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
) Z1 b3 h8 t/ o {/ B7 }7 Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, s- T' q# x5 c0 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; Q7 {9 Q) i- y* G"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 O# E! n7 C. }) c( janswers to our pointed questions.; Z( C/ V1 [$ P L
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, T! u' r; W8 Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 A+ d8 g" Z* C4 U
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 N4 R7 l9 t7 qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 |& v. v/ C7 k! q/ @
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 i7 n- x( w$ J: R. _6 ?0 z
medical schools.$ I0 f4 H( }$ d$ \
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! F% b8 D8 O( N! y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
Y0 _ Y! `0 F' T4 K1 }0 ?; J' xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* c. N3 d8 R0 F% m5 s9 k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; C! I7 b/ y& i# I# k7 }3 |: Iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% b1 e3 ]7 ~; k; x! F; d7 s
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" ?8 X( Q' b7 g; W4 x
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- u0 B h: s' h. G w$ V5 ^
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 Z' v; {" {8 F0 O( bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ W8 @6 N- N, g! i# A1 Xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ f, ?9 }( ^" |$ \2 k7 M( g
; F% E/ Q# o# BThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 C0 [5 L2 e4 f0 @6 S8 a! @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) `7 G1 r9 K `- X V& l! S; m; x3 \
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 C8 }& N0 Y4 L c
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, H+ B$ q& D6 ?7 M" |2 E
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 j9 l9 s9 _$ X" s# Z" [sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; x: j9 z9 q% S6 k0 T; H0 M) T* cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* k. E @$ v$ R& Z# e- t. [
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ q Y4 G0 {+ F+ W) S
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 @9 B S' G! ~. I* K; \9 e3 Acharge the fee defined by the state." ^+ z( W& D) y
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 L& ~+ T# J9 _2 B8 G$ @! V+ y9 U. t
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 N/ V" E6 [1 n8 O* I4 Bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, n4 G& S% S' Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
4 i6 a+ `0 s: Z9 _; }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ Q7 G: T! e7 e1 s$ e4 Fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) T" K5 a4 O# a9 r+ z; Hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 X8 Z3 ~$ a1 e
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 q! s' x3 |2 W l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 Q; O3 r* c {% B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, H7 T( z* P5 I( `4 Q- A( [
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 y, o& @5 b8 m0 t( U5 W# ^- \6 d( D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 o7 F0 o5 F' r. t2 h) h+ ~8 ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. [) ~/ w ?- R
are spaces.& v- b% y7 ]0 C
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: M2 w$ {3 Q' Q% Y% Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% z7 }% N( U4 w* e1 Z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# ^0 i' A2 O3 y8 \/ T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 x6 I- ~" v1 ]4 k* |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 g3 U/ }/ h& ^5 U! ^# r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ [5 u1 J) }5 c; c5 w5 w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( n Z( H0 E; ^% I7 I$ M$ w
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it J5 N/ H! M; L1 i) V
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- r: b1 `' b3 ^1 e
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
