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
4 b; Q8 G; o. E# rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 Y6 P( H8 o' ]% b, P4 z" Z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( ~% m4 J- t7 [3 E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 o$ b5 g1 U- W+ L' b K7 A! canswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% ~4 e- {8 Y4 s45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) ?3 r# ~) ?) |, J7 Q; ?' }8 O
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 V9 N, g+ u. i5 j5 Y5 ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: q7 f" v1 @4 p5 }6 E7 @7 e; V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# g! V0 X& o" B, X9 u3 m0 r
medical schools.4 i; v6 f. I6 z) r' T
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 t: @6 p9 z( k% W; _) B" H# i9 b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ?4 l$ D& R" n; W+ `2 s
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
, s- [7 {4 ~0 B0 x4 Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ ]/ a+ o. x3 @- W' R7 }) ~is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 S: W0 s" o. e _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ O9 N4 |5 J5 w4 J; @8 n
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- g4 h: x S e% v1 {0 X) S$ Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 J" d: k( w3 S" Xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 Q; q5 p# @- C3 f& v' O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% X7 L* e5 e5 @
% Y! F- { r9 e* K' _6 v, J3 s3 ]The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 f! q. _4 M, g, r. V/ Bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 }1 M8 s3 e$ x# L$ `# x: [, L. `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: a' ] V% q8 X1 X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( t; f9 G6 d8 U7 l t* _( bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
; s& g4 q0 O. f( i( ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# u, c! G6 O$ I3 P+ ~( Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ f- S/ f; J" z- }1 R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 ?9 v- n" W" l6 o Ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; G+ t3 A$ Q6 |2 J& L2 Jcharge the fee defined by the state.3 L* `/ _5 h; M
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
! M" N9 w: q, z1 m: xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 U O2 Z9 d ~3 l: b" j3 Wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
! Q8 h! d( |( atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- Z$ O; R4 y, S9 H& t! y2 h7 R8 iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
' E; Z" |: M6 Wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) j/ F" i' [6 A7 @
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, |( ^: E( i/ V0 `6 Eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ V* b, m4 _7 C5 [, A2 utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 ?* ^% r A$ U+ m/ vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. L; ~+ [# H. a! W0 p+ g8 t
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' _( s, u/ p! ?1 J8 l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ N! ]; P0 N7 J& q6 P Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 f( c- s9 K% N8 M% ]
are spaces.3 B/ r1 ^. ~) ^! b9 o
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 p3 x$ h3 H1 B8 D/ l1 D, d1 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 S& o: x+ V: ?* X- n; B: @; i
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' v) M1 d1 J6 Z# p3 M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! ~7 [' I2 Y, q8 M5 N
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 @ g0 J( v) c, T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* z* k+ o2 B3 F6 ^& c2 x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 }0 H/ o2 r9 K* z. |car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 h, x* G& _' K8 o4 A- W4 v1 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 \3 O: j9 }+ N$ _$ j* r
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
