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- X% n% V" M7 A; }
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. L( K: v3 L7 B; @+ n; _on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ c- I% i) n9 y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: M3 d2 U/ @ D: ^ P2 x' _5 A
answers to our pointed questions.
i/ v( j. b6 N" a/ K+ x. A+ I. p( a- y" K( Y/ N7 Y1 {
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 W6 p# S! r8 s7 K+ l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 T/ B6 a5 Y6 y, b: l4 h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
7 P/ M# L6 n: S; Q# b% Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: y% y' k" V: q: @( B2 [4 V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) H% _- W& J7 P, b) _0 Z; e: O
medical schools. g6 b9 r4 o6 m4 D
9 b/ H1 s1 }& x
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' O2 ]( T/ E! F/ q5 G# E6 b8 Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% p$ }$ w" E+ a3 p8 j; M6 }* E" F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 \8 b+ ~ {) Q" M. O$ V. c
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; g- q+ G! Y- F8 E# vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 q3 Y( ?& F* N. [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; w Z" Y5 Z4 g! yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 d; {. r8 a1 ]
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( c, U! U( x1 z/ r) e9 J
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: ]8 k8 E, P. L3 A# f+ ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
3 d3 w7 s8 y: f2 E# B. B
: l9 R+ ^! [: f9 T( MThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( I3 y& L! ?2 q% J# ^3 n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 E' d C& R; p. E psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
! |1 r# g3 i8 P" P! Q9 m% c1 bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ G6 y" p5 ^- x! E# b4 e
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, O% Q7 ?+ h7 y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 ~( e& P' g4 |" H0 H9 ?! R1 h, jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 X8 }- G* g5 M+ o+ MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. x) a! o; _7 L5 g9 k) a" Ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- ~+ t# ^) b4 q+ C; rcharge the fee defined by the state., R9 y! i4 Q4 g! ~2 p: J1 G
( U( A8 L3 V& v5 O' @9 eThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 j6 m' H4 @) \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, ~) M: U! }* P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 M) B- K% L N, m' G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% ~0 g; q5 Y( k; r6 ^) iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( R* v6 n1 d" ?% g5 \
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 F. |% y* i: a0 P4 f4 u9 \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% s" L+ U# @6 y7 T+ H' Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' B7 ?7 T$ f. M- J/ c: Ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( V5 N3 {. L: x3 B' e, phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* G% `8 _: p- C( B/ M7 d6 xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! D( Q1 L7 e, v5 f, Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 e, C' R+ e- C+ t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( U, o$ R' G8 _1 }) J, ~5 U2 O
are spaces.
! H. p" N8 o$ [' x- Y% ^7 [
2 l: l" u# G2 VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ u2 d2 z: F6 U% `8 d+ y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ [8 J6 W, s- \1 G3 Eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 p4 C6 p$ z* i0 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- C2 `8 U- w: e# i( A6 ^parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& H$ F& }. {! Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: c4 } u0 T" s* m( wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 ~- R8 J) H. F. B
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: W( L3 k# j% [" @; Gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ {* ~! X8 n, c* `3 D; d We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
