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
3 P) y' J3 [# e( ?standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; D" L- c B+ x- @9 }
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 |9 [1 F4 e: D# r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give [: r& W, B+ p
answers to our pointed questions.8 c% O$ [- p Y" ?5 ^
" g! o* |( ]9 T2 a0 H0 L4 ]7 @The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, S1 ^+ Y6 r5 Y, `4 k* t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
% r$ d* e: U1 Zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( B! ]! w, D9 _) V0 x) ]; \9 N
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 T9 Y; Y" h+ @7 W3 |* ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 B# h' n; r6 L! [4 ~# ^medical schools.' }% b: y% B" Z4 ^2 c
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 ~9 q6 N4 `! p1 L, A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% N2 N' m7 o$ V L9 c5 z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- u* x; _5 M w, |0 z- ]assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, J# M E3 m6 T( z( V) o% ?) L" g
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 N% w- D' R, p2 B4 R) W* z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There: ~, n* H' N# X1 m
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 _& r0 T3 _8 K1 X h1 {& Xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" J" k' e1 U6 b7 ~$ I# F2 O
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some) w& I/ |$ y; H, d5 W- Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# g! ` m0 w' p% l5 n
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- ?2 {1 ~! \. }: z$ Q# u
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
$ J7 \+ B3 H- k, M; lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ c) `" D2 }* W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 `7 e. b9 }- M. m2 Y8 }* k
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 |8 z; i" I+ D/ m' t, C2 g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 R# m4 d/ D4 y: C9 {" }
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ L% w8 i. z; E, A
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 J# N2 y! w5 W+ Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 v0 h% V8 N8 l+ b+ J2 Z' e9 q
charge the fee defined by the state.: x6 k" ~- h" t( O9 c7 t" E
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 v1 y- f4 Z$ C
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% j; G% W- }7 _0 w ]% u$ i5 ]* Tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 v0 E6 w3 L5 u% {truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
7 ^$ y( H; H }8 {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# K4 ~9 O" {$ l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 Y2 X9 w* `4 h- }# [
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 P. B6 f# m' z& b! i7 _! G1 ~* m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) I+ l/ o( \# ?! u* ~9 f% s
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; M% j) h" m3 T- @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& g }7 f, h. y, z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ \3 f0 g# v: g/ w* s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 J3 K8 a, L& B1 Q1 fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 T8 j8 h: G" I) m
are spaces.
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2 _: ?* n$ r! b" u; k- z: _# _; wThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 A0 O5 _: O3 r7 Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
& i3 |9 _& C0 p( Y. ?own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: P$ l' R) D% G- |8 {* M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: N$ v$ \. s* H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; O2 C$ a' U, ` p: T& V1 Y# Z H& U
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
3 B; d/ x+ J6 `1 p8 snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 M9 K6 X" X1 b B J A- K2 o
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 }. O5 X6 G. Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 X8 x4 f' D2 G) H, K0 l: s We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
