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
3 w( T8 g( l9 G( @) K' Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) j7 z3 S) A3 E/ T
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 |8 K; ]3 Z* h9 T0 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 i8 H6 V8 K9 M& panswers to our pointed questions.+ q! H6 d0 u- h: ^3 K/ G* T2 @
) |1 A( {9 f. L. b+ gThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# Q% w6 F/ n8 H45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
B$ W' f. L) N* u; a) ^& g- a) Zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ I5 ]% @- u5 j8 rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' j5 h& Y( L& T2 I$ d* j
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 ~" a, z" Y* q
medical schools.! |5 t$ Y) ^! N' s3 k% }
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. k" N( r# T! [
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 f3 I/ y( Y9 {$ t {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 p* L) N0 Z* w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
# V; n. b0 J3 Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! `! u7 X# ~: R3 Y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
0 `" s9 k8 r6 r8 `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. M! F' L. H; J, ]( Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( }! A" D) ]; D# t4 F" k; L& G/ B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some/ i6 }* H5 H9 a; o4 z/ e3 T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 g/ t% B/ w6 p4 D
e$ P4 q% ]% P+ ^; Q, `The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 ^* M" \! r4 g8 m7 d+ m
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 q* n, ]: k3 B0 D* K7 E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; S% ]0 ]* @ K0 @* k/ c. M4 N3 l% x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( }) U) G2 S! }
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 A3 ~2 n7 G! J# m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
r; g. F3 z; N" i" vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' I' H8 p+ F( K) z1 {. d+ J4 kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( a; N3 j6 V! t) r" Xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
# P+ R% d. w f f* W# e: `' z6 I. Acharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# k3 g6 T2 z, T$ }( ]( T- ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 }2 { }, ^ ^# c9 v# M) R
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" J2 _" o" a' j# @- x9 T/ b% v9 E4 e8 ^truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
2 I. S7 }: [8 ^4 Tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 _3 E T C" n# m+ Jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ j+ U) j! P' R2 f0 \% t
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ E+ `5 N: o* M5 u& `1 ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# B* U7 y6 S2 [ x1 t' o7 ]( Ktrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( z! g. O: d7 C! J$ Z4 J/ n$ K9 T5 a
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. }2 V5 K+ f# M" `4 s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. ~- R( s8 r0 E: Xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 {! q7 g! e7 h1 c( L) \buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* f3 B& P b+ D$ }+ Q$ t# ?& M( m
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 w5 ]8 l3 E9 h5 a9 r, g4 x2 Kto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
c. ?1 Z$ k9 o" h5 m* L% qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& e7 j: K- P8 F9 g- z/ I' i3 z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# v f5 C8 t0 |( ]5 Z4 h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! }. r) V. B+ D {( N' H0 Bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few |2 x2 V B! u1 U$ n, Z5 j3 ]
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 @1 X* b6 S* W; Q; g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( A G4 v0 J4 k& o" p6 z5 C
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 S1 k$ y" h) `) R
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
