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
6 u6 a5 n$ U6 ]# S9 Jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; w7 S% b, V- Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; x9 b1 X6 x% j' E6 ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) C7 j0 I7 {+ O# Eanswers to our pointed questions.) Z* `" K3 u+ F; z
7 Q4 C2 `3 x# H& MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," K8 X% f- p5 I" @. |5 I& L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# [% Q" q" B2 P' a+ b
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ q, g. S6 o, Q7 c+ F) Mfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; N" g# Z" l% F) |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- e- s; j: h4 r9 q* rmedical schools.
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; O$ N% z0 ~& l1 V# Q% Y' {Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 O7 d/ ^) i7 @' [' L5 g- Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! q# V6 O/ N, f/ Z& R( f* }9 i$ ^8 Ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
0 [& y K, `) R+ q0 Massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
U( A! p9 X& B4 K O' K5 x" dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 B1 B# \7 `. cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ F% S+ x# W4 i+ M% i0 N. Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. c8 ~4 V# ^2 i1 j2 ~" J- imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
. \5 ?3 u Q# X: }shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 `$ o! Q& f6 a1 g* N, \, I" Nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ h' j) I% h1 B. H3 e; T M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 Q2 W9 h/ g( O) G# H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ j3 q" ^# r# X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
% V8 `3 N3 d) {8 {0 Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. [: u: g8 j% @+ X9 f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 q! ]: b7 M& @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 J: R# Y6 M* V4 Q/ |" qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( N" m) s3 T% T2 A: `3 e' Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; |% |$ @& e4 o' p' m, O
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) r0 |. u& Y7 h7 s/ ^on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& g e! \, d4 `6 p( ]1 e8 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( x0 r5 i+ ?, W: K' }/ F
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! j6 t& n* h- ~seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 F/ s6 V4 g& J) wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% s! b1 [7 i1 w# v: }) `6 n
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 x: p/ S1 U9 Z- B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 m. Y( o# M" Z' h8 Vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' x/ C* ]8 g0 nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, G" K: p9 ^6 B, k$ ^$ L" P9 R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
3 v' Y- H; e- e% `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ U* }0 D8 O% e5 y5 c
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) |; G) a+ p' q; {are spaces.
" H/ V+ D, ]3 m
8 Q! r6 n5 f: r5 y- iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
~2 s Z9 Q/ R7 q% G3 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 P6 ]% J) N- X( a0 n) e7 vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* h+ Z7 ~, a) x0 ^# c
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, X% n4 N8 r" d7 O w) Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! Z% t, S. M4 k+ d
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 _! }" o( q* U# L1 [( R. _2 p
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* ~% e( u; p- a* h: Q3 z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
c% ?& q$ A' a. ?) R" ^4 p2 sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( N. ~$ ?$ _, a4 V0 { We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
