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
0 v$ |& j5 d. A8 C4 Y, `standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) I+ N5 Q5 C: r& a5 k( F5 q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,5 |$ ~! T6 [/ s$ [0 f) \7 g, ^
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
H, t+ i1 G6 @" w5 J9 O0 s9 q0 Aanswers to our pointed questions.
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# T# H* a; y- I+ y4 D) OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. V% t1 N7 L# z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 t0 |6 p+ [3 g: nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' U }. ~( `! ^0 ]' J; L3 n
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 v4 B9 B& X; H9 c8 k
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
* [ {1 ? |5 qmedical schools.
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% U3 p& _3 P2 }- C* y" F$ G, ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) N# u E+ w1 b' \/ T! v( v6 h
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" V3 p; D! u' v2 L. c$ m) D
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ G% `8 y1 @! K: D6 i$ D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
f" b1 ^* A; J$ m" y0 O! Y* Yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; J' u7 r6 S5 m6 r8 `6 E& e. b% p/ ] q& Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
- V; P, F7 b# a/ }/ nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: a# A# D# c$ D; s) a. Z) A5 Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( r2 T8 f# y7 k: Y* R7 B9 S7 Eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some W. i' i1 Y! k, X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 z( N1 e4 r# F" @3 D9 n
' G) G1 O' ? s7 i, q. S% l' ]! mThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' x! a+ H( J7 s/ _/ A7 O; U
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, W1 d7 t+ Y5 h; `; t% V( R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 `9 x. P* g9 K0 G& ^7 thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, Z2 q: Z* J6 D$ c9 M, R" ]* Mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! j# b/ h$ z2 T$ a& r' k2 k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% m# z/ [. b; A$ T6 t! u; J
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ B: _# a& R' {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- x5 {" t3 t$ \9 }0 _! H) a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' `/ E6 h2 h5 x+ z8 J% t! ]
charge the fee defined by the state.
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& q/ S6 X) ?- ~; ~4 p/ @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# [. P' L, F4 s6 a5 S! ]) ^
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 k. t" D: K% uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 Y: M8 ?/ V( N
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 T- _7 I9 F$ O( Q. d4 i
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
1 S: E. e# q" Mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( _! R8 t4 S. |5 yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 S2 ?% D$ E* Q1 G% k2 P: jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 `: |) X9 v$ } y- ~
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& V/ o* [- v) x# t$ W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 H, O5 J. [3 fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
. Q& U5 S; t0 [( J) jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' f& c. s4 E$ T$ e' vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
. Z. y( Z5 g# A/ q4 ^are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 K, r+ o# E) n5 w$ p/ F6 dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
0 i4 {8 S9 M7 `- \+ e" r7 qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 x }6 e) z) k6 Z( p% y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 s; i! t- @* J5 Xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) n; ?! X( V3 R" Z @ S& E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' F! h+ K. v9 {: xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! t( ^5 X! T( C; j" g6 ~3 q4 O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 o, W1 \4 K8 tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ X( D$ @+ o( x2 o- y Y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
