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
/ B4 _" K" j" vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% q6 v2 D0 N5 [) ]4 s7 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# f0 A8 ]5 w) q5 C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ z. [ b! O# F: A+ @4 }- r
answers to our pointed questions.# }9 S- G: e e( Q7 j2 Z2 M5 Q
: ?8 h# X T" I" a- lThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; k) j( y, C4 O) Y2 g! P1 u) w
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
C7 F# {. B" Y% Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. t6 ^" i& N& F. ~free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 J$ l; S- t! `: @# p; ?& N Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 O1 v" [* }5 _/ bmedical schools.
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& e+ S& f6 B3 y5 ]4 K$ @2 ~. p. o9 qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ K$ Z9 [# |& M8 m0 i# y) Q xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 W; i- D* v# ^) k; Z8 w
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 @0 o5 @) O) f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' K; H4 {8 M3 }is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 O* c& N9 `. T7 K
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 N* r3 j3 H+ S4 w) Useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ `$ }/ E! k4 k$ r: {" Y4 wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: H' f ~3 e) N y8 V- I1 I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
& v+ |; Z" E/ Z( V, r; S5 {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 T( N3 a; h) X2 Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) V9 y! N+ G8 E3 c: A/ n6 I% ~# Z6 u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ v! u0 V2 |! U( s2 U) f2 K
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' C0 C7 y5 r2 e% X# v5 a% P: t9 Qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 a Y/ U1 @5 p2 X' x' T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ L% [3 ^# K+ t/ k3 P% a' A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* T! P! f! d) {) S {+ t/ X: [
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 F6 |7 i" [( ~2 ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 Y" {& |# L# x5 ~9 S5 \
charge the fee defined by the state.+ q* `9 l9 a) B2 s. Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 K/ S; n' \6 V+ o) d( Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& F: j. w7 l. }) W5 N: X6 _
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" }4 d2 l; D0 q `* e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) a k6 U: x, ~$ ?" c4 B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! Z7 K6 T9 j/ o7 t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 V, @( M. @0 V
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 H' F: r! \. m8 E/ nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 Z' O2 z8 n' m- s
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; E O$ ` `( jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) P. M7 d+ c# ?. D& S' q; T M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( G$ g3 k) W. z7 Q; U/ c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or M" a) K% i$ B; R, O3 r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
2 Q, |. l2 n1 H! dare spaces., Z3 g/ r# ]7 |9 c
+ o i' q$ _* C1 p' n( yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
' {# s* P# L% Y$ \& I' j& gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 v( x7 [: ?& k5 b( ]' Y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. o5 n/ c8 l3 D8 J6 Z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( c" { l* q% C. O5 Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( i6 Z4 A" o; s* p% `6 T! N4 d. l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% _4 q. R; F$ _( i
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 u- h4 X* r/ K! a% ~% R7 }
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ h) O' g8 A7 A
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& [% a c$ `2 A4 Y, A! v$ [ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
