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
& Y3 w0 W6 U$ R1 _; @8 ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 N* i3 _+ H7 _2 P, Bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! W1 C7 J4 c! \& w7 T"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; U B+ X# X' S5 t1 z3 lanswers to our pointed questions.
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6 |% u) ?; l1 Z1 v5 I HThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," ~/ {7 H6 O& t V( z2 N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) D. Q- }/ w8 i5 s" {* r: U& ?out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is e8 M2 P7 ^/ F2 x' ?+ ]; w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; G8 F V- @" s. M1 A: N9 Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
# D* o9 I0 {( C0 |5 U# g% U7 Y1 Emedical schools.6 g% s6 q& c/ ~3 E
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 G# C9 E7 D9 T# N9 Z) ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* f* A) Z4 Q" R+ X& ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" s) K9 v) ~3 _2 B6 w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" n0 C0 e. E9 M& B: N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( g; y/ a. C: p" u
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, V# v, I" G0 P' b- cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ a' G" O; o) L- m( C$ g+ K0 t) l5 J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 W1 N* `: k5 L0 N
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' a% U1 f8 m1 Q& {1 o. D. Ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 Q+ N. c. _. a2 l
( R# R' `$ B, j1 c0 j( jThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ a( e/ W y8 u& `0 F1 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- `- x n. j$ F; t) y4 |supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ W% `. B2 l$ s4 i+ m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 H# I9 b' v) o- I
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& U* f; q1 @/ dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' d% D& z1 g h4 F% Zdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' d& @3 T2 w8 O Q" o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! @) e9 L$ N' \$ ^/ S* V( T
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: t9 o2 x( E7 p% pcharge the fee defined by the state./ \; B* S, u! c- \
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! N$ G/ l6 N& G! |% C7 z( l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- K1 ^2 t. R1 e5 m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% @( i+ _! Z, ?0 wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 x \/ M& k; K* Z* L# ?
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! d9 d5 ?5 L3 P$ m8 h2 K2 }8 {5 ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* [8 C6 U, T% _% q7 l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ c/ r- t4 f( V. \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 |5 x* D9 x9 D
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
5 m9 f; I) q3 nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! C( |& Q1 j+ l1 Cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% V; f/ u/ ]+ k1 q' T) n
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ p) K0 Z4 v$ Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! S9 O& [! Q/ B% e* f! \
are spaces." b. g6 @- v+ A* o6 T/ ]2 p
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 `' e# P) V( t% J3 Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. @6 E8 `& W7 |8 B
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
5 [3 ?4 E7 F9 l7 ~8 f40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 J% m/ M4 @$ S% s5 _, a( `4 q0 n
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 | q6 P" D. c2 o0 s( X3 z! K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 g! f& B" w1 A. o' o: Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 z2 ~" S, _+ j/ f2 v. _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 m' k1 A$ x6 {6 M) P# O( U; S& f
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 V4 { w1 _. P1 Y* z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
