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
2 P) m R. X5 ?4 W# O2 vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& r8 S0 ]+ V4 R3 e
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 U W$ ]- o1 g% `"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' f y! S- [& C) {
answers to our pointed questions., L. r9 w! Y- x) j% }' O( c: x! p
1 \2 g/ @1 f7 A( z! z' PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," n4 ~3 y( y; E, k2 I
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 p8 n, L! Q" P# g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. E @/ |& C9 `/ I8 L$ l
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 r* L5 J/ u( X' K+ Z( d" ^
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% w: g5 s- q% t7 d" _1 ]5 [medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! B2 J, A1 B$ T5 r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# _3 m* P/ E/ G K* v" Q/ T Oto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: i1 D& ]$ \. r; p) W8 p2 ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 I# t5 B* y" [6 g5 L
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 N7 Y' x" Q, ?' z; m; Z; Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& d4 _1 I5 h! c4 W
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 K, z" [4 p. ^
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ l4 m7 f$ [9 R( ashortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 f3 |2 f' _; Z* Ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 ]; U0 q8 n8 S3 w/ L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
; ?) {2 h2 F" dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% y% U; e& ^- J
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 h7 y" `2 x0 ], J) `3 @) U* t2 ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& n2 T6 C* `; r; g1 D* f: y" y8 f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 w9 z: V! w0 C
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. o3 k% B5 Y6 e! G7 r p
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# V# h1 L3 D7 @. C) d- Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 ]" K, |+ G' D& w, k2 Q+ zcharge the fee defined by the state.
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9 M$ |$ p: S2 ^( M, B6 ?There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% L. ]* n" N' P) J3 t' Q- b. H
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 {+ {$ `. F1 A n. }6 pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 I' F4 ~- m1 ^4 `5 ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 z, `; X ?% o" e# d8 M2 H* T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
" v1 G7 V- o1 x$ U5 Gworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
, |6 x" N8 e4 n; w. E" ~% hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ N; q, T3 F8 A" z; m5 lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- a$ @0 }8 }& B1 r3 Z5 Ptrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( ?, D" f/ r5 \* e) @# r2 khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ Y) t& G3 e) x, f5 N& Q6 t6 ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' p# r( | T; e8 J4 M: |to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, O+ O0 c0 O( C. l8 V0 `/ [buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* {+ ? u; o6 M
are spaces.- e9 G P2 {1 G6 \4 ^
3 u; }; G l4 @, y& F5 ~3 jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 ~' {) t) j6 m$ I( W, h' ^$ t. Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. S( m9 l" p$ l7 c! v0 vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the3 i. a. Y3 Z# q+ w5 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( O' R" b& z3 n9 C$ @
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
* `( Y' B, X( Z1 o( ]9 W: sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- M/ ]2 L2 X0 X& z3 z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
7 m5 {( B# Y9 F3 _& tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' {: }- z* K' p* `
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 l$ V* Y7 L( a& g. i1 f6 I! D$ B
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
