我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 G1 B4 c7 |& C$ }0 B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( ^ U& C! k! h0 o( z' [0 `3 \on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. ?; f( d1 g% Y3 q, W) w- o, r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
( \7 [5 ~9 y: W0 y2 I/ f: C1 canswers to our pointed questions./ {3 K% \5 }6 @3 @
( B; w$ m3 S( E! ?( d
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ k' @7 B* r! e" x# O* _2 j) v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ f1 X. i4 z& X: y0 P2 p% Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
7 d( n4 Q3 u6 R d% `0 u/ Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 ^6 g7 F+ j) q1 v6 r( z# z/ Lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ ^" a9 G8 R$ Y
medical schools.
" L. `* r- X- `. U
3 e+ o: M" ` S% h* f6 J2 ^ U- JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. b" B* b% p9 j' G4 Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. L. Q8 Y9 j- O. {) |& n# x& J ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 c: ^( M( m; v: o5 Y6 w; Iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
H& O' v9 h- E( x J# _is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( X! ^$ w! E B! K6 V' Z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- Z1 i! Q2 |9 P: w: O: F: z' xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. u) F+ i1 P' I8 E5 }3 b0 Tmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 J) D! r4 S' g( S1 r/ lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 D; s* u( S5 L# |( \7 Bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.- F, P; m2 D/ r {) L* J& K" c
" ^: @9 c8 t+ ?6 f l$ @* P% _6 s8 tThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 O; s. ?1 h" a8 O- k1 F* X5 z8 Iprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) n& b9 c" G- S+ s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 }* _) I: o7 @% m' ]6 k2 E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' c2 B+ n- j# L# E& O3 @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 V3 I4 \0 x9 S0 c0 ~4 H/ Rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high U/ I+ \6 B: n2 g* @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) u# L9 Z9 H- a) a, RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 d7 N8 C! E. O9 l/ E% Y9 _! r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 e' x' o7 q# t& L$ e1 f) {charge the fee defined by the state.
[5 d+ U9 ~5 u
* ?& C4 A" B6 V6 q) }" d! `) A4 I/ _There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' z+ K/ E# a7 l+ Q: g1 B: Lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 [, C. W4 a- ?' d% L3 [3 f9 z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- s- {5 J$ Q" ^0 A
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ j8 L* G; B! |$ Oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 u$ X1 [% G$ b: l P8 [# h* ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
3 B$ X% _, R7 {7 x1 F- c0 ]schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, v9 ~* z5 K5 P) T: D* j0 x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; [/ L4 `( m p( ]( E
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! f @' t ]/ E% thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 [+ ~ V: q" J0 `# s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 z8 k! C) s' T, Y& Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( b; T9 E( w; C# E6 }( ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% ^8 X; R( ~( f
are spaces.
2 R2 y2 ^+ j& j0 [' e% s3 {3 p! l! W/ `# m( d! F
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
5 t, S4 [: @, B6 m1 N7 q3 Ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 O! _: W1 u8 g6 o5 Y3 Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* s3 v/ X A4 n: o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# c& V* J' S1 X6 y. F
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; j2 }# U) q% \ y6 [best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% ~ x a2 w4 @nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- u3 x% h: @; g+ T6 V1 Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( E: N8 }4 c7 Q, H E
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 C* y) q& L, m9 Z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
