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
4 S4 a' l: X' q7 H6 Y- {' y$ n7 kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 o t* P1 c5 @' S9 @( h6 xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,& `% o7 I3 O. D5 F0 ~" p
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ _- x4 N5 j* x! i7 Y
answers to our pointed questions.9 v9 b; r) I5 A! ~, {* L2 [
! L2 \+ d! \, L/ X$ j
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& Y6 y) J0 {+ }8 M- S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 d- f/ ?+ n* Y& D5 Bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 l% m9 Z, h" n8 o W Tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, W2 O/ x. F. X }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 b7 i% m1 C8 _medical schools.
3 U' b$ x0 H; y$ c# ?/ P+ ?. c9 d
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 y- [1 { N& Y7 @" v5 y" ~: e ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 z+ s' I3 k, w6 m- c! r6 U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 f' z+ M8 i0 |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 g) m) a& Z, j
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" e) ]6 m& U2 H ~* R# f% |
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
1 y, i; m& R% [" N2 X# Iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- e8 F! V9 B. i5 T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& s Z5 O0 u% d4 d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ f0 r/ x/ Q# Wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* v4 ~1 U; v- ?7 k0 [9 C/ T
. X3 P% F- w$ K' Q4 U) e& U# e; a
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
$ L6 j4 e2 `2 Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. c, j3 c; E$ ^, e7 j6 Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( T9 a4 T& `9 o9 w. V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. B$ o8 ^! ~3 `3 |3 `# T2 K$ k4 k
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 \, g' f% h$ R: v7 R T& b! J& Gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" W) p" z3 w! D8 C5 z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 L3 B0 h" |* [: Q: ^- F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
4 h5 r' D4 B" u, t+ r4 ]* ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 Z1 p P. l* j" u! rcharge the fee defined by the state.5 t% W# `; Z$ Z0 U+ t) g) Z
8 d7 A/ O" I* J( } ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# h! V% [6 K* i0 m% d7 ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 C8 f" `: l% M: d4 s
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 g( c8 s- D; W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
. c# v8 {3 z; {! f/ c$ F1 Zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& _3 T \ f8 Q# O3 c$ U( ^6 }" L
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ J% V5 V7 S7 t5 Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* `" V" F1 H9 e9 H( b Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) H! K- A+ H0 L; w2 `! ]$ }% y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ `* J' @! y) j& r) i. W3 g
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% W$ S7 c8 P' { b/ P4 _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% J! w4 K: \) d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( z. k, @; N7 M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 C* \3 x# O4 S& N) y: z: N4 K! Kare spaces.) ] @8 E, v/ d+ h1 c3 e( A3 U
2 J ]1 k' C6 z" | o$ q0 iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: q. B8 }1 J, u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# p l4 J- j1 L. M& Lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: ^+ r% X W; Q: ^1 t4 q7 m- S1 ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% U; Z+ j' h7 |6 z: }' [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 j- B+ Q0 z% E8 [! g, A! [( f5 l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" `7 {' a. O- d" }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( @2 f4 S0 S* [2 @! wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ x3 e# |2 t- C6 r0 T' e4 j9 m" P
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 U* L' X* }% L0 [% ^
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
