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 U' F" q; E$ C0 `standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. u+ w l& S+ ^, A6 L; T
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' ]5 F1 E: f( @
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ i' N) U5 @ kanswers to our pointed questions.
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; n0 @8 M, I7 S% KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# i$ y! q) V- a7 Y. _; ^- k! c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 J( B: R. @0 v5 t0 [) E9 |4 pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! B4 s8 h: \) H. k0 R- B
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! [; Z/ Y. o+ s0 Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ \- k* J& h. Y, @
medical schools.& O$ ?8 n: S* r, t8 b$ }
" \2 S+ d! I% B+ ]& c# d+ n% L/ rEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ b7 b2 T) \% p& w, ^government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) V, x/ u$ d( O7 S& G7 a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% m: n! h% k, L8 K- `: lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: l8 O7 S: b8 b/ E* c: x% Wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 ` \ ^" K+ j* E7 e- j5 jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 G" M( V' x) nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( t% ?7 [: E _6 mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ v h4 ]$ T9 ~6 v! eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, E' Y) R( W+ R" w) q! M$ L0 fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ u- q/ u( v& N
: R, {' S' c! Z- D- kThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( }$ Q* l L; c, Q5 Rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# C8 `; w4 s9 F/ esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# l L5 H9 P. M/ c' [, `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; Z# U0 Y9 B$ pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% n- _* h- U1 F( m9 C& J" ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 f b/ h! K8 R. k+ [) Vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! b% C. \. o! s7 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. f( N1 y- I+ s j* W( v$ N
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" N7 I6 f1 |, e* o& j9 Q
charge the fee defined by the state.2 B3 u! l; { T' a
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 u& @( Y& O( O" ]( L$ Y8 O7 ]- n
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type# h! o) T+ N% r3 e' L: @+ @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
c b( j- y c: l9 k8 h' x; k1 Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# v( g2 S! b r& L" X6 `
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
1 i9 m$ A5 H* ]. M6 mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 ^, y7 z* }* X( u- Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) K# J1 V: ]& K5 Q& W. i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' ^( T1 n3 l j! c
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; V2 F4 K1 V$ s9 Q* h
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 a& ?( N. V) ^5 o
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: @" E- D6 J) ^2 Z0 r
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' Z6 ?7 Z& z9 w+ a: B& w4 b$ \buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 y9 t/ i; H# N. I% m+ y) \1 mare spaces.7 b# F1 _8 i! D
* u" q/ J/ ]3 X9 s5 i0 bThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
$ F( ^2 N+ g4 [) P# {to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 o3 ]( i+ l8 jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 R. x9 I) w+ r6 M1 T4 r, r( s40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 R# K' r6 q" [- j2 t6 E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 J. D1 x2 z% |. fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 {) U" l2 X9 Q2 ^7 R: a2 r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% J% @1 W2 Y" n* x! q/ m/ d* {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ Z: t) E8 [. d D1 V+ S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. x% u+ c4 y- G! \5 B We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
