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
& _$ ]; O' o4 D. e; {! Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! a2 `- B! {- {, ], kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
, r6 y5 z1 [" X; j4 e. y* W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 X+ w, D* E/ \' Z. A( D3 D- janswers to our pointed questions.! j% _8 t o! K2 C: t2 J
2 @. A9 s# F8 b+ i T* x, yThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# B2 {7 p& X R& n3 T9 y! t+ Z; M
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; h( T8 _+ J: E: f, w3 A: @% d/ Nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is x; O% o* h0 G! ^* ?: I
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: i9 n1 a5 t+ Z' H5 `0 @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 I0 y! T1 f2 I! j$ ]! smedical schools.
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4 X% q( i: j8 k& J" N: r. EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
7 F6 P7 g& ]! v7 ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ l( E) x6 p% v0 r2 Gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ I! m& q5 `$ e; t! i" `
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
% A9 N% |* H I6 C# b8 \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: ~- A+ F5 s5 i' M+ b- r1 R$ ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
% i# |% j ]& k, pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 p+ E+ W. a5 Y% W: v. `$ v! Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 s4 R+ U& `- A2 s2 y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% j! B; `, w0 n2 a& Esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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+ V: g1 [0 B, B/ F6 vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ A, p7 P4 x* c* Y( G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
1 a# P5 n y; l# nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# c: I7 j: o) [7 y3 D% N. N2 F, V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good4 f; F8 T' m) c7 W' b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" ` _8 _3 G5 J* {sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; [' K; ^% d6 c3 Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: O* Q6 W. w0 W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& z4 O& Y% n2 T& c" m% P6 P/ E
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! U+ J; @' I( b: t/ C! O6 z/ Y
charge the fee defined by the state.* p2 `+ _( U d; J6 O
) L5 h$ E5 }( D- G/ Z4 Z+ RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% x% x) p7 \! t# t
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type K; f" ^9 b( u9 C4 X. E) e" y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% s' ~# E3 o/ O) m7 V$ f8 c M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ H2 S3 E/ L2 z) l& e- P& k, f$ f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. n! @8 ]* J& N9 \! q8 |working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 |( G: e. J! l; {" f
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 O- q8 Z! y7 N* Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 A: q8 _7 A" e; \& `- W8 z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 K/ Q, }( M9 f2 I5 b1 |6 V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
" X7 M( H8 e' @8 `7 f8 c' Ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 I* a3 P: ^* [) S- ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 D3 n; G8 }0 U4 h+ x1 h- |) H
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 O6 k; W/ {, P! ^0 J& f
are spaces.8 n3 P5 B% p5 `5 Z* t: }
& V* |+ t9 E9 ^" f5 o4 X: ZThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi) W& _0 ~. y8 S0 |6 g+ l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- l1 k% z7 H- W4 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- E, V& D l- R' V6 X, N6 `5 z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& X6 R% I( F- [' Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, h p/ v- O8 Z2 r5 \
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ O1 I8 z. @5 Z8 y/ z/ |( c6 ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* v. b; I+ S& U* K* j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" W& M2 m$ Y i2 y( J7 n6 r1 }6 P
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% J, w! @% p1 T, Y. Y0 R
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
