我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living1 B$ n8 R/ n' _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 ~/ x) i+ W1 D& t S+ n2 `& K7 _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 p/ `: F5 n v
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give p" [0 C7 H2 l4 S
answers to our pointed questions.' ]% Q y$ F2 `
1 I* E: q! C% d J! {5 CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ J! Y- `7 ~7 p) Y+ F
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 a0 t; ]6 z0 F- Z" k
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
) r+ s' v) H8 ~$ Y9 V3 s# Sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& B" D: K( Q1 Y* h3 e' _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. H+ \+ H/ Y6 X# R8 g0 [( d2 i; U
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. F3 i: E- \, s' n+ z/ Z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 _+ H* l. P5 \1 Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, E4 n0 u, u3 L$ Y0 }
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 ?$ I5 o% q7 M& @/ W9 t
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, n# e, K; Z9 j1 L) fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( y2 N3 U1 I- T( A, L4 H! N1 r+ W
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
4 x8 S& K. g, T4 Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! U# M1 l; Y8 D3 E7 U
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 [) w% W: N' ^; L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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+ h n1 U' C3 o" LThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& R# E) u: x3 f |, G j
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 |3 F# y) ?" H2 \+ g! g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 x4 X& F# y! K% M7 I
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* e1 F: o n/ D1 sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. ~2 H; U& N% t7 p5 Z5 g, C" e
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ h8 z( o$ f" K4 U% k2 b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 J( ?( l- f8 T7 U
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* j/ Q# k) f' E% e) N6 m/ Ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' F/ ^8 Z e% C; C
charge the fee defined by the state.$ M( n" {- y8 L4 P6 n
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
}( T( w' }: g) ~& j& Non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 ~, E2 B9 g0 ?; F f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 x2 N7 W! Y7 w8 d7 M! X
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& l0 P# j+ ~& j4 eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* }" z& T# p4 v& F6 m5 t% Kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- I+ F7 t; U% N; z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 Y9 G; @! l- N6 Y9 W3 W, u! j3 Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ j2 R3 N# g; [2 k, |- p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch3 ?2 g+ p) q' i
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# g+ {0 r% N) O1 L* Z6 h- Q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) m5 _1 X: t/ i) w$ Q; qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 n+ [/ l" f# Z) X
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
1 @7 C" P* B( h- r! Q7 xare spaces.
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3 I* H9 a) e, T8 I: o3 oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ p0 `" P" u; m5 l; \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' q) y; d# b% Q, A2 Q* f
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 l3 d/ D) z0 A, V& I4 D: `4 X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 |: w, _' a1 x' R/ ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* A; o1 x, x7 s- B; b0 o( |/ K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ ^& ~' g, ~5 J1 A% j2 q: t
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 h8 ^* A6 G; ?1 V _8 H2 d' A* M
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ ]6 S8 b" O& o# ^* i6 [8 uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( T/ |7 ~, D4 ]6 Q3 j& i" i( j: a3 y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
