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, I. T0 H3 N; ^. u4 @ D5 P$ D
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! H0 e6 z* |3 |0 qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 ]; E- t) S& l0 A* y8 D }
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, @( i$ n* x# ^; R/ b2 t+ M# wanswers to our pointed questions./ W" b1 g; n: u3 i0 H
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 ? }3 l2 t2 J" H7 H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 b: O$ r5 j9 T
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ S a I1 n- ~' i) N8 j/ h4 }* x9 r% yfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 w, I+ }! J; Z/ j
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% E3 u: o) m+ g, Q
medical schools.! U: O* u) c4 f8 f5 x) P
' I/ _5 U5 X0 ]2 Z" Y& H" IEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: Y( j% W3 L" r2 Q- vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants! L# _3 d& S1 y6 ]+ y6 d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
, r1 q; K# V/ B; H& L* ^assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- k: f' S; z2 r: Z9 \- G
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 v4 g- z1 e& x9 R# h9 x; ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
/ W% p, w4 p y$ \+ `4 O, t5 `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
x8 J I% X- }mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) ^+ T& D6 H2 Y2 Q7 Y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; R6 j/ ?. i4 z0 Y7 \' ?. X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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) P! q: [3 W$ ]/ o' aThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 t( l' a5 f$ i' q5 j* Z) E
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
2 Y$ L$ I- \9 A, Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* H: Y% }! @" s& i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
0 E3 k) _ W. x/ X2 x1 nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 `$ S% y5 Y# m1 t: g8 k( qsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 G5 u c- i& {) {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 ~( W8 g k4 |. H! Q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: i5 D" l% D2 n1 f9 r c; Q2 O
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! H6 w1 X% f, g# Z) ~8 \charge the fee defined by the state.6 V" q4 Y- R. w$ e% e& j6 S
* I& D0 J2 |. j2 Z* E( TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 h' d7 _. y, B
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ A% V8 o' Z/ P0 `9 y6 jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big' H: j9 u1 r' B1 \& T0 i3 J$ \
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) d* D4 E1 Z R* i# ~2 O! h6 Wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ @2 u& O2 d# q. _
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
* ^# I9 ^0 A# O2 g' G% s+ Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" m& x) j" u3 R; s- O
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' W- P1 q1 S4 E# V! V: q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. y6 v, }; j7 _# o6 H) s4 whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
8 z& V% v: J3 a: }0 i8 o1 Y% X3 j6 l. Tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
" u" c! ~( N/ P! W! O9 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 u- T/ Y: |& a9 d% e7 D( m- u6 S. jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 ~ [. Z1 C, `
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi U( F$ r s# n) F3 U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. T; K5 |, h: N+ S9 M- }own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 [1 P# p4 J L4 a
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( S+ a% a; I1 oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 P% |- e: t& X0 Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) }$ ^, ~7 ~% c" z' J" b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 m# ]- [0 m2 `. d+ [, z: O: ?( S. kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 ~' d% f' i3 K( p# iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& g7 N8 ]8 O* c! n3 e+ F
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
