我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living0 [" p$ E4 I. \& i |8 q) l, Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: x& {. |1 l" S4 aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, E u! l+ m/ f
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" q& m7 w- n+ @$ q. z$ r- Yanswers to our pointed questions.# M/ @8 v' U( l3 S
' j( T. ~4 t; l* ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 C. O4 s) g3 m4 W: i7 Z3 y9 N45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. O$ V" f0 G6 y( V5 Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
) V" T% z+ C5 @" |6 `7 hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" b" L- a- S) J9 F' p" D5 c4 Rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 g8 y, [% z$ A2 ?) x
medical schools.
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9 @) T1 o' g( @4 w7 D( ?Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 ^& J. R! J2 |! |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* k3 o7 P2 V- y7 n8 s4 ~ o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 B3 ?/ X$ [6 L2 ?assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
. Y% L- {3 N1 \7 o7 p/ Xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ i4 x' q5 B8 b* S( Vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 S+ q6 Y; w- i7 H, Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 b# V# H8 l5 t5 n8 e' b: v/ P$ R1 ]3 Rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. z$ _6 r p8 }/ Q t/ i7 ^( xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
V0 n$ H. W5 d. nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% j1 V, `& d4 b( ^
1 _' G; f+ S+ KThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% I9 b/ o; O1 }% d4 \private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ T) e% H+ L0 a1 [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- N6 `! W; ]5 {5 z, ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' U1 p; |% P0 T) W8 K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 E" Z. O6 e `" z/ l
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# C9 y& ?( R8 w4 K8 g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. l5 ~) u; V, D6 ]
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! r! O4 }& F4 ~ k y5 O; da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
9 _' s7 u, k4 u8 m* X* R- Scharge the fee defined by the state.' \0 R" J" U+ p8 A% U
! E+ ` x5 I* j! M8 TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 n! h7 Y5 V2 z6 r& won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( C( V2 c, ^$ J* S1 `of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 E7 j- E$ ~* {9 H! f. x
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' \3 M! B( c* }: I; ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) A4 j- T% w6 p1 T+ S
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. C5 G( o: m4 s5 i qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if z; g) {: x! ]; ?' D
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 P6 R! B+ o, z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! E8 q: B! [8 A. U+ D9 c0 Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# C/ Q, l0 N. W$ speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
$ T4 ~5 z8 f" h2 }to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" u9 W' C: | d/ L
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 b) |7 M$ g2 x& c6 ^are spaces.
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" s/ X6 g4 t3 Z |3 |7 ~3 S' t6 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 _3 }4 J& o% L. [' n2 ]2 X& jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! q) d _/ s% N) x2 Lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: F; D8 T9 u) o7 e! L2 ]* `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 O- x1 z4 p9 y# ], ^, Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 N* O* E0 E5 D0 a8 ~& I. R
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 D, N2 U ` I, Z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% d. R6 R1 V2 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 q/ D, K0 Y! W) s! x- R
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: [' S0 }( Q- |8 y; z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
