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. T" r) j- Z' ]
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! i- v+ {1 V/ P+ t/ ]! b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; U; g+ d2 W, m, ?& q- @, S: A' P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* v" Z1 n8 ?/ [8 R' u& z- m, Manswers to our pointed questions., z2 J! |4 @, Q* Z
* {8 Q. l, Q" |5 ?. U7 e* mThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! G* y& p- J8 A: }. D b2 H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 R2 \5 T( G- t6 X9 m! {9 xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 l1 t" U$ X5 t6 v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* } [! G# r' ~5 z( b6 ?to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) z' L) y2 s5 I5 @0 q+ bmedical schools.
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# L* t" k2 F$ u/ EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 m8 `2 M! a1 n. lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) q, K" k v; U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! l! j: Y7 u# R1 X2 O, p2 K9 y' r# Yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, w0 u2 |: j. o# _/ n2 Q* V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& O% U5 N/ X: j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) f* w" D( z% ]4 }9 n9 j( Kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 A4 C2 ^, H2 ]9 f# g( smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* Z; o" C+ `( X/ q2 Fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 ^4 s0 a2 p9 k1 z$ V) h
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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, L- i$ | B# [8 B1 O3 S: X2 OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- l k( l! ]& ]( a. h. A3 p, G* \
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
/ Q; b9 p0 _# X1 [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 p) o* l$ W O. y* g/ Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ `) I+ K& n* r g" zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; R" M0 w7 `5 A1 h# f( p" `8 S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. ]7 B7 L+ o: F" ^- ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- p/ K# |% C' ^3 E& t
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ W: Q/ P8 V* z2 `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. k! c. Q- b9 echarge the fee defined by the state.
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5 F7 {- Z+ F, t0 dThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 \& P# V" M3 @% x. }& y
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ I& J2 t- m0 q: l0 Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ y: X. X3 A4 ?+ \$ [
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ {. P2 D) P7 P! f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 b# V A7 m! e$ P0 ~0 `2 j F; k" i
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, `3 E: j+ f9 ?* }& W
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. V: M1 Q3 C6 H" p% r% _" lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 B: y" N* O5 a6 X, @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 ?( E( ]$ [: Q. _' Z/ S, o0 dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ P" d6 R5 F$ Q fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 U& `$ n( D* \9 [' [& ~7 P
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ K D2 }' D# h9 u' R( `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( t! ^. c7 {: [. u8 V; v
are spaces.
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7 M& B. }) o O) c7 Y& l# UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" _6 H& \+ w7 o1 _" T4 gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 K1 O6 j t/ b: {' l2 Wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ [( g8 P o$ F* O1 Q1 y4 P1 J$ J8 {40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different- H, \. x7 n ?. M
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" _. t! q* `& _* @5 M% I A: M, F& W
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( X1 s8 b9 a( V9 ]3 E7 j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: D8 p9 U: U Y" ?& I' w: J5 hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
[ P- P9 k7 A7 a+ cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 K- N# k8 o! r4 N' Y) X0 F5 r9 H$ u
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
