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
; a, s8 Y+ F3 n+ jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) W6 s' R8 I: o: Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 k0 d0 s' ^# E) i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 o# p2 z& F, ~7 T: k+ ^0 Hanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 R: w7 y: x, t& D1 ?
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% Z p9 q# i0 [! u4 ?8 v$ ~0 S6 ]
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& C6 }7 [4 M1 P+ b1 J# z) t
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ i$ [; b# W$ t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 e- [. F% I7 x2 p( C
medical schools.
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+ `. b5 g2 r/ {* M- i; x8 WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; Y5 s( r$ |9 ^; rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 e: o# c2 M6 ^) D: a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 p' W9 c: ~! H; f$ Z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 {# m! |" U8 K7 X& N# {is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 X" A+ f& z j4 w5 Q/ U; iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 t! o) m7 b% F5 \& b; N hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 q% J, c4 u6 h& u
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 L$ W6 [7 J7 [6 Y% f8 M7 |# z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ S5 h5 ?% x j( k! Asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 m' i7 I# @; d g6 i% zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( }: l% q% z7 C9 {
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# `7 y7 K% w/ g" r3 \& ]+ e3 E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& I. _! A2 o' X/ R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
1 [/ P. }8 K. h: ^: M& E; Q& `sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; I/ ~* p- J8 R% W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 V( F2 a- D* M, M3 }
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! A& `) p. ?) \- ~% k) Na lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. W0 l7 [# B9 j) p0 m) V0 ]( G) r" a
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 k& Z. T1 I& Kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; t8 o( }" [5 W7 S1 t$ `' i5 C: Z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- W- f3 v0 h ~0 m& @/ Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
t$ L) k8 W, g, ~+ }1 [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
" d9 q. g9 s! z' ~working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 s2 j m9 Q6 y2 l' u) `) i- j
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 Y1 @, b) [: z Dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 O! L4 i" g- L; p" C5 c
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 R& ~2 I( }0 u% r7 S7 E3 X" Rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. A" k9 B6 W2 Y% X
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ P- U3 v' H6 h7 x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 j) M; [* \" `% u. y$ L
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
! t1 S, }4 g7 D2 n( p' r2 fare spaces.
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6 a( s4 C3 a; \- LThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( N9 R' [* J3 ~' I% s' F1 f. Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' i' M5 i" ], ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ P3 D: t5 n3 f/ R* ]/ M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
n8 E# u6 k# b9 Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 g! W+ |0 S( x( e6 N2 x& `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ h0 i9 t' O* l' u: W$ ^/ ~6 lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 T( M5 S! Z! b4 rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ K3 D0 c- M; Yis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& K$ v1 O5 a! G$ T- e y O5 d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
