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
) x0 ?" K7 a% B! Y/ C3 n+ tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 P- P$ V3 \3 J6 D4 o b2 @
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
& N1 r2 n' p' A+ i/ F- S; g"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give W* n4 v) @6 ~* I
answers to our pointed questions.
F8 ` |9 j9 ]% G* a2 y
/ O% M6 a2 J- t5 ~. ^% cThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 ] b3 G7 n) t+ W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 c. F$ d/ ~" k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
# h5 i: A: R, C# ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. G) }0 z5 G6 H5 ^
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ _( l5 \( Y/ [! ?9 Amedical schools.
1 H% ^/ K, R- h6 ~; o
" g* r W) {, Q7 Z7 I8 a0 y3 LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! P- D4 `- l0 ]! q6 a4 W$ o
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 x* T' H* H" l3 j. m
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
8 B6 X; Z; b$ t+ Q- {% B8 t2 ~; @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: g5 H, A& s; U5 w8 E: h& j* C, }" E; Ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 C. v. Y. N) h+ D/ @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ ]" o# z, w$ i, {& jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 B6 o$ ?5 z0 ~. \* w2 @) C) h6 _mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% L9 Z, n$ a8 I2 E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 t& P5 O! O7 W2 J/ ?- ?$ j
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 C( {3 h5 N; `
% J6 ~5 |, x2 NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; u" e7 K/ B& v0 n3 _4 Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 K/ Y K; p/ e. W- m4 t4 c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' U* ]3 M4 v2 E2 ~; Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* U1 M+ Z4 g7 ]5 `& H) S. F3 ]' b+ a
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 T& a+ K7 l5 @/ d8 `
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 e% j7 U& A" Y7 J* [) N( i4 h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 @* ^+ o$ e; ]( VDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. j2 P( F Q. [. s6 p+ }" sa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 K2 C2 j ^& C; O' `charge the fee defined by the state.
! C- ^6 M$ r/ s0 l. [* l1 M# m# O! E8 E) k8 x# h' h7 f' u; l
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- [$ t1 y, z/ b; Q, I% S/ |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) r7 Y$ e7 \: ?) \& n& f Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 E) M# Y: V$ A0 n: z t7 d" {# V8 Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 [$ V5 d1 P( o' b5 Q: Z9 aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. V8 I; h( N; \5 c% m* G4 d( T4 hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) Q: Y* U0 @( d7 [. \4 n
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
) L/ q& P0 V5 m* u& {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 N9 P. [5 P5 Vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. O! q) t0 r* P0 k& j* f* M+ W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: L6 U; i0 c' p# r& \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
3 `; [: h+ E! r; Xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 a0 y% q1 x: g4 z' A7 vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 {) i: H; h4 ?, x; Z! f
are spaces.( }. p( n1 V; ]6 \4 E6 X% H3 I2 j
; ]$ n9 Y; b: w- y' T1 I8 w
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ g% g$ a* I2 `+ z* y7 h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) x/ c! c4 |" |- G; m* down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ E" v$ w$ L9 m& [
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) b9 s0 S4 Y% L3 \- h$ a
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; a" [1 y3 Q$ I' ]* |# R+ Dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& ?4 f( v7 T- o( I- D* }- {
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 \6 }: f- M# \3 Y, dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 U, b# [( J E
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 J/ S2 H- d) B2 Z z3 p
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
