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
' ^8 q2 d4 G4 v0 d! N; Y7 cstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 z" B8 e) Q% u3 H9 @/ y/ j
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) V4 B: X( u# v+ J" ]$ L4 S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; b& F L5 s. a; U+ Q0 V6 S$ ranswers to our pointed questions.
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* ~, L! F/ P5 U( L* J8 \' JThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, G, [; a. ^4 ?) {4 [# o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) x& h- y. P. U& Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: m( o# }; [9 Y- ~free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: y" X, Q9 p' y. y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, M- V* U2 w) q# h3 l N
medical schools./ Y# g c. N2 r
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# O! Y4 s. d& E S8 s7 z! d6 lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ B9 e4 P. Q3 O8 O; K6 _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 b% @0 I c6 _. |( p" r( r
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 Q) G6 d0 Q* A2 z( \ H
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; M5 e& g% g. z" v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ O( d( q) [1 K7 j* n* Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: v. u5 N \+ c, F. h3 g) Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. h; ?5 e3 r4 H. ~: B8 a0 w; Dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 Z, t D/ E9 ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. t6 k F. o' N/ k4 t1 z' ]# D
6 F! E+ j3 A. \! j" bThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, p( C9 J l; |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% X4 f/ e$ a- O" q9 h4 `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
( g( c! M1 W, ^! F( bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: z, ^1 q# P& P! w& u: E9 \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 d3 S: o$ h; \3 \" W" y# ^7 I
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* t. x }) R1 U3 q) S' ]- d
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' ]( i& J, e7 v) e
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) Q* n" z6 d6 I$ ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# |9 y! w8 U f* \ `1 [" qcharge the fee defined by the state., F2 P! c7 F2 c2 \' A" g
5 Y3 X& L- g1 M9 R* I0 i9 ?% uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 _6 l: e$ {3 p; won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) L4 q2 N) o: x. z7 R
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; @9 F3 D7 Z% f8 q! Wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ _( [) ^' u1 u# D1 C* Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ f9 o: R; y0 N$ R1 U
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 M/ U7 P, A9 v
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( l& G: r, B5 [2 jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# U9 S& g. f! ^9 W! O6 ~1 t& ^
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, D# W9 l% J4 N) O: C8 R7 E- T5 shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 \& R7 ^# I( _. Y. {people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ t4 j. G; }! B' |- X
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& P# b% L; c0 E* A; n4 F. i" q. l
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( u. G8 w3 F0 k5 a5 Gare spaces.$ |* p& O# I4 k
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% S$ s/ S$ Z4 ?) h3 l- vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" J y! \ Q# y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& k. I7 V$ T/ p; |9 [# I& ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- Q# h- T6 U4 o5 v3 Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ c3 e' w( f9 b3 u+ {/ Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 f( Q; e% X- A, z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of b+ C; P: o' M
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 ]8 W T; D8 |1 t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( ]; ]. H8 s( ^: C. L4 ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
