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
5 A5 L0 q+ a2 G/ [/ tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' q1 M8 E/ c1 S0 z6 S" l) J8 k6 won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* M: O7 `0 E! O0 {, Y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ P3 f6 j+ ^( |# W% v# Janswers to our pointed questions.7 u7 {9 r" o% M4 J$ x4 a3 Y- u
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: [9 }; ^# y2 `% h45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ y6 m5 R6 v( L: p4 |7 E, \4 [out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; t* p$ X g" ]- b0 }# {0 kfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. Z3 r% C. M, h! G5 Cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 d" g, { f) G* @* L! q$ A! ?
medical schools. K7 o& S8 o0 q. [' r" m
5 a/ w/ }# X6 _4 YEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
S6 G( O7 E( N& A8 ?( xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ z* Z7 b% S+ S; Uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
$ P& E& W* p4 S" @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) C- Z# }( e$ ]$ g s) \" ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# K. O: m9 n0 d: P! C! n7 i; m: Z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. C; [- D6 }6 u' Eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 o/ m7 n2 o+ D; V/ ~% x- J# amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 g# h" V, i, j, _" H( [5 m7 ~& V* cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 T* ]3 Q( B. A, |% W- n& Q6 ]
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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B1 K% O7 c" l# d% }: ^The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) ?/ g% E6 d8 Z3 p6 G, [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
5 F/ }1 S0 ], L. @3 C$ J& F0 Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* F3 o: f+ H$ }" ?/ H/ W; C$ C7 I8 ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 o6 U+ |% y2 w( ~2 C' B
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby `; L# f8 Q$ Q* r& `% i/ g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' H9 m; y7 t+ U4 @. s4 o' Z' ?
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- v# S7 K; |7 J5 s) K8 F9 X5 wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 k& X8 E, V. l Q% D7 a7 Ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, q" H" N9 l% ~; ^charge the fee defined by the state./ k% ^) w" N/ D" {! [5 q
" ^ w/ h3 j1 c2 ] k! k eThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) U2 j: z- g2 K1 U/ P2 b) P0 F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
J' j Q6 E9 B' K, s6 p% X- \9 ~* \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& F% p. ?$ Y" j* S9 ?truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& [& x! ^# t# Y! X. s' _1 g( ^+ Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' J! |+ _) [6 u1 J; `/ i! D( ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ U6 u# c- s+ A" mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( c' f( @: C. _! }" C. tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' A: {$ q5 u2 q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 `. s3 D+ _- Y" E; W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; ?) |8 p9 ^, ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- O, w# J6 l. Q9 r' B1 k8 }to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
/ C7 J4 n& A! ^# f( ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 v* b4 c# K# B3 }# a0 `2 Care spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 Y/ \; O2 D2 n# `4 vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- R1 O, y( [# Z6 Nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' G) H# V" D4 Q5 u3 s) ?, [7 ~
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ p1 D6 o- E1 O# K
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ ~6 O1 e# W" q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) X4 X6 j- j! N4 T( lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! ^% f1 |6 l4 s) `. s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 ?0 n7 a8 ]7 h; p- s6 ^& z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: [$ n. }* Q( g3 K( w+ I4 _
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
