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
% y! {. e# w% ^, G4 }. Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: z# d- n: ^* M6 K
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ z/ y4 ^8 e" ` m5 q/ t
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
T1 V* E) o# m2 ianswers to our pointed questions.0 Y. P% f9 N+ ^3 Z
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 L2 R: X% ^* ^+ s6 o$ q. l! i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" q& Z7 [2 p4 t3 O) S# d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 c* K9 ^/ T( Y8 K: efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ Z8 t; n* J0 D% u- E$ i# e- vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- j5 T/ v1 ]7 D' |' Y
medical schools.
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) [! I, {( t7 ]5 l7 w; tEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 K0 L9 P1 [1 g$ N' t6 t+ n& Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ M+ m2 ^3 r; ^! kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
) g# K- U7 v1 F+ i0 ?+ vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' e4 ^# k7 p' \! X4 J, h+ Cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& B1 n {5 k- Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 x" ~ `; O4 S/ f3 { Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' f6 y* u; b& M8 R# n/ t+ G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 `0 j8 a6 o, f% W$ p) D
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
s u; k% ^! c) u# O. gsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& |; ^3 d- J, [) c8 d$ g
0 d- j7 {+ M8 f' S, dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ c- V T! y1 d4 Cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: I+ R, R& @4 K# w0 J# U
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 s9 ]! |* x. mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ o O' d: a' T' A5 C# o9 s5 ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 \ M* [2 V: I/ N( t9 b& msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ h _( x' q+ {3 Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ m' M. D+ y* n
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
- { f1 ]7 D5 P2 H( j' Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& H1 `1 [8 G4 L! j/ i
charge the fee defined by the state.. n, g3 J5 N& E3 A
% b: l* S* T6 u, B/ CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: A6 O6 Z o2 ^: T: U
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, |* ^9 ]/ r6 [3 ~7 bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ c' J' Z: `0 N( o7 n6 }* b# Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ ]- U8 K8 p% ^( b+ ^& jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; [5 j5 r2 }: f5 qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 `% g# W5 T) l5 I, I0 J& I2 m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% l9 j4 W% Z; G% gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( p& X5 Y* m" y* b n
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) U1 B9 @& q2 G z; T' Mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 O; \+ S9 w! a( r% l
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( O. l3 W# L! l9 L9 Mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 o% ~) o' p- I& |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 c& g8 o9 k8 S0 A/ r w# ?
are spaces.
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. p4 X- T3 Z, r3 V8 JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
5 [+ F0 B! M. V d' Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. n% R0 s- [/ u7 ^ ^' D
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 B: a! L+ Q+ O& h4 e$ D9 b3 V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 `/ S: v( l9 t9 o& Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 x. p0 b& P) M2 [! `/ F- L6 [
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" G' J% o, h+ r6 v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
q) b5 E/ p' W+ C* scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- E+ p, L" w$ f
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: {: k) @8 D. [ {
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
