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
) w7 @; x* q0 X; Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went K* n/ M7 p3 ^: j- K: N8 J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) T& D& Q0 |! U/ N9 O5 W% l- G
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 {/ S4 ~* L. A1 ^answers to our pointed questions.1 x: K, S5 h. Q( d, C
* Z8 R( u/ u* e7 e4 D# G9 KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 R" {6 o+ ^8 {# x" a
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! e7 V" j4 k" M
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 S* `: N. J7 |3 w6 q5 D: j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 `7 q( \8 S8 @* Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 v' m( f4 h9 y9 Jmedical schools.9 x/ g- a/ _4 G/ g9 S
, w: O6 U) ~! e* n8 ], mEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ E- C/ N+ S) E" L1 W2 n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 e& h. |- P$ a( A" v$ N; ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# [* X/ p6 U2 N) L- e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 T8 n. {8 ?5 f9 L1 ^2 L% l8 J5 Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 R J; v8 C! C: r3 h
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 }6 c }% r$ |- u9 w3 D
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 c9 O6 H7 {2 ~6 ^/ f. d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 q, S9 b! y% v, z1 z r1 L$ S9 |shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) X6 P& W6 t7 O1 zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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$ O7 V4 @- {. M1 nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ b7 n4 g1 G% n4 U7 [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and g. \. V% V* W6 ]! H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! ]7 h1 w) {' P% ^9 v) J" h
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ }# w% N8 |6 p+ Qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 V2 N" B* |0 t: Z! isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 ~2 S; G; M3 R" E5 ^divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 ?. b j/ o _! a" E" d5 d% GDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' D$ u* v; B2 e5 p3 h$ j7 D' x) ]1 L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% j4 C* Y8 h6 s) W( ] Vcharge the fee defined by the state.) Z# [9 \3 Y6 u p/ @6 ^2 O! h
r, }8 Q. R. f8 _' |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* Q2 v* l- F, m/ Y: Lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 B* s0 k1 j* \1 Uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
+ C, k; E# O' @7 }6 |truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 M; F4 g H" [4 kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 O/ ~; N& f1 h( u5 \
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! {) A+ O; w2 R2 h: Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 o% K, t9 [! {. s9 d7 o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 s# F! n* m/ O' Q5 y% ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 ^# J0 N1 ?1 qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( K$ t, b3 ]' T+ u2 Npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- ?7 b; u$ t, p' m1 }8 x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; t* y; y) V) M/ G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 ]" w5 v$ o- o& P, Q' z
are spaces.6 @. F1 B* v* v2 X( s
7 A" X/ m+ q$ ~
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- Z1 a: o: e3 m% R c5 _/ B
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, h8 d; s8 R- B* D8 z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* u& R2 m. {, h' H4 v1 g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 }3 B5 m2 p+ [4 W q- w; \parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! i+ J% `* v1 z& s. _, C. Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few. z8 V* P! f) y: P+ y+ w: m& j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 x* W6 l/ a/ A, x7 `car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 h' ^, _* o+ M1 \4 n0 a
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. }, u0 g8 |4 k+ k
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
