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 t5 `3 i; \: `. Q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' ^; R6 i5 z6 g6 F7 P
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* k( X1 ~# Z) C5 Z m8 F, r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" j) _( C& `- w
answers to our pointed questions.5 C' E2 s2 j# s7 s5 t4 o
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# o F4 |( G6 Z% |& d; y; w" h
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* y: H1 I. e8 m2 v7 i& t- Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 ^& ?) u2 A0 f2 m) R' n* \free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ w* a5 I. D$ c6 Z# T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 s6 _8 y& P5 X0 e# d) Dmedical schools.3 F9 k9 K* ]/ {5 x! _* R! v
, Y- \* l. ~; a4 HEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& t( ~ C ~7 r$ @' T5 ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ d" h! F! R$ Q0 [+ y j7 l, [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) a1 k! Z; n6 r% I6 ^/ r* S6 r% V: w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
& i5 @) _) i, g* l' U' Vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. q" S: t5 a9 p, {6 [- X1 X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. |) v& c# ^ g$ Y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* [1 C; J$ ?) \) i. B% j
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% b7 z* ^3 W4 `! v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ F( w7 y; _6 u: V$ S4 |, U# Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, @0 x* c% J/ O" l" A) `7 Q: [/ X1 R
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
0 l [/ c: M* P, A. U( M) Csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 y+ {5 A* ^7 b( t& X0 a0 M
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 ]2 b$ G0 f# Z8 Y5 i
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ j7 s( S1 B3 F6 C7 k; s
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: p8 x2 U T l3 Q9 Y8 ]5 v4 w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) n: |# z1 p0 l7 P' N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' A4 V. c, @! f% k2 _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 q( C7 e+ G+ w* K) _1 hcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 {: c( `( K0 Y0 b
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
" ?9 A V# {0 N8 ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( m0 S4 m0 `! b& U# i0 b+ G5 b
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: Y$ C, ^7 Q+ {' f8 I7 k
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
" W# B w X7 e. ]+ M: fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* ]0 X; f2 m3 x7 A3 i& ?, A& l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, Z/ c: d4 w) A+ ]* }" @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: A3 K8 |& _1 L/ B" L0 _# \6 r- @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% X1 a5 @7 d$ x$ j b& h0 W1 shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; g2 s2 v9 ~- f" w0 G% g2 npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 A6 v: u1 U S( M8 M- \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# L" r L8 r% q( b( Abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
0 B2 i* ]3 r' uare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi F9 V; ~" o# [7 I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ e7 i0 h. A! V/ M, K( M) l1 c
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 H9 b4 Y1 I& d( d- V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ v! d, R+ e5 w- o; |- w+ v& J( ~/ e9 h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ o4 I! E+ F+ X: o Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
Y; n# i$ U0 X* g. T8 a$ q1 U( tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# M4 u$ X; s5 y$ i2 b! e! T
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 X3 X9 f m1 U) l5 x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( W) u8 e5 g# h' C
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
