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 [1 s" n+ v3 N. Z# s6 _standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 a7 r: F) `9 h* Q9 X8 e) |on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 n4 d, L6 {- N7 e* q3 f: Q: g: o9 T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 x- h. w# h: e& e" r. f5 D6 M
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' E d, U: D/ ^6 W0 s( T5 A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 g, u7 Z9 t. p) T, R
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ a# \) p# q; Cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- J' f+ t( c S' @; \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 j# s2 N$ q+ y' F. `
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! y0 T3 a. e+ ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# X7 l1 h% g+ }7 p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ F" }9 g$ w+ Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 s9 t9 A, f% ~' g! {0 }1 `0 G. c6 Qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 }8 }. h. H& N4 W" q5 _over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ }$ h8 U3 W5 O; h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" x8 c2 X }- b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. c5 b: i6 D' D/ T7 t4 _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 v+ J) E2 m1 s* N: {2 r2 [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. s& |2 D# G7 N' n% nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 J; Q: h+ d/ I3 L0 xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# D3 v3 s# i7 \* M. U! }2 L* Z; m8 z) Tsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- [2 i0 y# G8 L/ {1 S
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good K, W& E" u0 q; _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 w, M6 l0 ^5 L u! J6 e1 U6 @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" I5 }+ r; Q- x a2 R$ \6 s- i! F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ e! f {1 `/ }: {% b; ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) u1 ]$ ^# T* N- Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only y6 M/ R3 G* V7 j3 G
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" C+ [5 ]$ a7 U, _; B; W# |
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) P4 Y+ Z4 ^- m0 Y6 O( Kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) k3 b4 _3 z1 a% r7 w1 g% K
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 X2 B5 ?. m8 l& h
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* \. F: x! r4 g; |/ }4 R+ {6 Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& W6 w) t Y- A$ m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 _2 Z% \6 C% M: d7 d+ @$ U5 {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! T% D9 I& u$ X4 o [' r" I- w
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- Q& r0 ]! T4 U; G$ `) q! Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, Y! @& T: a7 a8 d [: W
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 O/ P; i! \* I/ G% r
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- z8 Y6 }2 u6 U8 d E
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ B; a$ ]9 y5 C% \* s; C; |
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( |9 ~4 ]' k/ J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" T: `( j i1 W& gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 w3 \: j! | [9 p, ~/ n; I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 D6 q7 [# g$ ]% k# m' ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. {1 o4 Z$ t; B% [5 k9 O5 `* Q8 ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
P o! |% A! X. Vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
+ ^1 v: I: g4 tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 o$ W1 x, _. O; `! eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& {+ y4 @( ?3 X, u We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
