我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living4 b4 E, B5 R; F. }/ s
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- L* q6 R) Q9 O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) n" n1 k# T- }% H% e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! F7 x1 ?7 T' k( E% I9 \answers to our pointed questions." p1 {+ ~( t! i, J! d
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ H. R1 r/ u2 x1 p7 R* h; `. H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) ?. p9 C# [ p5 V( D% C5 ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, D* P' K: [ K& i6 Bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" `/ T2 E8 W3 e7 b) p4 J. o
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 @9 g5 v: t6 l9 ?2 umedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* d3 R, g% E* s- _+ `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: t) z0 A, V1 tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' k+ {/ [* ^" Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 V j# y3 L2 E' @( O7 K5 Xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to' x3 s A$ \6 f& v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 C/ _! O, w$ t( Q0 J: Bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 m2 S. @# W6 E0 v0 J' cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 i/ b f1 J# E6 @6 ?shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* q5 L) o* b% c1 a" E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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c! a% l1 { N% g$ G& vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no. ^7 y8 |* D U* u( v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% J8 m) i9 v, s6 P9 W1 O- Z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& ~* t. s! T3 D. U8 P9 t* O
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 y! d5 H6 x, v; y* I- }, D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 S$ ]! l' T( p1 m' G: v( r5 ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( Y" _ n% |5 L% l* K7 [
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; k N3 h" g3 w7 S* q4 V
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 W, ]- c8 F, R# v+ E* o, a- Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
9 Q# T! Q& x8 d- ?charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
8 Y' m5 ?2 U: j% r; von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! o/ a# a' S! z4 Q8 X" |$ ^7 F$ D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) V% L7 e4 p6 C) {7 Z4 r0 ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 r- K$ z; X. [+ i+ j1 ?; s: j; K: wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 T% J- d9 c% k7 V" Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 f: u+ v8 f& X/ O/ k$ f5 ~schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 r; W) h$ U8 \0 Y4 Q L* o5 Oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) R1 a0 g/ Q: q* N8 {8 D' F4 otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
& e* T; i: N& L' B. @ Q6 f1 Vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& q9 W* g! _, o/ K/ I4 C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 n4 h4 ~1 u( q) Pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& O3 N4 u+ c) `, i+ H) ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- @" t# M W( k1 O8 h
are spaces.
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3 R D4 ^+ ~! a7 o, m& iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* Z. B3 ]+ b" U1 u7 \, A! ]6 `# i# L
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 m; ~" J/ g6 t( s+ xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ m* R4 o/ Q6 [( m6 h9 ]' I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) N1 }$ U! w( y; w: T; F
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 p" X" G$ e% f0 {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
3 y- T% _# y; ~1 S r0 J" j1 o8 Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
8 h' g1 V, Q# |/ c6 S0 zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 m8 y; c# q2 x) iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" r7 j7 \. ]& G, r! _ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
