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
1 D! v1 k3 e' }0 E9 c" s5 }; J' Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& Q# a" I1 R2 N9 }
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
% {/ l5 i0 C: w, x8 {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- r7 m# { y! H7 banswers to our pointed questions.
& E- [" h2 y% C% R% S- i, V1 K: G) V: o: j
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) v* s1 ^1 a/ [, ^1 w! {6 L. e
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# N3 h- \ b, p" zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 u/ |) D& [! K6 p9 v0 Efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* O3 p. N* M, j( M/ W- q+ R
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! W* V$ O2 l0 m8 G8 i8 a% J
medical schools.3 x' ^( C) J7 k
4 v3 f U! {6 L/ k# d8 P3 ` o
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" E8 O5 e) E+ L& d5 w
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. Y6 W8 \9 D( T) \( Y/ ?; W/ Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
]/ W% I# u2 j I$ ^8 Lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
8 w. h* V( M. W; n8 @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% J4 V0 J0 ?! x0 s3 ?5 s& d
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& M7 Q: {* d6 P: D' h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" }6 b+ Z2 V, |5 Z( v0 ]. ?. J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 T- u# b* `; B% nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some" Z0 q4 o% Q5 R, v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ M1 J1 Y" l( P; i) I
, l. {0 P/ w8 ?. iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 W3 C# o0 g& y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and [' P; n5 c; M0 o: W; n
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% a( ] J$ _* f9 V- L8 ~) P0 R# h
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ h- A |, u7 Q3 n7 C' lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) N+ a3 T5 f- v4 }7 k' @ M0 e9 zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& [4 f1 r d- C/ ` `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 B. t' r& |1 V9 @Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; C& R6 E B! o @
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' x; Z/ w |* n6 m( d# B5 q7 C& z5 dcharge the fee defined by the state.
2 E- W2 T3 D' S. ?, z7 W0 C' L0 W' c6 p3 ~, W8 k+ E( z0 t0 d
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
8 n/ R0 k t [4 }* q6 l- pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) L% |4 V$ L, G4 x- c+ R& U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ E6 v5 G9 z+ I3 q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 @; x) [& I. l" j- E5 m, Tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- p0 e R. @0 U; kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 n2 Q% R9 q4 J7 Lschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ l% j5 B+ @* T5 {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 I3 Z" w; `& H) K' a0 `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
; O0 q' m/ o# G1 L8 d8 C3 x/ F" uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& \; k9 e. l( J+ M% f( q7 h9 [# K" H% H
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 F* @, m# ]* N) M; i4 l/ ~' o0 @
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 r4 G/ N/ t# T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 [1 |1 ]8 i- F3 N4 Z3 i4 v
are spaces.$ l$ I& Q( I0 \7 o
7 |# n: ~( g9 a9 s: X" JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- q2 F; P4 _* ^- j7 G
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 N" w& G! H: U ?- p
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( g" t. K* L e; ]8 \2 w* n# t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* x* l' X7 ~$ B h. d. F
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 _; |% s. N) G/ A/ Abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few x, j' x" q' G" w& M; p
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 n2 P! ]$ i2 k- }
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ y# j4 N( U4 p* N6 [is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( r$ F7 A' Y8 m+ z6 E3 U: }+ f* p We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
