我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living5 D, R: t, c; R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
c7 b4 a3 D* W2 ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) v3 p! O& `) g( P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 Q& K! x# i# l* X- N1 z
answers to our pointed questions.. i7 X8 F0 W- ?7 s" k9 p! p
) C# z9 o. ]0 l$ x. H3 M# uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 A# e+ e8 z6 R45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 S4 ~$ s5 J. T$ H0 c7 l2 o+ f& Hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ w' t; w: G# L$ Q* d/ d) [% Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: N0 j+ F l" p# M7 p+ s* [
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" R7 ]: ^0 S6 @0 m
medical schools./ c* p2 A9 i; i) t+ C* T: X
& l& W% W, P5 Q' R5 @& b0 J, e8 FEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 p" J# Z9 ]2 s5 d3 ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' {& D* |$ z* m, H5 X
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 Y" L+ ^. f4 T
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ E5 P# s( v G1 Q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 G8 \6 _7 Z' {( `' i' H+ w" r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 I" M9 e/ u& V6 s2 @; @
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 k. E* `4 |) Y* U
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# s# O) x6 Y' S) z: Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 N* m% Q' P1 |2 h% D% M- m
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! D- P x- U/ U9 X/ U2 e* e% K( r: c
/ z* P. H% E7 A8 i' T9 q7 TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 w4 l5 ?7 h4 _
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 |4 W7 ], Z* k+ A1 b ~; H; v6 r3 vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 h) _4 @" E; Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: ?; a. e, h: |" X- F
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) g7 Q: z1 B( O# O3 H6 \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' e* }3 t3 w0 R. C2 |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
, E# W$ w! A. vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! w4 ?* n o* h. j Q ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 \+ i$ e) {5 ?8 D" i& j
charge the fee defined by the state.
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2 F6 i5 q# Y- c' ~8 g4 ?$ yThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" ?/ q t4 r, M' \1 z3 B
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: s, t+ V2 j* b; M5 h& Y( ~8 L7 e) pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 J& w* y/ A2 w1 w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) M) V v/ i) I9 r' Z' dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: ~, }1 } u1 ~
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 T$ p0 g I6 r! ]1 L- Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. ?. V- ]8 e: k5 G4 k0 I, n
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 _8 J- |- O* z7 Q* t$ D7 atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% A: H$ o3 O* @. M8 p; I7 ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# I* [7 `% [- A
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 q3 J: C6 M4 ^5 h Z4 B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. [( `3 X5 A# k7 t: a9 _- R/ ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 [ n! G8 |6 Z: Zare spaces.
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6 ]+ `; X5 {! LThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& h2 L7 q7 O3 V# p9 x- e
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 a/ s5 k% t+ ^3 c
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ }7 b( s0 X( ?* }7 q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
^$ r$ F2 \+ [& |6 [; V) Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# }! ?3 I2 o7 G6 H
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- F9 j/ _' [6 z& F, I4 ?5 R3 z% U$ inice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. T: f, X9 k, k! R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 g# i1 k/ _* Y3 D
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ c: Z! H+ t& v2 G7 ]1 b We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
