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
1 \- p3 y& A! Q" c- ]standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; K6 q' ?$ U/ R0 v3 Ion a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 G" B- [3 g3 N; v
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ Q2 {' C; I" `" |! Eanswers to our pointed questions.
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- w& d8 w @1 n: i0 YThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; H" |3 ^8 R8 b+ `3 C$ J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& `; W+ N' v# L, e' G
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ e: L; S6 Q# @9 j/ y1 c- dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* e, u( ^* l0 j) X1 ^* S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ Z$ W. A' g, Q" o0 hmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% P. @6 C# H$ p* J! pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) k3 k3 H3 L1 d) z6 L2 b, Tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ w0 E& Y& w1 H. i; {( M, f- r
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& P6 I* P7 b" S8 @& N6 n1 sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 m* h* f- X+ N: l% p+ c3 V# @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 a7 ?" f+ V& S3 q. D8 Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 G ~$ m/ d/ G8 @4 @% {: p7 xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 T9 ?4 S+ c# h' E! |6 j4 R
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. o' g% }/ Z% z& |6 N+ i4 {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% n$ Z. e, Y! A5 L2 {" jprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* y- k% r. l* N' q/ x5 H2 B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! j S% z; A; mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good$ f2 s. `9 c- ^
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# A3 R" y- G* t- m1 u. p/ w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' O ?2 e. Q- r2 K5 ~) Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 R4 X* A6 w, d1 S+ BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% q+ `3 o6 h+ k4 y" B; r' n0 sa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 _+ O( U: R8 p+ N5 G, {
charge the fee defined by the state.: y' V/ ^/ I2 V& K* O) [
* G& s7 e3 E' U0 w3 h" RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 }% }9 f& I( F+ s; `
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 O7 _6 K! p/ F* j! J8 r) `. I- Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 q% d/ w8 Y+ h8 b; [& `2 L+ j. T, L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 X$ W4 B0 n b2 r) jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the i: _' a( e2 x( @2 J; j; s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 ]( l$ z- z0 D& l# x! l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 x& g d# N2 @4 F. {( E! n; _
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
& A! n4 N, [* v3 C2 T" R; E3 btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 ^9 m+ c- F) Z9 a" R1 fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 h5 L# [2 ]6 R; V0 Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
^! q3 J* K9 Ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! q0 V4 b0 d% ? Q) D( n6 B, ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
A; s% ` S# v/ M: ^. P6 jare spaces.1 W& a8 i3 P. o9 b4 ^% w& b
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' N% E/ J' n8 _+ a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
K" ~8 @$ H. e% {6 h6 sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 ]8 a3 Y1 Y8 N$ T8 }/ B- y3 X40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, S! p+ h0 o" j4 }/ m& e, j. Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. ~4 E0 k/ f7 V1 g. m% vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 |) C/ F9 E/ Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 B/ {: @" K$ c$ Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; j0 C0 N1 M. E& e
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ K6 ]9 P; n5 R$ I6 \
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
