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
+ q5 R! j6 t/ M5 M& m: rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. e5 ?$ h& ~, Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! z3 O; @0 O/ N$ b"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 v, N; z3 @5 F6 ]. H' ]
answers to our pointed questions." F# K1 E7 s' q. Q
: E+ t! s) T) WThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) E! F" m- p4 p# [ F8 M45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 l9 [& o# U$ z2 l4 m0 H6 ~
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% [" t1 |7 j+ `- bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! v$ B; g/ y! G1 oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 t% B1 C3 n; T# Z
medical schools.
) l4 Q8 o5 L$ G t' x) j5 ]8 `* M) R5 x. v! h6 i, w
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( Q* m% _8 T0 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ W/ |0 v* q( o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
2 u$ A( s0 I3 hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" G" e) d$ b8 x& U; @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! K& M+ N. k! J1 @over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ s' q# d8 C& f5 p$ p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 I2 S0 M; ?/ T6 q8 O' q. w/ n
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
! x. a# _- X: Y: ]/ a/ R Xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. }; T: [4 { u' Ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ o# S8 E5 \+ {/ o8 V2 H% Y
2 P" t- ^- C7 d4 qThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 p& ~! l U$ K; M2 @1 ^' Mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! I/ l' B+ V+ |* k
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 a/ N1 X; B! }4 e `9 M, I& Hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
% F3 w+ }7 L' D2 ]- Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- D. N: A& V6 H' P0 }/ `" \ u4 k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% V0 ?( L" P. [. k5 i& g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 {/ u+ V8 u J- [* W% l: mDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' y% q- W% g/ P. \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! Y& f0 m* n- r* R7 F4 G
charge the fee defined by the state.
7 ^ z; O5 A @ U/ u1 P: y) T+ [" U6 R. P
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, \; z+ p1 j+ p$ O4 V6 I
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% H& K% w! H# X& M. |# i% S8 Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ S8 D3 Q% Z5 d3 n) a C% b0 J
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ A# k7 h% M1 s4 T+ b5 @. \) E7 w5 [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; C1 u1 \' w& n- k/ d% zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 ?/ z+ B( l$ `& Dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- u5 M$ Z3 M, X* s) ~( ~, p# ^- |
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 k3 c! A0 q# A# o# T5 N; X$ B$ B
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. `, |1 t# H' Z3 [% K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* Y- g4 ] J9 _; i( i: V& upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; [3 ]- c6 g) T& }8 }: |9 p
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 G3 b) J. H& |7 j- B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ L1 q, T7 G/ b; _
are spaces.
: O r2 @! h+ b" b' A; _! u T, n4 ^2 q7 i e4 W2 }
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! @: E, D& e: h% F- Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" ?0 S1 M0 ? G8 f9 @6 |# S) O
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ h: _, A# l, W: f& J" W40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 V1 e- o) I yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- D4 \2 d/ T8 f& t! Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 \5 n' h9 i, R& [nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. _: g/ ?7 ?9 I& I- s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 r% I+ |$ U6 T+ ]7 qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# d3 l* x3 c7 }4 l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
