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
0 v3 {* g) o3 Q/ S- J) O( Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) i, r$ `9 t1 L g6 m7 Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 ?% p! ]. p8 j
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, \+ ^$ J8 D% s, ?0 J7 V4 Ranswers to our pointed questions.. [" o9 N4 q) }9 k
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 u5 x& |. J: S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 f) D2 w; @, F$ d& _) K! I# Q, I/ H$ Q) o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
- m6 Y5 |, c# x; T! r3 ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! j3 K0 F/ A* D; i% `' Lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" @/ C2 d* o. b- x( p7 ?# P
medical schools.
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* q( v( A \5 _/ `1 E1 UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- m* i: u* e7 ~! l; w5 c, r& rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 d$ n$ Y) a: H ]. \
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. @, P+ }& a$ Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( h& m8 V5 ]' t' K% U
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 V* H' A% N0 u4 v
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 @# J& Q1 m U; H3 M" Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ y9 d0 @2 t& M% [% ?
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
$ v' j5 f, b# `2 jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. P2 C% O$ j9 x% }2 n% y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' v# v- p: l5 b: n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% \8 J: z6 `) ]8 ?# w
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 ?% x: f& c6 m: k4 u0 Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 ^! |6 `7 X& c- d/ q0 xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, D3 H$ ?! F; V- u
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: ^% v3 u* a! e4 e+ @( c7 u9 p7 i' t
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) ]/ B! b7 ]: g h5 j
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ O9 Q1 Y! K) K4 T, r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: A# t$ g8 Q: d6 h) M; G; O6 o) E
charge the fee defined by the state.% T5 T3 \5 v3 |- |; c& O9 v- l
& t% F/ c5 ^, `) p) ^7 O# j# O2 jThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get9 k' X3 y5 \. v2 S
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ k1 p9 {- {$ A- X0 I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; K) e$ g4 K8 T: e- O
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 b3 a g& M8 tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, o6 ~/ i _* X0 H) I+ h
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ C9 A( t1 b% e1 }3 ~
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, O3 V- i( Q/ P9 u/ t$ {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! E+ G) d7 H/ w$ s; |9 ^% ?
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 c; \/ k4 U' C% O& m
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: g1 H' G" K R W& ^$ u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" d2 `( f; z5 r
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- L1 L- x& s! J6 O! Y0 f$ @+ abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. p. `* {5 ]0 f
are spaces.( j. m# q0 B6 ]! d7 n% v" t; P
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: i. ~( M: p; M' H# F
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 }1 M8 T' p }" r
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, L5 Y" Q9 b$ U% l" _9 L3 O( T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
K& L- |6 y& h- ]: xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! y6 ?( ^0 ^5 _1 h0 B( ~6 W c+ x$ A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ E$ j0 P" i p6 D( k% ^
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( E5 w0 z$ X0 O/ e) b4 m3 H" {; k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& J$ V( o3 l. A& f* M* c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: ~6 Y8 @* ?2 P- l. S% J We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
