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
2 H1 W) o1 h+ T) [6 Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* \, s% w2 m7 ?! g: M
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# h0 k) Y( ?# B# U+ b* G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 M, O2 c: X9 B8 y' k3 @- Yanswers to our pointed questions.
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6 G1 ^# L, ^, I4 E, pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 t$ t) s3 M6 x+ k3 l' v! r
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- q# h/ M0 b8 R9 L) Q- Y; kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ V" G2 i. X: y K0 o& V ~
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ q' `0 @: j4 y7 R6 r6 _* M
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ p* L( u/ i# F5 Y+ L& v
medical schools.+ K% v2 m* P3 x, l
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; a+ q% v% H2 ]+ H' z& {3 a- N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 a- z+ k7 C# w+ b9 z% k
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 i9 y" a3 |) h" ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 Y8 `, ` ?. l* _7 C' O, W- L/ G5 ?is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# {; E7 x1 h$ F) b. Kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ N) Z2 X4 `8 n1 }4 V3 b" S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* @9 {1 K& r, F* T% omostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 I2 ^) c1 P, S9 Q9 y% B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
" y: w& }6 B. X Lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ S4 h u4 g7 J* H! x
1 t! q' @: [- j% c. rThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 p: y! d4 {8 B6 E2 z. @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 r# v' `7 ?6 h& D, W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; _6 b) s* [! N- c+ r
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ W! N! v% N$ e/ s/ X) `9 G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& G- n5 S( I0 Y% y& @6 ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 O- _ B9 P4 U: H3 D; T8 U+ A1 s* Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* _9 N, |1 R5 S8 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& Z3 [0 O& E$ C! z
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. e1 H! L% l; h
charge the fee defined by the state. R8 T l! t: i+ o. O1 n0 a( V
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% P7 z' o2 C6 r" I( W1 f# A
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 M% X" N9 |7 p/ [" ^ ~% M
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- @& R( \, B( U7 W! W0 U8 W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( {8 }; \; r3 N2 ?+ h
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
@( P% ?/ u/ |; h. ~( I; o) {* Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 i1 q8 v% U0 S) e+ S- lschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% R* L" A2 O* B' c. g' I7 L, M: Y7 Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 o: x. W5 l: Q- D L8 l' Y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 i2 [$ J! P& d2 s6 v- i
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. n2 v0 X2 A- x" Z( k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
1 v+ h) z" f: K9 B bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
% @. m$ `& ]. E. q$ f5 jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there" x% F9 \4 A% i; i6 U- w8 x8 V
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi% l+ |; o6 J) r! ~
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( W" _" p- N$ R+ X7 y7 h
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# r9 d# ^( _3 q4 Y/ \
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 @! i. I# E' j5 n
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 x% Q6 ^1 q6 u7 c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ f; W9 t9 {3 k& L* P9 ]nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 Y+ k* v3 z4 N {7 Z& z0 n" `- A
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* M3 z) ^' q. g& i: x; z: b
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' H4 Y* c& G4 \' @. F( Q
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
