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
7 z- ?4 U! Y: g3 estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, [$ R3 e- U8 i5 Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 M. |- ^9 O* A- v- i$ l) A
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 Q" Z X" T9 I. Ianswers to our pointed questions.. _* o8 t+ O/ x
( @) p# L9 K0 v& K: XThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 R7 a) ~, @/ x, K( N' ~, s45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ _% g3 \/ K" B8 d7 Z {8 P) Fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 d, T G% _6 Z% X! Sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 i6 X$ p" {; K! I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ U, u- A. k: cmedical schools.' g. O* j6 G- F) `! O2 w7 d
9 `; T! i: S8 u* `/ T' c% {Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) l A$ o' u5 W Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
6 [9 V6 _" g- A# X( l% [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 A, L; ]( e! y0 D4 `/ F
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* {2 m) h0 w0 y% v2 u+ N+ o! l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% ^; l* v$ q* e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 @1 H3 x [$ N- s9 `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! z: H6 v# {2 ~; m( D8 i. smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 Y! m, R9 C5 m* Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 k7 {% S5 X* j/ a# f& ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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4 a9 [- K. L% _( P. @6 nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) e$ U1 N" q5 S% d D" Q9 d8 D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 W' e- P N8 `) E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
" _) M+ E0 Z* h) ` ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' |$ h" O% p& x n
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 I+ ^4 P, u S# u/ ^2 i- _6 }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- z2 P' i0 w4 @. F! Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 |& N/ s- d+ b( L+ uDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- i, l4 `3 |5 s* K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; r9 [1 t2 X4 ?: a. w8 u
charge the fee defined by the state.7 ?: B4 i) _7 W
$ y) C% v2 }9 d; ^0 r X' k4 p
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* t+ ~- Y) H- b x9 G
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# t) u- `$ s, u v1 Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
@/ p& I' ?$ G6 t) d8 W9 Ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ ]$ K k' z( A1 q( Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; ^0 K1 u6 j* ^' W
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 S1 O. T6 q1 T9 n- p; _6 F7 L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' r9 T8 h- o2 X3 t
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
; W1 ]. d) j* j6 ?6 }( ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% ~* Z( g+ {9 [0 k/ P* E
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 e8 ^- c7 W5 {1 Q# L6 Cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
z" @. J8 E+ h0 \% }" Qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 N! Y- d$ U; D8 b8 |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 j1 C9 d+ T- H4 k. jare spaces./ s$ M; O4 i6 S. n/ ]% e8 a- Z
$ j& m( ~ U6 |1 l8 N. {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 n; u( r: U1 Y/ Z D4 @( Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* g: j; n# u1 e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) g8 b6 n+ c4 }( o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 A* D5 P% C) f- ?' | i/ Z) zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 B, T0 j, L; F1 C. r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% o% R) M' o- L2 t- ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 M2 u! B( z+ Z% t0 J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% P/ S+ Z( i( W ^! T
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 L! X J M) n6 U# @8 M& u" y9 O, J We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
