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
0 q* e/ ?, D k# Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 f+ D* z4 k$ I- W4 p! lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," N+ J. a" d# }0 X+ M9 p. x% _9 K8 h
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ ]" X5 `, r# t3 S3 e) ^answers to our pointed questions." n2 Z2 c& Z& V! I5 H! [" [6 F
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' C9 D9 n F8 d( Y. g. r6 W- P5 v45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 m+ K$ e4 R; b$ ]
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* Y& E- x& S. d7 ~# i; y% Z) i; Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 L+ J4 Y5 K8 ^8 h0 v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ v- P1 A5 g2 Y3 k& _
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, L: P- O2 l7 p. q' C& b* Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
9 O% c ^; Z" X: ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 q8 t: @% v) b# k8 T
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ d! F. U5 \9 ^. P. [1 B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' ]; q5 E$ y& g3 N* E6 d, aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 P5 O1 Y* X9 g( Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! \$ r }0 U/ \/ i6 ~7 }mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& A; K+ Y' j9 p+ f% p; gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% A, L6 h2 A/ v3 k$ ]" H8 psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 H( G8 e# P; _3 c
0 c( L5 `& L5 `6 c }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no Z$ Y0 C: F I, D$ a, l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- H& b+ E) L. T! A" W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ w6 P1 Y0 Z ^ h0 H: R9 thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* m- q4 y- H3 ^, f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ Q! o- S( D' @: h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" h& K7 Y/ M6 f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 p2 D" I3 z5 {. g& C! p* J1 y- \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When1 u+ x1 r: x, i4 {
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 O5 @- M7 n5 q3 J% B
charge the fee defined by the state./ \" l8 G7 A/ [
, `- a% M5 I( e* G5 n3 I8 z0 FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ R4 {' k( L5 Y: n& v0 }4 d0 C8 T0 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ ~4 g* U/ B$ e( @ ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 n ~+ V2 k0 M# Y3 l3 G, mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# ?* l. z0 A f" Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% w: h7 g7 q5 \- N! Y( ?) h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, H( L3 g' I: E" oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 D$ x$ `4 L5 W; x$ cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; m2 Q" `2 ^3 ^" V. @) C( p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. v' B ~$ p9 |1 S1 U1 L1 k9 L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 P; B0 U) D% o: E# H# Opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, f7 l; F J3 Z% ?
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- ]& U0 K" x+ S: `. F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* S* E* m' I3 e n
are spaces.% T8 e+ ~$ J. I* o: S+ i
1 i, \( j3 F- AThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 S( F5 ^* | T6 J. h6 R4 u. J! |to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, |8 @$ c& h. i% U3 l: e. B* ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 t* a6 }6 y5 T& s1 `40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 B+ r8 X# T# Q' G- G
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! u- c$ M4 Y4 X- a+ n# s% b$ ]# ~8 [' J* j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# o& W' z1 z2 N" C: E7 Y8 w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ e- b: V- h E
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% D M# s) l1 f' v
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% r- J4 V8 |# [" a$ J3 i8 b4 B We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
