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
2 i' q: U9 F0 q, @standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' J5 k1 L5 H( I$ v: f6 o1 ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 d1 s/ T2 n8 g: f! ?0 U"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* B% l0 x! q r( P+ L; Danswers to our pointed questions.8 v6 r9 B: j/ S5 L
0 G2 V$ w W# k1 ]8 ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 x$ ]3 B3 f" B! r/ v3 }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 P# T6 u; ?( i% Dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 S. U( w2 z; b+ E' Ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) x! V0 K' C. {7 t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 Q) m- o6 {6 r, o
medical schools.9 x" A* Q9 w# V/ B
+ M' o, F3 A$ ~# vEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 |& D# ^9 P1 v" S9 x1 N* j% P( [4 }government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ w7 i3 `$ F b# Q; M9 w, C; Oto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! T7 g, L6 l' S7 ^/ D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 v9 i# q; ?: R2 b4 O8 w) k1 b( y4 L* cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 R( C9 ^/ z6 M( N5 j/ g; Z6 e aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 ~' v# @- Q* \% J4 H$ `0 } O% r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 ]# S1 q! e' N" F3 `% lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# `3 Z' v0 P9 Y- U! s! ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some. n0 w5 t( a: `4 L" P2 _
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: F/ T: ?/ Q0 Q, B
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
. D" Y. C5 I7 a1 e0 P3 mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 r' s- \. R3 m) e3 Csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% M9 T6 n, L: L+ _6 Zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# R, Z/ }! {' b. @2 @thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 N5 U5 R; W3 x$ msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
/ c7 S' y G1 u" Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.0 E a4 S0 M; j" d3 O- Y# t
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ u j) |5 h" i2 h1 T! h" fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! { x+ h2 P! _8 ]1 D' [charge the fee defined by the state.
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3 J! W, F; s" Z+ E1 ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! ^3 `# z% g: Uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 P) [, D: f: `3 Y! m6 D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; b1 g" I; _) O9 O! vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) x6 ^4 G' G& i4 i% @9 Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- o7 W8 Y1 C' p8 v! k
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( V4 Z0 Z: y$ d) U; E" Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ W0 u7 \7 u( Y3 w0 Ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 s) k3 _: `+ V: _- ?! }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 l* v9 @+ D! ~2 V8 U7 y1 H* ?
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 M0 }' p5 d/ h2 i1 Q" [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' [# F, M' U1 s) v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, Y/ z/ e4 X0 e6 B- Y2 G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 d/ z! A+ f( P) m# D/ B
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 j' D$ G7 X2 ~% I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) c8 T2 ?' x5 M. m+ Q; Zown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ T. H2 d" [7 s
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' D" S( a/ ~/ h. T" k- O+ \0 {parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% @/ W( Y$ V6 }: T1 u
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
. E+ |9 A$ q D' u0 ^4 z4 @nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) m4 g* T# c' F& y5 y4 H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 {( J: N8 e, l7 I4 x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 n) v3 R/ x/ m8 u We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
