1 t" ^$ Y& [/ n4 @nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# o- M) t5 A3 P: q) Q$ {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: l! s" b% q2 j) m4 U eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ u5 {3 ]% ?, i9 d+ [+ ]8 `' C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
