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+ s8 h& k7 q9 u4 \5 w7 ?: k' z- C: K
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# p. Q- a2 s' j; m* Q L6 Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
0 W# r: z( f1 n9 C6 I9 u" @4 c! n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: t% r) h9 M$ b3 s
answers to our pointed questions.' |1 Z0 o7 o% u. k* H
& U9 t2 J0 a( h$ T& r3 a! MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 d, X& f0 f% a4 F2 ?
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: E. M. O' o( ^& f' Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 }; r; L* D# P# g/ Efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ j: `4 k2 g" o7 ]/ k# R, |' v. @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; Z2 Y+ U7 d$ L! B: q6 m. jmedical schools.
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1 M! e: }; `8 X$ V* i( JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" M- z+ Z/ `) h. Q+ h
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 Q) O+ t1 Q5 E# U3 S* gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( |; {3 V( J) k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
# w* ~/ Y$ Q$ u, T- i. zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 D9 d8 k4 m8 B |/ P5 vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
( W, @# ^9 O" ?$ z+ R$ Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 a; k3 x' s$ o" R# r' A0 `2 V
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 C/ W' o, i& gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ ^, n! p P9 F1 X( H# g( J/ R. xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 g8 n$ h& }0 ?$ @" P
4 G& q2 i+ P0 B; H/ f* H8 XThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 V4 X! |9 @8 \" N/ p
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( ]( w. a) I8 b; H5 h c0 m! ?4 Vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
, h0 x) ~2 @7 u4 Yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, e$ y( m1 d% E3 A' Z3 O
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 x& z1 r; R* F6 C9 T2 R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 @' c* ^+ c* |+ I5 [$ H. p7 {) n+ K! y* E
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
y3 @6 M0 L9 L2 K& s- kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When V* w+ _; {. B" Q/ L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 F9 O) s8 D9 ]0 w5 A
charge the fee defined by the state.: _' g4 G/ i7 P/ y- I% U
/ z" }- P& }7 U5 }6 r+ FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 \! @( f; b5 L5 e
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ k8 Q9 l- f9 Bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 {: P: }# w' u1 I5 R6 y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ t) J9 U& C4 W* E7 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( R& q8 J7 ^ w6 G# g/ D
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- A* A) p% M( R( i W. c
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 X( M& `; z- ^6 z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 O6 I7 G+ p. itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' F+ ~# Y6 \9 c2 |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
{% T' {# x# ]% apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. Q2 R& Q) m9 `3 c, T& i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 w1 ^7 I; v; g) v/ Y" Q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# @ z% |4 h. _are spaces.+ T7 Y3 C( ?$ Y
% s( s S6 W9 E$ b: ^
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! g/ l, D1 q& F8 m& \to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- X/ C" @! l; X g Z" C5 |; Cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 k9 c- o3 G G% A. }5 L- }0 Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 |& O# j, ^2 x9 G6 p0 N! i' |+ [" L
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 e# l( N1 s& t% P9 U
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
, P' q) H* i! K; snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of K' F2 o. @, o$ P1 h% |# j; X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ M8 E; X% s2 @+ h9 M( M) W" [* K+ }is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& R1 X5 H- \9 L8 f4 i$ }6 z. K/ h
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
