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
5 [" \& N/ B/ U" ~8 w- Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 C. u' G* J% O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 J3 v2 R8 F, |; \6 C! U2 z9 z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- |$ R! r& w8 C( J4 B* y
answers to our pointed questions.$ y; \* r3 {( P
: ]/ u7 Y7 @8 A( ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. H9 W; @* [3 c: z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
+ y- C( g& U4 i3 `$ Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. h1 [" @9 Y1 g: b( G. y: [
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) |8 X7 }) z. I( }9 l
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 r9 A8 q% p8 cmedical schools.1 {2 O( [% k' B8 {
' l# m8 c/ a0 X1 o; U
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 B0 R* r$ B& @+ Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& P1 w' Q8 O2 t' f& L9 p- V/ }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" R5 E6 J# s8 E" h. Y/ cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! H' U) v$ H1 a8 Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ z$ j7 N6 X. V
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 D; h7 Z+ d [) ] rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! X/ p+ H- C5 D7 u' r9 Bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 G, [) ^* e) d) oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- A7 ]5 P: k7 g- b: A8 N* o, A. Vsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
: `5 y4 M/ R2 x7 N0 `0 x$ t) C( { H# W+ i6 z( g
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' j) G" g: B$ ?private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
/ F+ l8 G$ O3 |- D/ [, psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ o; S4 z4 K1 G+ C4 X9 ^have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, K* I2 [; x' m4 h+ i* M! J9 t7 g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 L! x4 v% g: J& M% }' N# n
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! x. [8 P/ h0 _/ t H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; `+ w6 {* G. U* J7 r3 R/ u& a: L' _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 q5 D2 B7 }: T' l/ }9 v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( v1 g% N6 e; s3 P, Acharge the fee defined by the state." K4 t, u# \! F+ n5 q" }
- H! N( [( [6 A6 C/ f1 N( d, GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& G/ p0 ~: ]7 X$ g( s1 \
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 Y- [6 k: s$ hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 i; K! ~3 N) Btruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* d1 y9 V( ?( G0 v- I
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! @8 O \5 x/ V4 r: X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 R: U8 M7 P' T, p3 Z5 q' n3 l7 A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" c7 ^- B. U) x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: _: t* x$ V& U6 j6 b( m- {+ Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ g- E0 L, l' p
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" h- f7 e6 l9 J5 E7 ]. {% }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' z. W( [. w) V! g' Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& z( p$ b% n% Z" k m8 p! D
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' r& K S. j, w( I$ ~# x `3 W- |) vare spaces. M: S' p: r8 Q, Z- h
2 m; w+ {# @' C4 C6 j
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: U% K3 ?; j# Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they+ M" t: G$ k# n& J# O( c P5 U5 T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- X) |) N+ e& N8 ?! U. A5 Y' M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! W" _$ J- F1 i$ Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 x: \3 n- i& G' Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% \) W" S/ C; G6 `3 C l
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
) M! x3 D* _. ^9 e) Acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 r6 s' x8 K: O9 y* `/ uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ j. ]1 S6 x p9 I" V1 l7 A We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
