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/ P4 q6 n2 L4 m& R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ W1 i+ C, \ g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ q9 n0 ~. l+ Z/ |; ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 q: u' H3 ~# W9 M, Xanswers to our pointed questions.
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" {& k& O' `7 D, n) k+ AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, v$ | t$ M' G! @; a4 O2 e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, @6 j9 W( x7 B" i3 K0 i u. Gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. B$ K) x# ]3 f. Z' k% wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 _& W1 @# D3 r) P& Gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are' [. E' N" L8 Y+ b6 S! l
medical schools.
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$ f7 @( ~+ p, q1 c7 t' V9 d* eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# \! {) K9 x; l: b1 u' E: o, c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 G0 V3 H' B9 ?+ I& ?! T$ K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' x, e' R5 ~& j! H0 o; Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* }5 v: B$ j. Z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% [+ C/ y& _' m4 i8 a. l% X8 K5 y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
& t6 y/ K$ ?* k9 Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 t/ y1 p: g4 S! G1 }0 K2 Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ [- S! I; I. l( \shortage which the government is addressing by converting some- C$ [3 @4 S% l0 W l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! W( X0 e: {8 _% o: B& A, c
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% _% A( T( o i' t Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. ~6 `( l# N9 I& v
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% l8 M0 |9 s8 }6 X3 \/ z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: s7 o0 F6 m4 W% v4 d) |* N
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 z7 k [" u! k" ?( @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 ~" |4 f' i9 b, s/ v# ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! }1 k2 v, v) V, _! M$ F$ i& DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! R; w# ?3 A" s& u; \a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
9 K) N; z3 Z/ f8 Gcharge the fee defined by the state.2 Z j% I/ u/ V$ m7 q- d
0 O8 i2 b. [2 J' V, i, U) W; uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 D* a7 R4 q$ b Q4 Y$ `9 \+ B% eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( I: q" c0 x" s: t' e( aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% q# Q9 g7 T& i* y- s: Q4 {7 `
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% ]8 _) G+ c, q$ e/ Y; w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 |0 x& M$ b/ ]% R' Cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 q& U+ K% H9 J0 m4 N5 Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 y5 P8 A) L/ h& L( }! u8 Vyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 ~6 p7 ~' r& [) Q8 {, p6 b4 @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 U- N6 X& z( R1 w S' U6 n7 C/ T4 Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' v( P( o3 K% Q% j U9 O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
_0 \- h: _8 ~2 }0 a3 _2 [& m6 zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 Z1 s6 ~. U# S5 ~( \buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; ^ m4 R8 i; i% T$ Y+ I+ @are spaces.( z# m$ g4 W7 M0 y1 V N
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 S- J: ~# I8 Z. L2 {. r( Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ z6 f* W2 ?$ M. P5 k6 nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 V7 Z2 O1 `* ^ M& L8 w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 B5 x8 M: U% r bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! T4 W) y! |% r! c$ Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 m& R) O, f$ z8 Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) ^# G; b" _7 b: q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 H5 p" v }3 e1 z8 _0 |' a' p5 s. k. S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ e, G7 L* u- V8 H2 ~4 V z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
