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
/ O4 q% O) E( A: q# @( i% Q( w7 H Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ `' j% v2 I$ u- t; s" r
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 K# p) e( ^4 u3 `
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 O$ v' N- G) m3 s: q( c$ u
answers to our pointed questions./ t. @6 l; S- c
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) X7 y! K @5 Y9 @' s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ N9 g m( k: y2 X! A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
# h* q }* L8 s! L: xfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* V' k( R5 `1 B9 t6 cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( @ K4 p" a; l1 l8 W" g3 S% @
medical schools.2 _, V# x. S9 H7 t! y& u+ F
1 X7 A/ r7 b N4 ~1 Q* `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( Q$ q6 z% |8 S4 q+ ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 a8 \) ^2 U& ]3 y+ Dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years D+ _1 S3 O7 p2 C. C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 p2 t! S; Q5 E0 w+ Q; yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 x# d b- v) ]+ Tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# q4 |0 M7 K5 Q2 x+ ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* R1 A( {% \1 w/ F% Gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 }$ G) @% z8 Y9 Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 L ` O- i9 F q. zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 S% A) g. b m% ?0 h
6 U1 H: v2 h* Y: \ B2 }5 JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ [+ x9 F. a/ h2 `3 I' o6 y! Y$ \
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ S/ a# E- B. [7 a" b
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 x7 Y; ~) {7 ^' J: Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. t* A# K/ L" b) e4 n/ I8 f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 Y6 N7 r/ G5 ^' U7 [
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ o9 W# X4 c; h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
+ s. H2 [1 d/ a1 K+ IDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: v6 I) X. ]* [, h2 n( V% f
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 ]8 m0 c& p: @1 L! W& C" [, t
charge the fee defined by the state.' _8 k; `" w* q$ b+ Z6 S
& z. R5 S8 i3 |. O5 r$ f$ dThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% A; ~+ E. M. Z( A. H5 a$ P" ]+ A# _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, E* h' a3 J" Q, D2 w
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 G$ O/ w# E" s( i
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' \4 d/ J. H8 w3 W6 U, B7 R
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) K& @# p9 }% [9 s" {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ g* D; K, I! c/ Jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 M/ X2 E- b( v( x! R/ Eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% Q" N' d) Q2 U3 I
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% O0 q. O& [$ \2 O
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 n1 I( x/ [: |4 a |# ^& E! h3 fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: \8 v* h, V2 t9 `% v$ J! jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- C j- J+ |! h( T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& K' r7 [% h$ |7 m7 [! A9 c. S& ?are spaces.
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& t6 y9 _ _/ _There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 p$ c4 ~ w8 y0 d! t# wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. c' W& O& c9 x }: D+ M* p
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* c2 J) E+ A9 y$ u& Z: P# Y* B8 G
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' \) H, G, m. g7 R8 ~( e8 O
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- u0 R9 B# H4 ~2 Y* ]- f7 Vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ P- A+ d" ]! ~5 G/ N3 J% Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; R. y. I$ W c4 J$ [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 d8 j+ @( |( Y$ v2 s1 g
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 A' N1 N) o3 b& k
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
