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* u$ Q' R: z2 E0 F9 X& b
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. V& m8 ^3 t, _$ b' U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 N% C! v1 T. T" Q. N A
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ J5 c. k- m; h' }/ [( H# lanswers to our pointed questions.$ S- [+ i- s5 G9 ^4 [' w; _
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 y) p1 ^8 W* c# d5 _7 l- y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, k4 I6 Z6 c! g# p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% C8 m; `) t( Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 f7 c3 L% e# }9 j W
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 f% r; o& L9 {( a
medical schools.5 v# \0 p6 s& P8 |# [8 T
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 ~5 y2 ^+ v2 T9 K O
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 E! O$ R, V7 y5 j, {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 f5 ]' @3 H2 q( {8 m6 K- ^. {0 |6 r* Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) D- O& F9 r3 }9 H' }7 His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ e: C# R5 Y6 w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ S+ A$ H/ Q. I1 v# J
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 n' W6 k! M/ smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, {2 O4 ?- b, ]( r7 X4 o
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; [$ B, Y3 W% ~9 Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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: s! [6 r& m+ I# T; BThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- h4 ^9 _2 z, o$ K+ [2 P ]private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
3 K7 l3 j% P& P# S. esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
$ S9 e; d9 f A0 L; qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! s C3 _( m$ {% G, u) {/ t$ v6 wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) {/ n7 \( ~( u/ u( o* D" Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* s4 G, J4 q3 l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 b* X& S7 _9 qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
4 ~' z& ^( T5 h5 s( ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' m3 P+ P* u; F8 R
charge the fee defined by the state.8 Q, o* J" d/ w! `
, k4 t+ ^6 [+ p2 vThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 }& k& F" P% lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* v5 b& W4 @. t+ D8 P2 @5 y3 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ s$ p6 m! c- G$ t; htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 M6 Q; p+ Y( S! ~' \& d6 ~/ L8 pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, } |" ?% n. K2 ]# \
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on2 w; a9 M/ Q, B) q0 A0 K/ F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 O7 _. l+ @& |2 ^+ Zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- M6 N4 ]0 Z( x: l8 Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 @3 v7 ?% `' A0 o9 h
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; X2 y" K8 h0 O( s O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 V( t5 ^3 g/ q* _+ c. e2 l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# v8 i, {* A: u% x
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ ~) |# h0 F4 lare spaces.& Q- s" g( f# ?+ Q6 a# b; F. m3 p
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" p$ b% ]% M. O+ s$ Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 s# r* k1 |" Z- s2 Q( M7 W' |+ _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 l5 {( d7 W. A+ _. C8 c
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. Z0 ^! }( Z$ o xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; f( n5 W+ O+ T5 J: [
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ @ h& F o \! f" M
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, ?/ }, n- W z1 F7 ^& t
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. D& p$ o' ^. _, Ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 [% S/ {/ `. S% X9 s9 K5 s1 Z! v
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
