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 d% q& V) S" Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* ?3 ~8 \$ o' h, _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# n6 @% s! x9 e: f"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! @" J0 `( T# C: Tanswers to our pointed questions.5 p5 ` u! `5 n8 U" k% Z
$ p5 w# g; B2 w9 O3 ^8 Y0 ~
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, `9 h' i1 v' k+ I; k" b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 C) g# k; \' W2 Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* U6 ~ g4 s6 O1 P* k( D7 Vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" d% k7 K$ A M1 h: T+ C- _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" a* h( j+ P5 G& A
medical schools.0 F& W! z* s2 ?, f
6 I2 z7 }' l5 q3 |! V* r, ]
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# c7 E3 v6 p) I% J0 q3 ?0 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ u V4 v1 _9 c# I' pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& q* i! [4 W. z, ~assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ Z/ d U2 m: O4 i! m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" A6 B% O- a# E# n; [5 @# K* y8 Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, I: Q. O$ s2 c9 [' C4 ]# X
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
$ R( W: Y2 z8 K+ @mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 I2 _9 T( U$ A2 j! R9 Z4 ~; `
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! Y v* P% j5 t% S$ ?; f5 C- \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
" Z4 O1 R1 K+ C* y* w# j
3 A" R: o! C1 { w) Z; [9 [( J+ IThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
& b5 s' a( }' {* l3 A, ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 H/ j$ l8 T1 J
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% v- n: [) @1 d" s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( ^) S% B3 C! g9 C/ S. J' C% n
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) i" e" n$ }) _2 e8 X$ _. e: P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 U9 G* ~. E& E3 Z. Mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( O5 u/ t1 W9 E" @. |# L. A. [# nDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. @8 _ W: f8 p! K# c# n' ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. ?/ M+ g+ w! d/ f( ~
charge the fee defined by the state.
5 ?4 y5 K; c4 p3 D" P- i8 n7 Q1 {* i" c$ i* P% ]8 ~( f& T/ E
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ L+ T) t& }* S9 Z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( ^, b8 @+ h( t8 {
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# i6 V1 h4 ^2 L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) P4 U8 J% O7 `: eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 O0 B5 f- e' X) L: A* Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ C0 I/ \) H* I' j* h2 J7 c! Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& w7 ^3 O' e e6 e: @
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) A0 I/ h: z B- ?/ Ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( G7 t0 X H9 a% u4 L, R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& L; t7 t+ K0 Y3 C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 e( H& h* e: c9 K9 c! J4 gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! q! \2 o8 L' t) `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
7 v6 U" z. e9 _1 Y5 n0 W h6 hare spaces.; V: a5 Q+ u6 L' f i( h+ B4 O
- |- @# m! Z8 h$ J* p
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! `7 Y2 `# O% {% oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ L$ Z- A" h+ ?9 l% o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
5 ~+ o# i( O0 C* k, t. I40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" k/ V/ ~: q( k5 s7 F+ e5 v4 [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 n+ z; A, n- Z0 Z0 J' e% Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ P. t% }. ~, h' H7 hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& Q* F- S% r! y+ j! B3 g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it @( h+ R$ w) A# v$ }8 j' { F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 f% A( J; ]. f4 _9 d. z8 o2 G& c We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.