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
0 t' e B/ y3 X: ~! b2 T0 lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
& m) l* N+ n1 o* \* B0 H! ^6 |3 Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
2 e# Y/ p. i0 L+ n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 S }; _/ d2 Canswers to our pointed questions.
4 N+ r) Z5 H& w2 z- L' \5 {9 C6 ^
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& `$ v/ E! u9 \0 ]
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& d4 @" | c$ v: l! l) }
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) c0 @3 w' W) W/ }; B: W7 j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 m" d9 f* i; B* P+ R, M% y) Cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 F$ t) M0 q7 s5 qmedical schools.
( w+ h% M9 s- p0 T6 @! M* G1 S* `( {! s$ z7 k0 S: k6 F# W# g
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 o# S! r5 Y( a9 e5 Y8 f2 N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, W/ K' c/ a! V8 |# s# w5 l
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
1 L+ l7 N$ a! z0 Z6 o* @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% J n& A- R- k7 ]" B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
~+ U( B' P5 M) e( \, ?/ nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# \6 v( ]$ b8 F; dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
y- j; V- H0 ^# `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ p9 ^5 B0 \! _* L7 f
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; h+ T6 i, c) \% C" o+ @- |1 Lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 y( Y) b% e5 m% m8 {0 [5 q4 E
4 U: B0 h6 ~8 I4 I/ ]The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( ~9 |1 E/ T( k9 \' |
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: ?8 Q5 W# ~! Tsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 v$ [9 T- t& ^) h1 u1 [3 G$ `have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good [2 M+ V$ v4 r
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 ?* Y& E/ x1 V3 I5 T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) O$ e5 K! U7 B* ^4 M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 }( u0 p# D$ Y& r7 q3 K* m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: j8 l) I9 A- O' z# _* ^# p" K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ Q' f" Y0 l0 |: L5 h gcharge the fee defined by the state.; [6 J8 g+ H8 f- A7 [& S, A% V- j' z
! ?! r3 R6 O( u7 ~$ j9 eThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. { \0 `0 T; U, F' e
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 [) ?: V3 Q0 u- ~: n! eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 Y/ Q$ S8 H. `9 N6 u, y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 G9 h! r* a A& K( V5 _* q: _
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 ?7 S0 @! e; B4 U) ^4 w' Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on |- [- C% ^! Y3 G9 X3 C( G& _
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: d8 e% Z6 l0 ^/ [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) [2 S8 Q$ @1 v f/ ~trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, o$ n& y5 s! A- Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, ?) X% ^% A8 `) y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 ]4 m, `* j8 \1 Q9 R
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ j' J- w: O1 p1 y$ S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# s8 H% C7 X# \7 C# w K j
are spaces.4 [. h6 t3 a7 O; ~; ?: f2 C( I; M4 f
: p, z/ E- c% Y" F0 V6 i
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
$ c) V9 ]: X/ B6 y( B, Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. G5 |# k9 t, a+ down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 y& w4 H& x3 f) x
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% \5 J, \- b) X) P9 O3 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 P" e3 J; G% V( x
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- `1 U3 g. q1 R1 v; e
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
, ?9 m7 u/ X0 g2 L* acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& [" \* X c" N; J+ V/ ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' z0 q! t& g' b6 v" J We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
