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
- z; Z! e, I ?% @standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& l' d4 D$ }* r; j8 V
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
6 h! J9 C6 Y6 G/ Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" F+ R7 O& m+ [! a9 E& w& Vanswers to our pointed questions./ o" N6 J0 n% z
" N( d' v0 Z% B0 t) |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 |4 t$ x% B' j9 W" T6 [45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ P! Q4 d) R+ X* |5 i) a6 eout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* M- D" s/ E# Y4 v& X& ~6 Vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, i% m; k+ L$ h9 d; ]9 P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) Y8 o7 G1 ^8 M; Q- I, H% q
medical schools.
$ s5 T3 Y- y- f6 D! k) `0 O. G( X7 U( V& x* J `
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" S5 x/ n: P& |3 H! ^; M0 N6 T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 n. c6 K5 \& O) s" @to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
Z% D4 V* T' C) xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 U" N$ ~; T9 k; E B7 a& ~
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 B; _* b0 R k _) U% q5 T
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 z8 Q" P+ e5 {9 Bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- k1 M& r7 c* e8 jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ f( f2 q% o! ~2 j0 I: K8 kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 s! t Z0 r/ [# F0 i# _2 rsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. q, e1 [& Y. r" r' Q
! \6 A/ n( _) U# V. j( V# @The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: S3 A) d4 u2 B! L/ y5 K( J7 ~private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! r7 m9 r; T& ^( v7 K- W& M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' v7 M8 c7 ]" A1 uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 h W2 M. H9 A9 b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 n2 S8 o4 f4 i
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ ]( j' ~* |( L* L0 S' {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; `$ u5 r# F2 F" U) |+ q+ JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) n B) h: D( x$ E0 N: @9 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 x) t8 [+ n. ?& Vcharge the fee defined by the state.1 {# h/ a, u' s$ X' @/ w1 j8 Q- |; }
6 Q( F& ?% l; eThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 h* l1 [# j. E h8 e
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! W) ]1 ~3 w- w
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 }. @# b1 I0 g( Z& N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 E) s# P# E! ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 M! K. s ~6 qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 N! I) O- p" R$ M1 [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 a4 h A: [; ?1 a& a5 i! w8 tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 b9 i( d$ R0 x0 d: ~% ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' }: W" x Y/ x6 Z& ^2 K: T! N
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 ^, O. n" W. e% m& |! U3 fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. E) B: c4 _# l0 @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, X% d! d! \6 W/ h" D- \
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; o$ J0 K$ |' m* u3 P# |are spaces.! `) Q9 I0 o9 K1 ?5 ], `
, \, b$ ?; R3 v- G2 GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. ^/ A$ Z) P) pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
& Z4 _2 ?( K N4 N; Y3 y7 down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
^2 e4 G3 J, d, M% P1 y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 L" s% h1 P3 s1 xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
0 Y: e9 f( `# { p$ }best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 P& b* y9 l$ s. S
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
, u9 p. @0 Z% `2 |) q, Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' M i. t& @7 b2 v- t6 ?# P! Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
# B& |. D: O0 ~: Q- N, ` We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
