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, E! D) s9 X7 O* ]; O
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' S4 Z/ z7 N) t3 G3 I Z. Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 M* K- c6 y4 |& M! H3 ?
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 A( D9 r' b$ f" canswers to our pointed questions.
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: D3 d: u5 i6 g" c$ sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 K& d/ w/ m2 c- D6 T' A6 B45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 M y& H$ C, ^( {8 }
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ C" M# F! R3 A$ F' Efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' B- q: p8 i2 j- S& F6 q$ Dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are h' u; I) q- q$ i! R1 ?% [" p# n9 i
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 P8 @6 a+ ]5 a$ D [5 \government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( P5 M, y4 f! W1 D9 \
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% U$ }- S6 ^% I1 r0 R; Wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' j: m: m0 H+ U2 g4 {8 R, Kis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, E! I3 s. _" j* Lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
n: @/ [( H3 i; r8 @/ fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% u: M* k: `9 p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 p" n/ D$ [/ I, [6 P/ Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. d( m6 Y" X. }) T8 k! G' a4 X! i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# I$ a) s( E, I5 R2 S Q
, \, o7 K' ~4 z: d; KThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: c( x7 |! b g9 J
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 d6 w( X8 {2 I2 G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 @: _. n( L: ~4 o0 H1 w6 Uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, F- g( {: T* M2 Tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 ]9 ]3 N4 y6 P9 u) I3 z4 ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% v0 y, a# A9 H( \' ~. d: E8 d
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( s& J `1 |8 k* S3 I+ cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 g s! P% A5 |! d- H8 u. aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: ^8 a* b- @6 V) Y' z- O* F$ Q9 C' o0 a
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 }- Y3 g! y+ K4 kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ k. g6 a5 m Q H: i- Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 r' P1 S+ `. z. Q- z; M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) d2 |" f q) Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 n6 k; ?" f; W, Pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 u0 N* B; k8 `( x+ V; o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
) [; b( m9 J! Z4 ?0 myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 c# p0 }9 P+ n4 Y' W3 otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. x8 K2 m0 s- T; S I/ C, o1 `
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 f0 H0 _. Q/ d+ U. s" J; kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" e. Y2 W) u, ?) l. _ O
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, Q1 ^+ f- ? e# W& E vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' _7 u6 g4 I+ w5 q4 N4 Y1 ^4 Ware spaces.
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. Q$ Y* ?; [' R8 h8 G m4 _6 rThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: u; |- s& A: k" P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& R$ R9 {1 N. J3 Y" ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 l" H7 |; B! Z: h
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! y0 x; N4 m1 `, O. l* U! A' g& Cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 j1 m- I& ^) ?8 E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 }# Q m6 S' l: X2 F! n1 i
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& h1 ?. G3 @! H3 A& W& e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* `8 B* ^, D9 m' F4 Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: l( z' O( F9 _8 g+ w We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
