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
+ L: R! u- d% |standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 J j; e4 x0 w% M/ ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 d2 M4 S+ _' U! i2 i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; J: v8 g# V1 r I' K) hanswers to our pointed questions.) r" e2 Y% q1 o3 B. I3 I
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; H( U+ R0 ?7 {; a& `% m; U
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 R: F: i1 x. o. Zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 r2 l- q# @8 r+ m! ~' Y( afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( c* \" K# w' c }
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 v+ r4 X: Z2 C& |* _7 v# P1 ?9 P, ~medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 L: O: c: j! |; W$ c; B- E2 Z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 N) a X& U. c. _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 H! R0 V/ l: m6 I5 X0 C8 K1 S
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
U0 D: X6 \+ C, ~is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% |; X2 y' A: ~; c! zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 K/ u: k5 _4 @ l [7 gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 v9 f" E1 B4 N4 `7 lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: {3 T- _. f- O5 l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- g q0 Y7 x# t. V {) q% }sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 u) E1 p9 p k- W1 u6 S
( m( A+ o/ p& E# A# d3 E, u; C9 A7 yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 f) G* J$ X* N9 o- y& h2 Z- Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' d. a; w0 c* S1 F6 y9 s0 z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 F: x; I [- m3 v; R5 X7 _
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 w( d9 Z5 {; K. h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 h. o! o& ]' {0 e+ vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# k( Y1 d4 e8 z9 O! Z# Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# J) j7 A) q3 \, t. ]9 r) ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ w% ] A6 N. p8 L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 I( t$ T8 r! A: b/ ncharge the fee defined by the state." {8 Y( N9 z3 r% S+ l
& n/ v; Z1 R, n' A" ~4 j' J1 iThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" S6 B. M# |( ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ O$ Z6 a k+ V Q( d
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, c9 _9 ^/ K/ y6 X0 y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 }6 f! A: S$ P* ^+ _( F/ }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the N! Y# _4 S* F) n- A( a% |
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. `: s4 j& O; }# R4 ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" a0 \2 u. M9 v& r" u0 s" f4 Y4 Ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' L: R! n3 e3 U; |) d( M
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- x# Z' z" _; g6 `; \. j6 fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) x1 b! q) @+ v' z# I. C4 I+ Dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 F' S) P" t0 ^! K y
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' b, k9 g; |5 q$ w5 S, N) `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 }/ L5 r \* ^; q
are spaces.' c% }- M" X2 ^4 e. N# b. ~% k
7 f) E2 B! N( u. l+ @+ U7 ?There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 P" r6 I0 d& v d Z q5 M
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) j9 o! p4 y) E1 G1 v' K9 ]3 A) v" jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
L, y8 G( Z% o* k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- p6 |7 F, ~( wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" p4 I2 M: [9 |, y$ u9 I: o( I
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( `7 ` K9 o- b- Y$ f7 A6 nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* T3 V) s# k% j# c5 ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 b! b3 P0 ^' M. p' Gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( s# y$ V: P1 V. Y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
