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, d4 _6 ?& w/ C% e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 L1 A& V2 e8 J+ L* ?7 [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 a% M! Q; e! C1 t
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& z7 p# b+ c3 I( Janswers to our pointed questions.
1 ~; {; p) B, _& S- F
( b% ` f5 S# e% h3 ]The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. V% u" N3 M a( E2 ]/ q5 r( h% j: w0 f
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% f9 @( c- N* p7 Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, d9 w- w( f0 W0 L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 W7 ^+ f x) t1 R& p0 w2 bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 P$ I3 [/ w; n% r0 T0 n( t# Omedical schools.
+ W: k5 j: e+ g3 ]
" Q* j L! M6 S! A0 I, [Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! K0 f. F* T9 Jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 G. q2 F( Z0 o; T) Mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ P; l; a# S$ M/ \& H6 [
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
, Y+ x7 _, t" S% Tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 B+ r$ L+ k' a3 F, r: g4 D0 Mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 v$ \ b9 L7 U: }2 f2 z* n, Q7 iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 S; E7 i& O- s; @+ \% R; A5 h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. J9 f3 R! L. a2 x9 B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; `0 Y4 }$ F- f' V; [0 l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 Y7 U2 d, n. T' H+ C" M- S6 Y
0 W$ z1 F# L9 _; F. K, W
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 _' G P( x5 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, u I" ?, `8 P1 b% C+ ]0 X5 z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
H* _9 `! z" Y+ x4 ahave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
" `+ k5 \% _9 bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 W* t; u; E4 z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& X/ D- W( J. n. W! J: L! Cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# a6 L' M; ^ w0 @3 B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
; M( p5 b2 M1 H" y4 j- @" d/ Wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( C' q# z5 v. S; Wcharge the fee defined by the state.* |6 D# R! B, e- {' c8 v
% B* u2 c( m" D/ Y
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 h8 {+ [+ _7 k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ s6 L: v# Q: dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) \& \% y: K* Z; Q5 W8 `
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! @7 t# s1 k, J' |7 S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! W2 L( h' ]9 ]% k2 x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# ^9 c, Q. T% N% p p7 P/ y9 E0 [' K! o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% L" {5 k7 x- Myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
4 w$ [. G8 x0 v- rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 Z* ~9 F: x |/ i" W9 _
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, U' G4 F+ y& n& ]' z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ i7 ]1 T5 ~0 K* g1 p( J& a+ P; b
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" k4 u- H/ W2 K6 \, y+ E9 _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 u x$ V4 ?5 Oare spaces.4 o. @- r' j. P, X" ~
, h2 y. k. ^$ z/ ^' v5 Q
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. k0 H4 F8 _2 O8 \! Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 z3 H/ J- s/ @) ]) B# \7 E* Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' \ y3 G& Q7 R" k9 f40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 ~/ q' W7 _2 Y+ X
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( U5 a1 @! h- k; o! I3 D7 pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; i( u! R" L% m7 J% ~& C4 Z& Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 Z8 x+ y7 M1 N3 M. r
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ W5 ^) |( G8 h
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
- {8 x& [; n+ e- E ^4 C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
