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
: s: a7 X7 s' q5 {+ _2 Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, ~7 E9 ?. z7 H$ I
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( K5 P, c- [$ Y8 x" l. {
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 E4 N+ V2 P0 w0 v8 s
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 l2 w2 i5 W8 C7 R) C1 {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% _* L/ r- o+ F9 Z; |0 tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 [! \" e1 X/ U' ` i R; c- P
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. _1 \' z$ b* U" Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 a8 n& t Y3 V5 e1 v
medical schools.: Q% `4 Z2 L7 p: \+ M* I6 ]
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 K# A3 h6 p2 ?0 p' hgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, w5 ]/ R5 [+ Q. u7 b' T. U) ~
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 K: F/ A! c2 R" a8 _8 sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) u/ R* F/ x) ?/ |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ G+ C3 C9 o! }8 ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 S: r/ Z; G; o- M! j! S( N% Z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 h; y8 P; X8 Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 J& o( G3 t4 n0 B, r# y/ Z/ s
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; C6 C' k3 M6 _) Z. Y2 a
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 J4 U, w- C* }5 n
3 `( b) f D4 a2 iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
7 n8 W/ z1 y. A4 W; M0 `private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 Q/ `. s9 a9 D# \; Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
# R5 E4 c' Z1 P2 E. b/ R0 zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& _0 C% o) R* J1 W0 s- U( {# T) a% H& U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- R8 F: f$ e p. g2 vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& @2 R P$ b3 E3 Q* Q, pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 q" T; q, _" c0 Q% @! ? A: W0 R/ j
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# Y- ?1 i( ~& p5 m pa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 Q% K! `/ D8 U+ G% Y3 Z
charge the fee defined by the state.+ h* ?$ _* ^. x6 T! E3 y
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# n& F& S) v Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 |0 C, T% U2 O$ t y& Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: V) q. F7 ~9 P/ ^: B' ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 C2 \* k `* o/ Vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- t8 I+ v* U! c! }1 M; k5 @working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: W. s& U* z0 z1 r# D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ E- ~ b: [$ Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 Y0 b0 \9 y b2 I: H5 }1 n/ Ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 c* B4 ^6 m% f% B3 E, ?3 w1 y- J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& W9 B' x: N* G1 m
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 _9 p. o I6 y! F$ k7 j2 Ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
) h0 A( o/ a4 L! M; Ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 G. } q" r8 uare spaces.
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) U) W6 l1 \: ^( r0 t$ H1 kThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 V E& k, h# n! ]7 f6 w
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) q$ S. u/ r% `6 u6 qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; f' V) Q/ Z( \- i40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; c+ a% a! M& A1 [) o: o: e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) |% r; O+ a; D8 Dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- T% D2 J- v8 P% m1 O8 [1 B" ~8 T$ {nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- v1 j! q% L, k( E) @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 R$ N% f6 b/ H. cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
* H0 e1 N. \+ O( O! K$ ?* Q9 } ]( Q7 X We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
