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
$ s# y) v% h: I( fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. X, c8 Y! \- W5 |/ x; q" d6 P6 non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. A" `( ^" o: _; U' o! D% m$ y2 J$ i% b"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( b" l( r r; d
answers to our pointed questions.) I5 j* b/ N: o: j+ A$ O8 U. s
* p# N% f3 g1 Y& pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
" Y& E0 Y S5 Q% c# N$ t( W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' T5 k- A& S) X% ~out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" |* R1 }& t' G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ P( Y2 B2 N: [
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ @8 v0 {( A* H7 _
medical schools.0 T. t) H+ p/ x b
6 M/ J% h- N! i1 I7 AEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 o& c" ?9 k: ^$ j0 L5 Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) r% B: T1 R1 e; e! }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 `& t" I& w2 r9 s6 Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
9 ?) [! T6 ~, ?: j( X0 Xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 E! K5 ]1 A9 o# M7 s$ b0 \
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ X: l! Z# f) }) ?8 T, ~/ Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: i( {, R# w) |+ g
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk D9 t& g. s) l7 d% z# e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' o! u' } R+ ?8 R+ Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 l( j9 D" j/ v3 ^! \ t& B2 H# O
+ |$ a* m4 F# K0 z2 H+ HThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: e1 y7 T: x9 G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% I3 w+ R$ S7 f6 x3 A
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 B. B5 D, V5 Q3 ~$ d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 I1 z" b" S' ~2 T& r3 S) f0 G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( J% J w% T: p, d. ?3 C1 b6 A
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ `) j3 X9 m! ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# b; W* r4 z' W6 w M
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: e9 X$ y* `0 w' ?% ~a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# U+ } q. C0 v) K0 a# ^, E. }
charge the fee defined by the state.2 _' M4 i! }$ V* N! O+ z" {
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
4 W& B6 F# u; Y0 P# Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* w9 f0 M% k/ g# Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ @2 L5 Z" L5 ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ z! e" Y p& J4 w! J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* E- ~+ u5 W5 i8 h' X! A5 o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) C$ {* A8 S/ Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! q- e$ n3 S5 H ~! byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ t% Y* y0 k& O! N" S' }5 Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
& E! p4 t2 z$ A, J0 A2 Q' {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: z f7 p" O9 u2 Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 [4 ^2 _5 I1 [, _6 Y2 x0 Nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! J+ j3 L" {: G& H$ d3 v$ Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( \/ c8 {* }7 R4 v1 |4 Z: G; G J
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 S( H u9 p/ s) _! G
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- E7 ^9 |9 c/ {3 u, A2 A
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
6 ]: D8 M( P) n1 c. R, s Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: l) K- G! G' C6 V3 g7 pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, A+ Y$ y- s9 v, C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! o; M4 p9 G- u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 u% F; a9 M$ Y/ S* B
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 f8 s! I' p7 @1 B( p7 U. V# A6 ~is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 T$ t. T- j; N5 v: { We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
