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. z" y W7 ^) K2 [ G9 t! D
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 e$ g, J! [5 X$ d# T' U. L( uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
8 N% `% _6 c2 c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' s/ G8 y* J3 u6 s1 }' Panswers to our pointed questions.
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6 }: O6 g2 ^8 LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 K5 P0 K; q# t; E- z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 {7 d# z' N8 X' ~: mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% `: ~; K# v J" D0 N
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 V; A2 [1 @: `# xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! e2 j. x- T, u: R
medical schools.
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1 e+ V$ A# K/ p; O; X( i1 WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
+ I% M: G4 j) |! f* J6 y6 egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) ]4 b( M: m" w# m3 m
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( S- t- d! o3 t9 F/ O* _3 fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 ~& y R k+ b: V4 V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( |6 W" R6 R9 r7 O, G3 mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' G5 F3 T: A$ l" ]( W' P1 \/ g- a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& h2 P e3 c: ? n. W& Zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
: F* v, y& y0 h5 E( ]* Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 J1 {3 _. R7 {" }/ n1 P: P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# _% I0 ~" |0 {5 N2 z: m
( l- i. [/ B5 i# r& q# SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 p! l. l0 T1 G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
; X/ N) ]; H3 b0 A9 e( zsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' T- l9 P, L( thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 h }* t+ g0 a; Z7 r3 ]1 M
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 m% ~: C8 m5 H1 S1 ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 r' Z2 d6 o" q5 ^& G/ Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) b& ^# |4 B7 f. g
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ u, ]( H2 i. y8 a' P3 O* k
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- u3 C4 _( l: \* o2 q
charge the fee defined by the state.
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+ Y5 d: G0 z5 v$ tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 r }4 k: o4 Z) x9 ?4 W
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
- L! [/ ~9 b+ Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# x. X9 d4 K% |2 L( V) N3 T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% q$ Z2 b* g/ ]6 ?+ I wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 }! r; z; q9 A6 d: a! x t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 r8 i* E3 ^: W
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 y0 u y4 I/ Z9 ~4 J |* ~" R
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# O9 t8 U0 b5 C2 m& d9 ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: Q) e) x2 ?. `9 H% Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 l9 b0 H8 r9 U
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ G k; Q5 B' L B9 F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 {1 G; E! J$ X4 P1 @buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ E$ Q+ d7 S0 T8 R$ x* ?
are spaces.
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* w8 L. |, z! u5 Z% [% b- nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ L9 l' X3 v% r3 o) ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* ]6 S3 q9 |" q# k. ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) G- u. _: Z4 I$ f1 u" A# z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& ]: _, {1 W3 z. @) r o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
& y. N! l( I( l# n+ Lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 y8 g/ v# G" B# g1 k
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 n! g3 I2 G. s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 E- c1 G/ w$ X8 Q) [* O0 v
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' d9 S2 x" i; ~% Z# ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
