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
) o3 ^4 D2 j" N1 qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went# }. A1 f: E/ Z$ z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
) P3 R( J5 N3 F; m"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" y c7 q9 \! m# D4 L' V
answers to our pointed questions.% s" T! \; r3 t" j: w
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 O1 f7 `# Z, h }* j- W! g45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# C" n5 o w1 O* x, L5 k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
Q' p5 J8 v2 w" Z- k5 l6 Tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 q9 }- s" V& {; z9 @# K9 W/ {
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: o! @ Z& {# j' n
medical schools.6 e& E% H. O9 q% D& q( M/ _
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) [, X$ ^$ i) j1 A- |/ Z1 V; Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants! C r) q* R% d, R* ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: I1 }$ ]1 {, o" \; ~) @1 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: J- u, ^# \/ l! ~
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ T* Y' Q% l: C$ N: |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ U: X8 Y4 `5 P$ U3 \/ E# I3 k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- E c X9 F3 p; _9 ?6 p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* n3 ?) T, O1 ]5 [- X- Zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 X# H% Z6 u; D
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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; M1 v- U% a: s$ v* x1 g* S3 EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( l8 m8 {5 k, H6 }2 U7 ^
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. [" o+ p$ U* y& C' P
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. K: c4 P. j: S* |; h) A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- o( u: L; y+ B( T6 Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 G3 ~: S7 @3 ?, ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 i: G. B% N6 @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) _: |# m/ ]& y! uDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% n% G: p. a+ Q) L1 f. v9 P/ {4 j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ p0 H/ @. e( v) U& Q6 {: c" x
charge the fee defined by the state.9 c J0 b" y# R8 H" s* x3 j/ V
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ c# B/ H, m% Y- R# ~- ~/ Ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ A0 l5 s, c* ^2 d3 K
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* i w$ F0 M+ }5 ]- X7 A% F8 \
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* N" C- J. c9 e4 X+ Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 i( B* Y1 G. r; V! P" jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 y l; d$ T) ^9 _ M5 j
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ f; n, K+ M5 \- ^1 |* @8 x) M( R# vyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ d1 g* k- q, j; U& a' X- atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) e5 ]9 X; \: A3 x, X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' R( \: M& j1 K, s' n
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- [' a3 Z# h! Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) {, P& I6 l1 G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; z$ s; u/ \1 q3 ^* l
are spaces.
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0 \! b$ E- O$ \. ~' b$ A) l6 HThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 d: c' I1 q$ L n" V0 w7 Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 b) H9 K" _& R+ A! kown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. l0 X4 [! ^$ X, b5 @# v40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ A- p+ |7 M8 T& f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( n* r9 G$ \/ N+ a
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 D* v2 f( n- A$ _% y: r+ L7 G9 {. {
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 r ~) L' k* f2 L# kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ p8 p# z0 g8 E( W6 l6 ?+ o
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( {3 ]( n. V: p8 G' n0 J( |% C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
