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
7 N* `6 X' n9 i: h* K, n; A4 rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& V% N- p" ^' H; U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; w; ~/ t, M. Y3 A, X: _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 k5 n- V" a1 ~. L
answers to our pointed questions. w q6 P$ y% u1 y' O
5 a# L5 W7 z; G2 ?3 K8 Y) B) ?
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' k8 \# \) j( [. R9 a3 j6 Y( z0 j45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% d4 h$ p; a1 w/ L
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: \7 U3 d6 e; l- Afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. I( y; \; u6 f9 {, kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 j# C: x% N! k7 M/ r3 kmedical schools.7 ~& N, @/ v* `7 Q/ l4 I- y
p M* g; V2 B7 ?4 G9 }Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" o9 r& L6 W- {+ |6 _! Y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 [2 F s& s- u: N$ _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( U* F" o4 V+ D" K/ p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 ^3 z' H/ {3 ^0 }- ]8 A% y2 ?is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) g3 F0 V0 b& c- {4 kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- u$ ] ~) ]" A5 w9 Eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* T( a0 d$ _& M5 D
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 v- C' ]* w1 w Q; O5 {% W% I8 R
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 Y4 R; | o0 wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.; B0 t/ ^* Z- _. }8 w+ U$ _, x: E. ~
6 K1 U9 j" k r- e6 b
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
$ _% }3 n2 f, Y4 y0 T; Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# U( K- _9 h5 _& t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 c# d" P' l. o5 I" ?( z0 i, F
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# H9 {, v' s: mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& z2 K9 q. u i
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* x: c; K6 I! k: A y) ?divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! K" J' [( Q* n. CDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: d9 g& {* L8 Q/ h" O! E0 ]8 _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 z$ C! M, Q. N1 Kcharge the fee defined by the state.5 l5 r& X/ `3 W6 L3 L B
4 w. Q. V8 Y5 E; ~2 F+ A: u L& AThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 b: N: G! |2 I$ p% Lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 @, r+ R3 i. ] `* f$ A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
+ g. I& q- v- |1 @truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ e$ P3 v7 h& N/ S$ Q( r: @seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 n3 w1 x8 W# a- ?/ P# q9 c
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) F8 z7 Q4 A8 j, v# Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ Y0 w" K1 h4 Z! `, X* m+ N7 f* A
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 l r/ r, `4 t" p6 e3 Vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' Q+ \$ O/ Z" b% n0 B8 ^$ ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 @/ N- o# n" @( x8 ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 Q" S/ R; ~1 @" I6 Z" dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
/ q: d- c2 h' d' ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ \3 }! X) |% x, \& g
are spaces.; v l K8 p2 S( d1 w0 E7 u+ O
: t n* p G) q
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) c8 ^7 Y4 \4 l( z3 }to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# R: ?9 v/ O0 g. R& h, `. i2 {own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 Y4 E/ B: t' B; N8 R40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, [- ] s3 U& O( B2 L3 P/ ?7 P. Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- `0 c' g2 D9 T8 a5 u
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; _8 T) _3 U% U. }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 j" k2 P) C: P" g# Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 e/ {" M1 M" h
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
C% B! R6 e; S# G3 I. H( a We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
