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) t$ N! t* f3 z2 H# v) L# X
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 o& K5 N' G( A- e" yon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 ~$ W$ v# w2 Q. F"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ @) w1 Q+ [7 p- ganswers to our pointed questions.
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! ]0 H" Y* [6 S5 {8 vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# A8 _* i Y1 @# d+ A9 P2 C45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: J$ K r! {* ~out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
K+ j6 y( s: S! ]- x! i. ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 g6 d4 X: n U' n6 tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* C% F+ t* x$ N9 ^$ o1 y4 P
medical schools.3 }0 z& T& O! [2 M9 ]( R/ q. w
8 F+ F$ g9 m. W! @8 R+ D. m. REvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 p! H) ?( S& {0 h5 vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ _7 H0 M1 Z/ e- Gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* t' @% [4 U1 k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. c( ~& D$ I/ c, W3 }
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" a5 R8 U1 x6 Iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
5 W: e/ H; P6 P# Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 S6 E& I2 q+ T( W7 f; K
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 q* Z6 }# p* b" [
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, ~' `- X2 v9 C' X8 O7 `sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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- c& Z& A( v5 f; a' o- dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ K3 f% w" o$ M3 l4 D: G% Xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: U8 A) _- B. Q% q p* Q& @* x) Msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. x4 U1 C8 v1 l; |" o, g" f0 o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) z" K. b9 h4 L! T3 lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 g) J& a5 J. ~+ t3 d! f. y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 _$ k( L' ~7 \4 Y* ~; zdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( N Y, B: X0 L6 W& \) r4 N/ cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! Z/ I, D H3 B: z1 p: Q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 m: c1 W# o, ^' M& f+ m: Hcharge the fee defined by the state.! x3 i5 L/ d: Z
, G9 G+ E2 X/ J/ L" R0 xThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& P1 g0 O" Z& D$ t4 |$ jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ r) A$ Y7 x5 Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
! d# `; b. N) f/ z1 Q# Y* `3 U. @truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 d8 e/ C5 E0 c" V$ \# Y
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' H! G w0 [5 c. w( x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 G: B9 g% W* q4 I l- t7 Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
K6 F2 {* K! V/ {* oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" j5 H: {8 |, D0 u5 I
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 ?/ p( I" B7 o Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 I* ?" Y7 H7 B9 ]8 ~) F: I
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! m, }8 A0 l: l$ C8 K7 Y; L/ T
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 o- _8 A& |% ]$ O: k9 ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ O% z' \, F+ l( W- g
are spaces.' a& `: C- I; u7 S! W
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 O& T/ e& D, W* W" pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; i- v8 L. f c. H2 r/ _own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) y5 X" _( o% m5 b
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 Z* F* y1 l1 P2 q5 Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ N& X) Q. q$ K0 O$ A. ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 ~& b" g0 @. ]( X, y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* \) s {; a( }9 w. _& u6 F) W0 f+ C
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( \/ N6 _. |+ I% }
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. }; c- m6 x7 p We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
