我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 E- V( p! ~- Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 B* F5 W& u' z1 o% C
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. h* k: T6 L" V) p+ j4 D"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ }6 @/ {6 B$ B4 D" qanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 `& N( O1 c! ?2 M
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; c T2 x V+ Q0 U1 l# e4 E3 A+ Z
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 a$ [. y- l4 m! L- y6 c' _/ m$ sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 l+ v# T2 } ?. y( gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. i" r' U, r: ~/ h1 w% m8 smedical schools.
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( I% l/ P: o6 X. w+ J' c& kEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 n9 o, M0 a7 ^0 a- e' `; u! I' w8 _
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! U; O8 T( _; B- t' ?; @# h- E6 cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 q5 ]% j% t }4 c8 m9 Y B& \* L
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 v- t9 U# m& q% n3 Mis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( h, n' m" J$ d& bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* a. e& I+ o' K% j8 kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 z8 {8 D1 q J; V' ^mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk | P7 _7 ^$ b/ w4 O% p3 u
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 r; T# E1 `7 h, |6 W+ G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ w2 t, e+ j0 o& E2 `
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 g, K: f/ o. kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 W, i- e6 t9 I7 G; ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 r ?' b# k) c% P# X) n& E8 d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, o8 v' G7 q7 s' ]9 O3 L% d4 cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 s! s: B1 Z9 D4 H
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 ?6 i4 ~3 {- p% W7 a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* S) ^" m( a0 Q) D' Z1 ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
1 V; Z# a- v2 d1 e2 k' Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 M: s! N& h$ T, d8 ~; o6 \! v
charge the fee defined by the state.
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: l/ M- Q6 F9 Q w9 w& W4 `5 U& sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 D8 P3 g. }, W: {7 \+ P6 g6 ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
V6 T5 A* K7 \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
$ }# R& ~6 E: ]7 w: Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ r- A5 x- i3 w. V5 p/ tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& _7 w1 _/ b0 z1 N9 S# u8 a6 V/ Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" Q- i, Q. I" e0 \3 B5 Tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% B' k. y% ~0 C: c) B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 d: D1 l3 |- v4 P) ] U7 \. e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) ?8 e7 ^" P& @6 Ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# g9 s3 b, M% w. c5 W3 R7 w" Gpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ | B0 m( P3 X5 h. E2 U
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; B/ ^3 q5 p$ d# O7 R' @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
p/ Y. K# y; ?6 rare spaces.
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3 T9 f0 r2 H7 ^% A: wThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
E7 N) ~9 R: L/ S- c1 Oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
{7 u0 w5 F: A q1 _. sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the9 B# i$ @1 ^+ w* }5 I. g. g l
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" y! D1 U) u2 F" L' q6 G
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' b7 Q; c8 S8 dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' c6 q. t. O4 A9 S4 d k( }( ]$ Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- j3 K! Y4 n5 Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% @4 y0 M1 @; I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ ?9 r: {8 Z0 J
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
