我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living4 E+ l+ E( O' g& Z$ c, q6 P
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
~( r- U- j# L4 qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ~1 ^0 {) [7 i- b7 U: ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. ^* a1 |, {! X& W/ J0 b; Xanswers to our pointed questions.0 U: Z6 C9 c1 w$ {
0 {% C# H1 f7 D# X F6 X' k/ E* [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. n" q; y' k% z, \# ^- n( R45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ I, D, D* u! \3 `+ gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& Z7 g! }! [9 B& z5 ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* Y7 j3 O8 j8 y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 e' C5 S( Z% `0 B; K% Imedical schools.( s" r! o' T& e$ j4 }# s
. J% \$ }/ u& e KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
' f6 I: r( k% Y' f' y H2 X# `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ L1 G" i" i5 |- \) S. \3 W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: q: B( ~2 x! d" h6 o3 L# d$ [# yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* w/ y) w& Z, b: A( M# t x! Z4 a
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- E& q8 E7 N: I, r; Iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ n: K0 r5 ]" J9 b4 w Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 i9 K2 w. t" i2 Z+ D) z# f' e
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! E) H. g( q' q8 mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 `1 Y) \' A4 y I2 r$ e2 @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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7 ~ |; x P: f9 K/ K* O$ r. u2 e+ ~& LThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 h. I' M; k# B2 mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 j6 N, R& m, @- P' O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: J' O, P0 d0 T9 w+ s Y3 s6 m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; y0 f6 ?; t+ U0 P3 T0 `7 H$ Z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% k2 h* n. _% ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. V& m9 {+ J& t# s4 O T( e; |2 t
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 t" U& x4 y) L8 l: H& @Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' \" W, H- w; L$ ^! \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# c3 D. `+ Q3 P. u* Tcharge the fee defined by the state.8 _0 Q/ C6 q, t6 A9 }
2 j7 N( a: X* O' AThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 t% K5 v$ s6 w$ t$ d5 B: N8 P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: x. i* x) L& q2 h' |2 \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" @5 M* I* G5 |+ k7 M+ H
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 @9 m$ r9 ? |. v: T. nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; C+ j) W9 o% a0 t% A1 q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* i' {6 x* ], ~/ Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. ]2 D" X4 M1 H" {, ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' _# t& W0 s* X; Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! ]3 i& b5 } k7 R/ W8 p# D1 M& t: k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ a1 h) j0 o" u) k+ Ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 w; g# d* Q$ P/ B3 kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ r7 q- V. f) I, |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ s' d7 N8 `+ \) F# ]7 {/ ^
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! J* a7 }$ t% w+ ^; h2 Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ d: Y, D0 O$ i5 Q9 gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 @( D3 H# M% T40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) z. Y% ?2 m2 X( M E" P# O0 k( Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 g) e9 [* Z3 i; H+ [
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 q/ {; [6 k' q7 ~% T! u5 z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
5 z+ h: V. _3 ]( \' Y- _) bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 r, E4 K/ ~! r% f& m* t4 h9 Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 h# A$ p3 s+ l6 }' Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
