我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 @; U5 ^& E+ O4 I' Q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' d3 L- W! i' ?on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
5 p6 ?$ q" f2 v# Q; p, d"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! t/ h% K1 \2 R
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 n& o9 {; ]4 a( j E$ T& _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 F) s7 I! L$ D+ x, G
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 R( O$ i3 L) ~- X- `& qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. {1 i( }1 l* l: Qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 Y& q- _# O t" Cmedical schools.
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& s: J( d2 L9 U* n3 [Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# H9 i3 q2 h7 e/ y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* j9 t5 ^/ Y4 p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years `+ ?! I$ h7 n
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 A4 l* D) n. z. Z7 Ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# H& S7 A5 ~! h" E8 J4 pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ O# l" T* y" a/ q0 {* o
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! a/ h7 X* \3 v# i
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) ~) X: E) e3 S: f( V
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, { E) u1 w" B6 dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% p8 [4 v! \% H! Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 ?' \0 L" U# p/ _4 Q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; R; B( \* k1 ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
6 h" x' u# k: Q3 v Ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 Y7 D& c* h% R2 Z# ~$ Dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 O% v" G2 B) r( L8 ?1 y. l3 q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% D$ x2 t7 W# EDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" ^# Y4 o% J- M! y8 s
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 S: Q, y3 \( {8 }charge the fee defined by the state.0 l4 g* v F0 ~
+ g3 j- d- r2 B/ P7 N+ NThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) _1 j2 L A+ Z+ F% S: C! c* Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 z) l) p g' [$ {/ T( q6 }1 c. j: i
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ P1 ^7 C. E, }- e$ \
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* Y ?' F' M4 S8 B9 P/ F Eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 x3 W% w* }8 Wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 l6 A1 ~" [9 z6 b8 f$ y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) c% n6 c$ h3 N' d& E4 M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* e$ v/ u( [$ i1 [2 c6 ~3 ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 @! }& ~4 M6 J9 F! t j4 Mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' b% ^( _/ F% T. _9 L* N% }1 K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% j( a" [; e" R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 E6 H: J6 ?5 L/ \, kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ u* x; C8 v, tare spaces.! \9 T. H% _3 i' z. D, G- i
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 n! @' ]+ K4 u Q3 R1 ?* J" {2 U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" I& @# ]+ a" M; f1 ~
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) n2 j% K0 I3 d9 {
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ w' K1 M8 @; i% P* @, p
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the b# `0 d9 s5 {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! `0 o3 K# c! P5 d' [
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, f! \* x1 l; {* C' ^
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 F* V: X. [, F0 D9 `! K s2 [is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ }1 J& D6 l4 B" r! i We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
