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
2 g0 z9 D1 \" j% T. T. @8 sstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* h6 z- I+ I' hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: M6 L5 P+ s5 S& J+ v. w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 h2 |( b9 y* ]' Yanswers to our pointed questions.0 }2 H8 y3 H. b. }$ I
- }3 N1 m8 g5 D8 C* Z. G- X
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& N( B- A% T9 A4 z) u, a! [% B3 U
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 a, E) X, p* L3 p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is |* }3 ~5 p( x) A
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# I6 }$ u& M7 f4 F5 S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% x4 t }; ?. _+ T6 }" Cmedical schools.
" S' w1 N" x6 D. b3 ^+ X1 b" S) B7 g5 M$ [2 V
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ u( e7 i& e5 ? O tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% ~* e n; j6 S1 Z4 g2 a+ B9 l5 _ X
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. `7 G$ W+ {' w8 gassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" v1 R$ }+ i; Q+ w3 g4 F
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: a4 l- R. H) r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 N& @! l0 R+ `6 gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, x. L% P, P+ T: o5 }mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 ?5 u0 J( p q/ ?. V" t0 [8 g5 Eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 x4 C$ W, A0 {$ o# @ b$ ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
% T/ F( Q# Z0 E# J
" K2 Y- _1 Z2 C) |5 \The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- g, C0 M4 I8 s9 K3 o+ `! ?private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: [4 }7 m4 i% g z3 l' o: |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& g: {- }2 {" D* w( i9 K, Chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: s' i3 L% i N3 k/ U# uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ Q& A. X4 |, y9 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ V# p/ m; F, }# F8 pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( n8 `# o) d3 b2 d& y$ X
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: C) N5 I& W; t7 K8 k
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, v! n9 s0 D- [; o8 Rcharge the fee defined by the state.$ K- X8 e" I {. w+ T6 R
6 P2 m6 Z* p' N# w+ C! z5 {; h4 }: EThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. t5 |4 B. R4 d0 B Z: Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 b: n1 h( B$ o+ H6 m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, z. J) {" F# g2 r. p' D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- H3 c# O" V5 N @& Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
2 i& U7 z0 b0 {3 v" Vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% r; y/ Z6 ?. L4 S- Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 g7 B8 G; ^5 ^you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 g5 P; J/ \) W+ H6 d" N/ p" A$ Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 A, [3 o) s: e% L; G. Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ F2 `- `: _! F( H+ }' Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ J, R& k# G. G, Rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- S% G' f, M2 g4 O6 f7 Ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% L9 I% H0 g3 t: V D1 K* @
are spaces.( K, ^' R6 ?2 v: g' ~
( x( n" R0 U2 \; xThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! b3 f% R) w+ q8 [; C: y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 Z5 \' y$ o+ A- Z& f& F( a. J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' O$ L; f: l9 _/ K- f: w4 }: x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 \, u) y& m) K h( y7 C1 xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 A9 V; C4 ]) m$ C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 X, A9 x% e* o2 {1 Z9 h8 a
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' A! P: V, n% E4 @; d9 \' n# ? Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 z8 C; ^7 R; k5 q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! w& a- J+ `5 U& l We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
