我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 c$ W) b. [$ H5 D( L1 g( B- @
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! c- p( A( h. x
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 R5 K6 ?3 H; M2 B4 a/ J# s
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 M# z A1 R. x7 Danswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. H7 l( E1 i1 B! Z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 D& V% e' h5 W0 q' M+ B
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ w0 d; W; g: Tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# j/ J- w4 l4 l6 Xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; N3 u9 a% R$ D, D6 g* B
medical schools.3 b% }9 Y- x3 c, v
) G: w ^3 E) U9 @' XEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 Q! J$ H3 b3 \% C7 {: |1 v
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& @/ l( p/ j: I9 Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
D' x6 |: ~- j z; |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 S" s! W# ~* k* p4 i9 Q7 @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to$ S/ c" K* A1 ]- q+ M' Q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" m4 I# ^+ u/ o% p! x6 n
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: T: P* Z% ?) l; W2 s9 Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 Z. F% C+ P% D% f: k+ m3 xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 Z( `$ H% J3 w6 H: }) K4 I
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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, q1 g8 C0 I# T8 S0 i0 iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) {- P& x# P) o! h$ b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 K$ {: x) ?9 \; z$ D6 X
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
4 R& n+ I; e( T j& V, ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! u$ T7 i4 [5 i( ~" A! O
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 p& }, Z2 M& U+ \* S* [sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* z: y d9 I" w- z7 p# Rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 D# H. _3 G" J4 f. j
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! Q( S2 L3 [4 d; p+ b2 _( M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' {/ |7 m- }" scharge the fee defined by the state.: ^* _8 |/ m# i4 j
3 q% y1 G/ q# _+ QThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 b$ F2 u( g$ o7 O5 @2 L! e; ?2 |' t: non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* @+ g+ p6 U; O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& ]2 l5 X# L! ^truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' \8 ~! G0 s) @* T5 Y* [- e
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ K- ?: x3 H2 D2 ^' vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on2 Q v/ J- v8 ] l. A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& S L; }: v$ B+ Y! \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* V/ R8 A2 m J: R, n' K7 Qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 A$ ~* h" Z M+ @, `2 ~* E- rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* q* |( ?4 K& [# e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ E# }1 T& d) ?, l$ v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 p/ x4 A1 ?! n& v, R2 ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) N+ n, h/ j4 C0 D' M7 V, y
are spaces.
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. B. Q4 y( `' H# z( R1 J* {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 C8 w+ _$ r9 s% }& h# R* w1 t+ m5 T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* R6 g1 y4 r0 Z2 ]' H3 O) |, vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% |1 P7 D$ Z( C. U9 c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ G) D+ w) x4 X: f1 f; ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the k2 O- F) Q/ s- r' c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 u( P2 ~. ^% K% p) g" O4 _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. e- H1 n- t) c# ?
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 O/ Q0 e# j: ~4 _- [# e q* U
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 h9 G6 O) h/ z, X6 U) H& l# W We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
