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
6 ~' ?1 L, v9 m4 _5 ^. Jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! W7 f- k/ \4 M E2 m. ]% f
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 A9 V. B5 N( U- q7 y' E& T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 V( G2 ^; L+ s2 v# l3 X2 S- @# janswers to our pointed questions.$ K4 x" @. L$ m5 H, R, P5 ]
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# b! a4 o7 O5 S1 Q- M$ R45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& @9 W% w: c& X: o) X& {9 d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ I Z. l" I8 B7 ?* B, Z' pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 F0 f+ Y, a% {: k0 u' Tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. R1 E+ W" N! b$ x5 ?5 I' w2 N
medical schools.& U' U- Y6 ]8 {- ?- ^# L
& ^5 C. J4 K+ a" Y4 zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 h1 O& B* |# I, w& Y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, y* F2 j4 y' p- Y/ ] {8 t$ s
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" Z1 v6 A0 j( V5 S
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ a/ K! c2 t- `# ?! @! r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 w Y* N7 E5 gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" a/ x1 H/ W5 A4 v+ L$ s9 g4 H4 jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and w7 |; h/ Z& ^( C- u( c* @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
$ m) Z/ `/ B" A# Hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 L( y7 o. [1 T9 Dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ D; S7 W" L$ D! s
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ s8 B2 Z- {9 [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: `5 t; R& s/ E2 `. O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
( S( T- J4 }1 F6 O( y+ t* X# rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good i- x7 K' u$ Q# z' A) _4 A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 o% D5 R( L5 X" V7 p/ ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; m. X, ^& S5 S& ?2 Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; _/ A5 d0 H' c" P! NDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* l7 F! _% p- M' r7 [& Ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( H& \! P5 S% H4 o; [% t; h
charge the fee defined by the state.- N. z; b5 M+ |$ J
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 e$ S- b* b" U) fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: t: ^% u- q/ t8 N+ K
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 y# q) `- W( ~2 J: ?1 P% S9 [# Etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. B Z, F. B5 F+ s: b2 O
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the K; k" c J r @3 s5 ?
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' n) J/ ^$ ?, f" B% c- ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 z8 [# X9 A" Q' Cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ k# y6 J3 k0 m7 l6 ^: H
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: o" i9 W% |' S; Y2 Z3 I! j
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ ^; V$ _8 c3 h2 t, F: r
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 U! |2 f4 z) D7 P; X! E* d/ _/ g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 g3 r9 a8 C9 A( abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 S- v) v! q3 I6 u, p( x4 f
are spaces.5 G% x& [: R- j* T& r! ?" \5 M
0 ]; P' N% ?1 p) iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi d9 |3 r1 [0 r& E0 r" _
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) z! A7 l* l4 Cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- W( x/ ]) n) Z% g* u. h
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 n4 Y, [ ]( ~: o* Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 U! ]+ k% i* [" ]* M( f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" D( y; ]7 ?/ l3 L c: C- _! ^
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ [ h9 V; k! J+ Q, V) X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" K. `1 ~+ P& l6 K7 dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 X1 u3 [0 a% ^% S
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
