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
. S- c4 U Y& V lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went# j9 k& k" ?- P4 l2 x
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. }) H! g7 \* F1 t: p' j# s! F& Z) n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 X0 ^. X# A: Y {0 x, \
answers to our pointed questions. z7 C- k% v% ~' B
. Y! ?- E I* l' DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( d7 A/ j8 X, }( |3 x45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 m: m4 V' u7 l. q5 `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( W( j6 X/ O# l( N) w( A6 I& E
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 b- X. U0 N, d% i+ i/ o+ w: ~ Qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 }4 v+ [- \- s5 G4 j1 D1 W0 m9 P! ]
medical schools.% B; F. { ~+ E% L
3 |2 \# Y2 Z9 W5 O5 B$ QEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ t( i0 B( {+ Z9 B
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
2 c/ Y! [% r( _9 g' X# t1 sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. ?: |# _5 G5 k/ u7 ]! m- wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. |& T7 \8 j" _: w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( G. d* @' R, f. c3 n- V! Y7 W7 j; y# t
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) ~ E8 A$ E2 v, i2 Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, R4 Z$ q, `/ z4 O: n1 @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; D7 n5 y' c. s/ C6 V2 mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some" y2 m9 W! |. a$ i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 C. ~6 c/ h7 I q: K hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 I1 U! q2 ?9 w% [5 i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( y. o5 p, f3 i" i% d; W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 S3 L }4 R% U3 A; ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 M( r+ i! ]* x% C. C. q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# X: z8 d6 }9 ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
}$ c/ b& X" [8 {: \% N" L! N; }Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ n0 U: d$ S, f" U% w5 ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ x4 f! Q( w$ [! ?& ]) p. t2 echarge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' Y5 Z8 e% c0 @& W0 J
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ z5 D% J% o/ l' rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 w9 ^" h) _- y7 O+ K7 O6 mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( P: J, J6 M- r! E. Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ F- D$ X- ` s1 f7 m( |
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
0 C f' V N h3 Dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 A! |) J+ R* q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 z& k$ a/ F; ], ^/ u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, {3 I i/ r: }9 g
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- q# _: A" I$ }people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ X# k, r# s) h( qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 N$ X$ A# j5 X: j. v
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" A8 U, e C6 C" Eare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* c9 v* M0 \. B# Zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they F0 L6 T) K* u- x
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 N% a% t# h; j. E5 e: C/ Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 Q; y1 V1 V4 [. ]5 M+ G) Q @, s sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 d% p$ Q, N \0 {- N$ H
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ c, F( S6 @2 o' p7 M t1 Gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
4 }2 r2 o+ H+ ~* ~, k- Wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' d$ f1 R+ p, H5 J. N
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. x! a2 o# S- F( K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
