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* N3 y T" t4 K2 S3 F
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& k1 s) y. g4 ?& K! e% X0 P
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
0 [; d9 O! m2 U"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 |: H E) z+ `, t$ s9 ianswers to our pointed questions.+ F+ F9 x! S; }! _4 @! Y+ w
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' b! z4 `; w7 d5 R! Q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; p/ r7 _9 v4 J: r6 e0 @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, k0 |. ?% J; d3 C4 K- ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) ^( G9 w2 @# V$ M3 _5 qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& D$ ]7 q5 g3 [
medical schools." G2 N/ z6 E; s
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 X' p; Y$ ?3 `8 Y: x( h/ n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! {! v/ v* P7 N- s( Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" b% v- M# a; `4 r, p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 I! ]! l$ u+ n% b
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& ]* M2 Y; X+ l8 i, F) tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 f& ^$ k" c' N
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& v$ w' m# t9 l: X/ I" N# k& Cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) m" Y9 j) g! `5 k! ^( c$ D
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 D/ Y7 l0 Q' U; @$ z5 ~3 C1 I% r
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 g3 F. M7 ?; r# N- T" j$ P
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
U* n# n8 H0 j8 e% }2 [7 ]" Kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
$ k/ t6 C4 }6 |7 m1 |supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 Z1 ^5 A1 \, H: d* y5 B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* F. p2 L' c# \) U# F$ j$ y/ O
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ I4 R! N2 m3 O# Z8 D( J" N& s# M
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' I. f! H+ ^, ^divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." r; o+ Z4 J. v+ Q* Q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) T& k$ M4 [. c9 W5 Sa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 h/ }! H/ Q, T d# L
charge the fee defined by the state.
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; ?1 G/ v3 j2 D, E( O$ n8 LThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 D6 |* v8 ]2 ^5 r
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. C, d8 B( D' P6 y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 \3 U: B- @: h' }9 c B
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# m( U& Y; I% }" A
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* h3 N9 B" R( Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! }! W; ?( S8 T" v/ D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if i4 b+ h. r$ m2 }9 K/ F
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 y3 E) t) f: p% q6 B" p% u7 c
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 V7 @& a4 C8 T0 J0 ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 e& P" S3 v) e! q7 f/ o% Q! \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. q/ M# X$ W- G* G% b) R+ y% Tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: W1 \/ t# U4 }0 Y- g2 kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' E% P3 o* W1 d- {/ ^( vare spaces.$ I& v4 h5 I) i
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 F8 t8 w+ d& M8 j7 O; W% e4 x* e8 T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# i, G; w+ q; S1 L3 m
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 A6 _7 M. T6 i# \" t, q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 h5 b" ], S+ B% {1 f0 Y
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- L5 ]5 D8 a9 x* Q0 c& [& d, H" P9 G
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 q3 V0 B z3 d$ R! d- m( hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
! S8 |, F" U9 Z0 ` I, _/ ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ j6 v6 j# I+ s5 m! Cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( G1 q% x% d5 l3 n3 d3 @
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
