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
( ^" x" w6 d+ Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; s, D3 t% P; z1 B, u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( p) @6 Q; ^2 x! S4 F' E7 M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# K/ U$ \' l/ b$ Danswers to our pointed questions.$ d; E" Y$ @* k* t$ [8 A7 p
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 D, p1 P) y5 H" i! x8 s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% |; x0 N& I# @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% A' ]+ s# S$ Sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& _& [# D7 X% w4 g& J$ k9 i$ b
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 z- Q+ _3 u% z- p8 ~( u }3 ^
medical schools.% G8 z/ b& v8 G+ y6 n8 M" D8 V. i
' B, l8 I9 |9 R5 ]+ G1 n( c; JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; x; j9 B; F" f. G0 U+ M1 E
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% |% b, G ^8 {+ S+ Y* }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 ^, R' n' h u9 R4 |+ rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 s" d5 K) D1 U; l, p$ C+ Z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ L1 i1 ~& C/ D
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; Z, T I- d# Z! F% wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 i1 f+ j" K' umostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
$ T- O) J- k8 k" H" s/ zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ Z. O6 R. ~" N/ M+ `1 f
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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3 m- `9 }: h+ `- I+ g1 V3 QThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 N; |6 p" q1 x2 F/ J, c2 O
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% {5 m- L* D6 Z$ ]- A
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& A6 @8 F. Y5 D* X) H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) O5 M% v$ B+ m$ _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 C7 p( q4 Q/ W& }6 B9 _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 Q" o9 a, E8 _/ N* Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) M& i! S4 K* G! s' i. ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& C9 X: r6 H+ m5 [a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. U+ f7 M% T. `. B) }/ s
charge the fee defined by the state.6 q) f2 a, {; W2 b' j" N- L
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 j0 ~/ h- E3 z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 O0 T6 ^1 m# B1 n! m% rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 \! _$ ]2 {, ~8 ]" h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, v9 b: [; A/ f. C8 |$ h9 ]( |seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) w9 ~! Z7 X; B9 t! [& J& ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 F: C% X3 ?7 j# I
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 V% a3 F- C$ r0 E* M. Byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
; ]- v# Z3 z" ? @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* U, T1 }! X) R9 V9 m9 P
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that. f) W* v7 q7 ]* x4 G9 b
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 j8 ^: X( s4 c9 |# ^* [- h6 s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ O0 F, ^% i3 d$ w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ d2 W2 E' T8 X! Q: P' W1 n5 t7 @/ lare spaces.- E7 R! F9 W+ n# u& R( Y: c
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 G, P! O( u4 {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- i* f; \, E7 }7 l0 q- F* c1 {+ |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" A8 q1 ^, K1 u40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, @# T8 S, Z2 c4 r* O+ l
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
8 H/ ?- T m x0 v% j# B5 X2 o+ bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ e" @. O9 a9 enice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
R) C2 l6 t; M" u1 }. b; E: ^+ r' Tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 C/ o2 R. h- M3 ^* m: T7 f
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 F- e3 z: |4 r- K. [' K
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
