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% C2 X% |8 f$ Q7 c2 j. M3 E8 l
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" J& ?/ O" l* J. `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ I" y1 x0 |3 V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; A. ^# M$ u$ p6 ianswers to our pointed questions.
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0 {) |. j8 F3 c# z+ l0 fThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ o! _6 f7 |7 W3 N- r% G; I
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) S9 s9 U+ y" F, Q3 i& }& `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( A& f7 ~. p, F k5 v0 vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 K/ c5 R) }0 n; r: y7 @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 q; ~9 T, C4 i, g
medical schools.1 H2 q; }+ F( M
, A S5 j+ q$ ^ e' @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 ~; W5 Y7 b% ?7 xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( ]% |: S& K; R1 p5 p* ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 L5 H( f6 i1 ^7 }# t/ nassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; [# S# h& | R; i4 }is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# d) `- W2 _/ o8 s: I5 C
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. d' m# c( o6 Y7 |$ R! { Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( V; ~3 [+ ~ U7 i) j# H; ~mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" g1 L3 ^& S5 s0 cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 R+ D( Q) H* L4 W1 Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 }& x; T; U5 F' B3 ^9 y8 O$ ]
# g0 q9 H* u# l9 P. P. ^% h9 r# cThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; H7 ?& K$ Y/ y3 t, Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ Z8 j6 `: E' E5 z# }* y; F8 @% Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 q, q1 @( X2 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 Z' D. T! p: z0 y3 }. Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 {+ F$ b. B# |" s% R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 Q+ f* f& d7 Edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 H! W6 |$ h/ p5 P' |Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( f: `. P" x8 [3 r8 Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 G, ]/ ]5 M4 y8 K6 d
charge the fee defined by the state.' {* {! V2 l/ R7 {5 z! G
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& k8 C/ V5 S- _1 }7 J- i/ J) x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. n6 c) V' a" q N1 O6 uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 U$ h) E& |* E1 I
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' a. I; H* X [; z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ E1 ^/ F5 N, j% H( _8 o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 f/ @) f3 V/ a& Q% R+ q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( R9 \( _, q8 {7 _% O( _; B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. A. N8 g% j) L' O5 N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, ^0 `) c% Q; X0 l$ xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% k6 j+ x4 J) j4 j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 k; ]" n6 ?; N" ]! J' Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 t' W1 B' w& ~% L& v; z. I; vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" e( H) K9 c( ?# v6 s' Tare spaces.! O$ E; e. i8 u5 Z$ h/ e
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, @6 y! A6 b4 [0 {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. N* J- z8 }6 k2 G0 n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 S# T' J! e& f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& y; Z8 k4 y& j8 W- [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the E' \. c; L- `+ r8 ]1 q/ \ ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ m) h8 y: c9 w5 m" r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( u; L0 _( T, f' B5 xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
B7 i P$ r7 h9 ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# f0 _2 k1 t; ^
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
