我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living4 x. s# J6 \6 j/ ]- z9 o
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. z9 o ^- |3 i7 {) R6 pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ `$ t; g6 S$ ?( {6 G5 Z( H"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& U2 W y2 S* Q$ {
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, P! w+ X/ @) O8 p! [45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ F: e& x6 T) d9 h5 zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is M' {$ ?$ U/ P0 d/ v0 f" r8 k# h
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 o N7 Z7 k- M/ L% a* y3 P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' g- ?) v0 ^; {2 S2 C" wmedical schools.
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6 ]/ {( S0 K/ j% @ uEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) |( d: ^: s+ N8 V# y1 vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( z, C8 F2 T9 K `9 Y3 o* fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; }: ~( j9 F/ D# J3 [3 }0 G
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 G8 P, C) @; e8 P
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. }' _8 r/ }* _$ E
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 T) w1 Q% g! _* H7 b9 m* p" D9 Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) T7 f1 n& D6 c" E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
Q" i( u( x, E( q. l* N6 mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some! _# ?6 B6 q( j8 U
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands." S" m; c4 R2 t' b1 r1 o" f9 E
8 y# h$ e) l \! @; A& D& }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) ^) ^8 V: s" n A( E2 g( z
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
$ T! T/ p4 m1 q, Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; E/ P! q! W$ l8 j6 ?# a) K
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, L8 K( a1 F: M( @0 n+ Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& O2 p; }0 _0 O1 l0 s9 msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
3 m3 q# Q2 X4 ^0 |7 d& vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
3 p# }+ g2 S, D# oDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When @* }5 D4 Q( M9 n+ l
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& F) G1 r6 c; w+ j8 W. r1 m/ `, J; n1 qcharge the fee defined by the state.! f4 J8 z g2 r D% q, [1 R2 C9 H
4 i1 `! J% F) V& Z2 |2 cThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ @' l6 n$ i# j
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* q' ]% I0 T% y4 I" P+ O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 ~) S1 B* t1 ^) E6 ?2 v3 l7 j2 i7 xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- q% t. J. e7 _
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 e" S) P/ W: L- M5 \
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 \7 m0 |' E5 f5 Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' F' J) G4 J. A
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% [5 L+ C1 H- M6 d9 l. l9 Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# ]2 E, E& A* k$ q2 ?
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 K1 c7 b# b0 T* |4 U8 ?
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 |5 T0 n/ W) `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) ^1 S( s' {1 \5 K" F6 N: F( }, K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 O6 T3 Q$ h7 Care spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 `! p, G' a, _0 ^1 f
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 w! n8 A& Y$ M: l0 Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 b7 E3 `8 W3 `* E0 c6 j40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
/ ~' t1 d0 ]9 A }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% O; q% n/ S. i1 I" y! J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) L* T& x7 D8 M3 F6 t8 ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' I2 e/ r3 x, `" f! @$ B
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
& W1 u" ~# q! L, j5 Q/ Ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 ~; a+ K2 F- @3 y e4 K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
