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& C* G2 G1 F: _/ ^& A9 _7 j
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went9 y/ J! y( S; ^5 q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. }1 o5 ~. A# X, E) m* P* f, d, { k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 u' N5 P( U, }# h8 }+ s6 ~0 e" T3 @. Kanswers to our pointed questions.5 B7 E- _, N0 g+ m* r2 O$ X
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 u% o, l+ J* ^3 g5 r# X45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 s% |# V% { v: A* Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. h5 ]4 g& t( u4 D; }8 u& hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 B! S2 e9 `5 y ?7 M3 \( Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! G( K( u$ k8 F" N$ e4 r8 ]
medical schools.9 @( a, k7 S' U# S& c& \' L2 l. l
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# f& p; O. m) @+ Y! v! ?: `6 ^1 Kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ _ b5 b$ P6 `/ s- ]8 E8 r/ sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years E" N7 w# `: M* o. |) z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 V3 D5 B* _% U- D: t" ?% his from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 K) S: B8 E. {/ ]' y0 ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' b) F3 @& l! {% }3 R+ Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! w+ q) ~9 k1 E1 z7 M( S& c
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; e/ o, S# B& W9 Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some* \) F4 X8 w% O4 Y: E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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& O- C, [6 i' d3 ^The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no. v0 o! `( Z8 a# ^. D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! Y" o1 D( ^7 @supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people x1 |5 _ z, F. M4 f* y$ ]9 L
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# W* Q' M4 h3 E& O3 g9 r
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
( h" q3 k/ p& D rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" { s( v# ?' ?$ ? L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 u! [$ i) s1 ?! |- m" KDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 }4 l: g9 k/ R' a8 ^; ^( L' A' q8 x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- y$ a( T5 m1 K' c7 ?$ n, Icharge the fee defined by the state.
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0 B7 R- `5 w* A# Q$ lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 w+ g& Z; W; z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type J9 x0 L Y" `) X' e- b+ ^
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% ^% q/ \9 g( m) V/ ^) U [. N+ @truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! P) F) m+ a% z* ~8 R$ w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
" ]9 a0 E. G8 ~5 O2 M' zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 ]$ U) Z" [, W$ p. k9 e* qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* r. a+ f$ A( ]$ M" xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 m3 A; c, t; Y1 b$ J6 l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% f. j) E- a: C; i/ s0 {% |" W8 U Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" s( `- }+ q3 h3 M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 _* T# J" c* t+ }to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 ^0 y+ [! R# d! q/ B4 s
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' v2 z! p/ j9 |, M, V! o* C: v- G0 A" ?' gare spaces.
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* o8 w% u/ ]+ }- h- t# UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- F8 c/ H' l9 J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" h% W: t' r2 r. f1 z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 ^! F# ?8 K0 X1 h
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 E( K( K" C) C' ^) h. Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- y P. q9 F T% b" `: |3 i! @
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 ^4 I" B" g d& N+ G. u1 [7 Lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 W$ \& G2 s" L) O# }car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: s1 o1 _/ o8 ]5 X2 I" tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, t+ I& p# j8 B' K+ { We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
