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
- y- m+ S# y. \1 I1 H2 [: A# t! Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 ~" O. O' j% [/ R3 m
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. b; O( T }8 g2 [0 ^$ x# X% F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 \/ G1 ]4 R4 g! A9 j0 l# X
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* @; T. c' M1 Q( x) k7 b45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 X0 P0 o+ {+ _out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 P! P1 M& _. b7 L$ f8 R, S T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 T, ^+ q4 M" n" f u) e5 U5 N) dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ x7 C" K1 o- j( ?8 n9 C6 a! dmedical schools.4 y, B D( v8 ]! f0 Y( Z9 [
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the C' k/ J' A4 A7 @# C
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
" b8 \, H5 [, G* H; V5 z7 y, D) A, uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' X; m9 d9 |* i. U" C+ e6 V$ A
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 ]9 P* p8 \, s& Y, u
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) ?* y) S! }* q$ j w! Z$ A! a
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# s6 V( g$ l( n+ s9 W! Q- n- v5 gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% w7 ?! V/ t5 f' J0 |) C! U* Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& K# f/ b& j5 y1 z1 Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ [1 d1 n: g6 k! q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
8 l' e4 n1 }* |8 N2 y* Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% {% p: x6 b! \/ z; W# Q2 Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 m% [" F4 m1 [have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' ?1 T0 E4 S! Z+ ^thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ \; T" {' z+ V ~ m2 p1 V9 r( N5 s
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ k' W7 a7 y' N$ z/ b, Z! @1 I* P0 Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
B0 n: \0 O3 y8 s9 K/ Z: `- YDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 Z+ Z! d! X% F+ m" fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 A5 K: x; o6 a% L$ A; V- F' D
charge the fee defined by the state.! g6 r R$ n+ S( \% b' w- z' C7 S) n; o
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; B4 d# ~" s! x# c9 _. kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& C) ^% i$ Y& B3 [& `" c$ y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" X8 j: j5 @& f( D( t$ ?# p+ l9 qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
: O) Z" q: ]* {% {5 ^8 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( l) R# A) |* v9 y+ N0 h8 B& j
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* h$ m. N" W( Aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 H# `; Y1 H- O5 ?, y6 G( l
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
s7 t" P% j% b; r+ {$ U: htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) Y# s; K2 r) V1 O' \
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 i1 s- A# p: speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! x9 q5 O/ Q4 u( G; jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( ]1 ^ H' I. o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 n' y* q& T6 d* B4 ^. iare spaces.2 w4 Q9 Z3 z) P7 M" _
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 I: Q v! I5 [: X6 e/ Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* H7 w ?4 i ~, L, v
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) I8 B" X/ G# ^" j) S0 O6 M! `5 f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different `! L m* }% O- s1 p' @* G a+ C
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 p% f2 Q7 P9 `2 t Q( L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% V- t; p) L8 }/ z; G# r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 S, l% l! ~. W1 _
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ t* w4 F# i$ K; _. d. s9 z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 @$ p+ b4 F! t# m D. h1 b We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
