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
; j2 }! [( ]) o1 t# G8 E: Tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- E4 x A! x9 d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
$ b, V4 a2 ]! v5 k5 k- D _6 E"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give$ N% u6 @8 A( M. D
answers to our pointed questions.# u7 i: \- Y. Q$ l- Q+ ]2 Q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 K2 a4 s/ o& {2 z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% _3 J' V6 H, ?# e5 `0 u& Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( ^/ j# N, E; v$ pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) F j$ l% A2 X# L- z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ [4 K2 J: Q" e: A. m5 M8 q
medical schools.
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0 D4 S1 J( h& VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; B$ G9 {/ h# o; v& I3 v% `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 B2 S/ K0 G% ? E; m4 T
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: g, D. F: k9 ~4 lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' _/ {* ` @ S$ X1 U, [+ r) _) Eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 p0 t( h7 _+ t. Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 [5 }: p# c6 cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 G( G P8 e1 d) ]" W4 l' R, amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! x7 g! J' P' F7 k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; P/ n, b. h4 V# O9 Lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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9 E' T: o' U3 }& \" ? j% T) i/ @The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( t2 [% `* w! o8 F, gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* F6 Y7 N! I% u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) ^& H5 e4 l0 V/ dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! w" u6 A, d" Q( Q: a4 x, \8 o
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 J( G& f' n! H1 X+ f) ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
" }: S" T9 B; F+ fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 k# l0 Z: c1 ?( Z- z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% p1 K/ W/ a1 e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
" |$ X0 E. s* k; |5 v2 _3 G: ]1 B. zcharge the fee defined by the state.; V" M8 c8 r0 o0 n
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 X, x) _1 y0 N, ?
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! P+ P& [' E- y- L( o' a; @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: x/ P7 z' W3 @ P6 l) etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 {7 J2 v2 x; K/ ~1 l* z* O
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# Q/ ~' j0 \, v& b& L: u
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
: i9 f& Y9 V% y$ i2 U. t* J, Yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 j. x' [. Q- T7 N% V' k( ^7 Yyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 ~" L4 W1 y: A4 `trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# k e6 o% g. P; L3 P/ f& thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; G: H+ H4 a( a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& m E0 g4 q9 Q& M- ?
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 y" H3 E& V1 `5 X% k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% i f7 l- o9 f+ B# \# Lare spaces.
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8 d, v J( [ v, a% {# ~There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% C6 F4 m/ b6 f6 f3 Dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& @* }# Q( j% j7 |1 B* L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. t7 o' h4 ]! j. b8 \
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. I7 i. Y! ~, r$ U% ^parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 C5 N/ J# w5 |, G1 |
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few |' B2 s' N( D1 j" Z5 r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) }( i( D; ]2 }' ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ n8 M, a+ o, S" m. K7 k' c8 t/ t% q# ]3 ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 {# a0 U* s4 l. p* q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
