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
& V2 b- g8 J+ \! k7 ~. {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- J" s/ [& Q. ]on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( j0 l6 ^8 ^* L T/ E# g
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 O: ]- n6 @3 ?' Z& N* ranswers to our pointed questions.
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! X; o5 L+ M. s- K c! a/ q" M/ h) RThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; b Y% a3 X$ O
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 c4 I" q: w. w: t2 N. j1 p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ h0 R& I$ C9 w' v. s; D- x. s9 n! Cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 e" X/ L% [* A9 O0 o7 L% M
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ f7 s" u) D$ ^$ g, s
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 X8 ~2 q" @1 Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 i. V$ U3 v% q/ d6 } L
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ }% X. R7 x! E* b3 \/ e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 p1 e# O8 S; { l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, h% S8 N' O$ f0 w. n# _8 Vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" H6 _; w: a- E; Z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 [" b; A$ w1 N6 n
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 q7 C/ H5 [& N) q& L( lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 |% X( h7 m; x5 Y/ N
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 t y: L% C) }* {; a
/ r6 q6 C/ n* o) \- RThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no. C' [) W1 U q( p. R% |0 l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# L$ V$ y* ]- {5 y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. R8 \: J; G+ J9 U2 P4 b, qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 N" M S8 W1 G! Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 F4 Y& Z6 X. K5 i0 n2 m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& W* V; X$ F5 }+ @: o# y6 |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% [0 N9 O d" h3 D
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 S4 J( k/ }7 B+ | Ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; M! F$ P% y! H7 @charge the fee defined by the state." m& J' u8 X4 g& N+ [) @
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) j: t: o" Y# V/ V: b: {/ N7 ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' Y) i( W! l+ f7 t
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& B1 R8 y [8 |; H0 `5 N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; G9 Y5 p$ r* K1 d; \; f9 s+ t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ ~* E0 t6 {4 yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on; E O7 m: P0 F7 J$ f+ |# x6 u
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 F& v o+ B, I4 Q" @
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* u4 d9 I+ Z0 k. j; o, Itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 ~/ s8 d( V) i
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 |$ S! E# S' D( \9 i3 v& f& e/ @4 f$ g2 Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 P2 i [9 k' U, }7 e% @: Q! H8 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
/ Y0 e0 U, I' U3 R& _$ Wbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 c' |0 ?& T6 b% F2 A% {9 S
are spaces.
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- R, z: j) K# q8 g% \There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 P. K5 z7 ?. v0 T, ^to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they j% G3 l6 y0 w" C2 C) g* z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' \3 }) z3 ]& Y$ {! f) D
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 @2 l6 b& Y1 \! W0 Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ o( R; H. l, m+ D' W2 I- J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 a l2 v4 `( y7 C2 S6 u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 |: R2 ~* E+ v! A3 G. xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 `- l4 u+ w7 D2 `7 C4 B. Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, ?& \1 b o, G9 e We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
