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
& W6 y$ I$ b2 _) Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
+ @8 S3 a. w; d( x* j( pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
9 G/ P4 T! C/ ^( v m- P7 L"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 V t* M! y7 h% oanswers to our pointed questions./ d/ ?+ x+ i+ ]0 E- ]
/ ^# n% s+ i) }: G2 Q+ N. x5 jThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ O9 n6 E. o1 g J7 x
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, B6 J; s' P. Q; |% T) s! C9 @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 _+ p) |2 A d- i5 |2 r7 g" b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' M- F& x& p4 Y- ?: y! r2 Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
, J1 F2 ]* w% j0 h: B/ b' q% T; {1 \) hmedical schools.
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& m' N: _7 u6 D+ L" ?* TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 Y% o$ K; `: g8 u8 Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( R. A, }- |/ M9 G+ e, p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 P0 E8 R3 [4 V9 k3 i7 s* N3 |) E
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 S0 L* P7 L A9 P6 ?6 B+ sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 I7 v2 |6 T$ ]5 ~" n3 ^( x
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 k# \ u* ^# G4 @! Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, U3 E! b: L. i- b, N6 y5 m8 I2 b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- ^' D- v E# X' P+ Y h
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 B) u3 t6 j* c2 Psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 X5 [0 R7 l5 V8 g b+ y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
5 Q5 S8 d* ], b. X. H+ T6 asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! n2 X2 }+ K5 v @5 V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ z5 }6 W6 |! x# e4 ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% h/ Y# ?. J/ B U8 Y- m) \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! J5 S5 `( v3 v$ ~( A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
: `9 g( \! G& S E9 j, QDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: o0 [! k- W8 H
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 \; o P4 f" q* L" a! ycharge the fee defined by the state.
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2 e& t3 c7 Z0 _7 m) Y# q0 ^+ TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 w t% I0 S; ~on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 w! }% | e* Q$ M" lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
* }2 J6 }7 B( K R( n# V' p9 D- ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ x, z) T# j! {" I* n# a# nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 K0 o- i" z5 N# J; ]' B _/ D, {) q7 bworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' B3 u& T W. `2 T5 ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 r2 ^7 }! u7 ^7 myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ c; z7 u. Q$ d$ W" V& }& K$ I5 ktrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. M: Y0 r) L6 y% ]7 Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* S: {# [. {$ a T; b' B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% i7 H* H& C) z5 Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, X" C# J1 u6 L( B4 S* [. G, ?
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* G+ ?4 ?& R" a8 u8 J
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. r2 n' a4 ^( u1 w9 t9 z r# Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ I9 q' _5 h+ [% e, Yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! e, Q! P. `5 e* c, L, o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. N/ {0 R6 G3 d; o% [' ^( U" ^
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 ~' b+ Y, f# X2 G# F, |
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 E6 b! ~+ v, k
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
, F/ t8 s2 H: k6 icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) o, K! u; Q% \is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 A, K# A8 \7 }4 C
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
