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 [# K7 B# g2 p0 Z5 }
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ W7 @" E4 `3 k# z1 k
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 G" X! t$ w# S0 _, y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 H5 h0 A' x, Eanswers to our pointed questions.2 F" ^: ^' a, \, \. T# H
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 N. C" T9 a1 O( b" q. M5 _" ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 [/ m8 z& Z: L% q, \7 i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% @3 P( J; U0 r% j5 ~6 Hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ V! s& J) S6 D X8 Q" P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: q- g9 z& k* _
medical schools.9 R2 k$ X, L/ B: [0 _
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 Q8 R6 d0 g$ ~% J& E7 F
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 v t, V# k8 N( ]( W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years U# Q! s1 d4 l; A x+ T
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 r( [$ ~ A3 E7 i! |9 w* |; |5 A eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 i/ |3 ^. ?* }4 @( ^/ d$ wover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 q+ r' M, Z3 d3 a [7 `
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and. w- z" A$ B! Q6 u1 @. O
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
C, X& S4 ~* M7 o$ r: J5 }shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ u1 {4 m5 `$ g9 O4 o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ Y! h2 }, j' ~
+ a# [: S' \$ o) J+ CThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& s7 w% F$ E& b* P+ ?0 m
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! R8 _& j: s5 {1 ~8 \supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: I6 Z6 s# i. ^$ m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" U" W/ J; P, q, \, @. @3 I/ q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' ]2 d$ T2 s \8 z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 \. L4 ~6 w# ~( P( v/ J [
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ L6 L3 g4 u3 `+ ~5 LDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. V: @- q2 U3 Q6 ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& T5 u) g' I5 A+ d, i5 Qcharge the fee defined by the state.+ c. A. A& Z2 P( ]$ I
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. ], y3 v' J: F6 {# Q) o
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 Z: G2 d g$ m% e6 p3 T- Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
+ t3 A& q! B4 e" jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& ^; ?# L% I: z) r+ Mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
3 Z W3 V3 e- k r& l* nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( S1 k" X, t# ~1 u- Z" Y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% {: {4 ^3 \8 J+ M+ K& h, }you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 [. Z- V3 {$ u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 m7 c3 D% z2 I9 t xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 ^ d+ D: n' ]6 ]( p
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' j" y$ L1 n. M' R8 R' f& f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 x. M' S. T* n' J5 [$ x! J" r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 z; E1 W; k& c8 j5 r0 K+ c
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( p* n O& z* G4 w+ Z4 cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; l! D, e! J6 ], o2 l/ Y* Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ m5 y5 n4 H/ h8 ?40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 x" N: D/ u i5 _. W7 ]% y
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 D1 {3 j% Y7 ^best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ Y( Z* m* A8 g: snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ M' u8 @* ]6 ?8 \. i& k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: a# d8 K8 J4 g, o1 G9 U7 y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 p& V& B+ i$ E' v2 o' S" ?: L We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
