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! u0 i E: B S: u4 E3 r
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 M9 R2 c0 w' non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. I" X e2 O9 Q9 t+ q1 Q2 J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& I' A1 `* p+ n# ]- A* m
answers to our pointed questions.* k% H# C( D' m0 U5 B6 u$ H: f& L
$ D6 D$ x/ C1 }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 U2 f. }" a/ D4 n F4 a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- q" H8 ]" s+ Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! n, [9 _- _. \) s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- ` D* b" W0 |+ zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 U1 K$ \3 ] e- j! Z* M8 T7 y
medical schools.! A- H! v8 w# k. w4 L1 D
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 }6 n$ r1 b5 p8 O1 X4 N* ?% K
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 Z8 O3 M7 N! L" C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& [6 \: C* o4 S/ ]- i, i! bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
# C# w5 o; y9 His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* P( k \& M2 S4 ]' `+ x3 `& hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ S2 a, Y5 [$ Y6 q! R4 Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) [( Q$ W/ b; E, m; fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ R, n" b" l% m
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 U* t! b9 ~/ n' O- ?' h
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 t4 f! c: y0 j+ y
; g1 Z) t T5 ]& {2 eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 V5 ^3 C* t7 m K/ X3 z; l- u) B, I- [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
2 r1 A- r9 U$ n, ]. c- csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* N1 x3 J+ W. {1 h* z; N K0 z* I0 f9 ~/ Ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( B8 U* z" B5 a7 W7 Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) }9 ~2 D8 o- o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 j3 u; w: {2 W* o" P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 ?+ e. d$ U4 ?! H/ zDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 {( A5 s6 X! B( O7 W6 Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 p- G: ?% {7 Q/ g" a0 K# l3 xcharge the fee defined by the state.+ A; W b' B- n* f
: m0 W. Q7 D' O+ m) qThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. S4 p- s- k, J/ }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ ^* C# v2 \5 U. i
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 L- G7 [# T* h# L) Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( ^! H' A' x8 A; \% J7 o7 Y. G+ lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. s9 h+ M0 ]( m, ?0 y* k- j, pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# s$ u% e! D- z1 Y% B; H/ c. H0 l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 S* k4 L4 z" e7 Q% iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ i3 S. b$ Z/ K5 e7 btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 U8 |$ L a1 C# n3 c2 t+ N' whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 C t+ y' j% U w
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! m5 E' T; Q# x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) e M/ B1 K6 J0 `1 u! D
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( C, e9 [! O1 U6 T1 e' f8 X: H: Dare spaces.1 K% V8 q# q* J, d
1 e- N; T, d" l! Q5 [
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 ]) ~2 k! P3 A& P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: ?) N( ?+ s& a; ~( s% Y0 M7 Xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 A9 k& n! d6 _" c" b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 \: X1 U& |5 C- C+ ~- e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 ~# c: B9 i9 z) r5 U: y$ ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ }0 h4 @* ~/ |, A' g
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
c3 j4 }% p, ]) g5 R6 Fcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 C$ M' ?$ ~4 y1 b. @/ U5 l. gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 K1 |6 |: ^& v) [
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
