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
) L1 X, w% n, Q- Y+ pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) i, F$ E/ i# d2 c
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' H0 K; t8 |# ?* f% O
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; @; w% T. c1 q- S6 |7 ^! Yanswers to our pointed questions.
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M* x8 F# l! T2 P+ c, ~+ CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; V- N6 j6 T; k) F5 ?
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 ]; S% V6 Y/ [. r- kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# s' ~( `2 J; |$ W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 \7 H! N4 _5 m$ f
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( @4 I6 [# ?% l/ jmedical schools.+ z7 \" J% E; a0 {
! Z1 O! K9 E1 g9 A' n& \( DEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
+ \, W/ r$ o# m" F, Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' t R1 k' q* e* v" }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
1 W" `- [. Q" J8 C& c; W" K7 j6 rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 w1 o) s% }2 h+ K$ g3 w; gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 t h1 h6 N% pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 t! q: S) I2 I4 F0 V$ Z: xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. Y& e% W! v, z' b. P. N @) Cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% [' o8 a" e& R. E! y m. p/ Mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 z: A3 d- c/ z2 n
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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) Y* Y; ^* {8 k2 n' [+ R% HThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% b5 P& g' |6 ?" k* T7 C1 r) L. N
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
& K8 Q2 i H8 y* C7 U8 S6 c0 Ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 E7 C8 r' e) c& O9 `have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( c2 z# P# M5 B# \5 X
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
S6 T% u' {7 G& m; F% b; Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 Q! S6 Q( T4 C7 o8 a; j8 T7 {$ W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 E+ v/ c2 D5 {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ v1 @3 Q- ~$ w6 w" s: A. ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! {9 v% ]+ A- p4 l& o* t$ Kcharge the fee defined by the state.1 i0 o% q J6 Z3 e& C% z; ?+ y) ~
; G4 A# `6 R& I* gThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ f6 s! s+ ^& Y* pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 N+ Z. q9 H; ^* C: N* p, ]9 X, Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. l; s( F' c" M; v) q6 p8 u6 p8 ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel R( v" b6 m% L, L& C5 n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 v1 U P1 I+ ?" l8 f1 Y3 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 s! A; O) q8 o. Z% Kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( ^# ?. } M4 S5 w6 z3 t8 V4 s
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# l. ~$ N$ `# @& ~) ~5 P$ c5 E
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( F1 ~& h. w/ H* m: \: I, x4 @7 Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
! Y' C8 c" ?/ A/ X6 S J9 h1 S, ]5 U+ qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& _" l5 m. ]0 ^! {* z1 x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 C( e# o* ^) G5 p3 G. h* zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 ?( q( ?: k! pare spaces.! U% ~" H9 M) }. Q* y/ p9 M' R: i
) j& T. D% P/ {! G+ h1 g; jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. N3 t0 J. {" m {- Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ T' y4 z8 F8 b1 R( O! Fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! K7 z9 l9 V0 Y0 \4 N3 q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: k- I* J/ G/ z* A& T7 _9 Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! w) M9 v. @; U' d% f) X& rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
1 N5 F8 v4 \5 Z& B+ j& dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
k8 z" S- H$ F% a5 ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
4 G2 l8 \; Q/ z% B, gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 H' E3 F+ ~4 L' a t8 B
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
