我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living0 ?" P* O% A" b$ ^9 f; a
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, Z& G, D2 {# r+ U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, p+ |7 h$ g/ S" Z# ] k. x
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" |/ g2 [6 I1 `" ]1 d7 |answers to our pointed questions.( H L, @- v; ~6 p3 l |
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; x$ [3 z+ K3 ~; }3 p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) @. j$ w5 Y/ Y1 a
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% ^* v) g# l% K5 pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) I3 F9 J2 e! p- |. ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
r9 H/ m" v5 emedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. u! \7 m1 l( c" egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ b: ]. s( T$ Q7 bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
H) E9 _7 T& wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! m) \! i# e, H, N* q. ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( R+ C/ k, @, p# }over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, A8 u# ^$ j: R- s- K( {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# y! A9 w: e0 k- E% E( n/ w
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
' u- T8 f# f% r" Rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
# _% q& I# j$ J0 [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., @7 P5 \8 f2 j f6 Z" X
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ p1 M( B% e5 K9 a. a
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and J6 `: W8 \7 G% ]+ k6 V
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 Y! D; R# o# }have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 K6 r7 z" x6 S) a
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
; L5 X! E4 l( L# Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( o$ b5 t- ]9 z" i$ F! s3 Z7 n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% b) O* Y' n. ]) V E! S
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# E6 p1 A/ Z: |' F! ?- M9 D
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) t ~4 Y- }; F7 ?; L% K$ m: x ?charge the fee defined by the state.
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1 h# G5 H* a% ~- mThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get d0 N# j& O7 O7 e* w
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* r8 ]: \% a2 o* |1 O+ Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; v& ^: S5 D" K9 |2 T7 {- Etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( y* D' Q* ` c3 l% ]& mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. D( O% ]8 E1 Z5 E& n& P- l+ lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# l5 L9 _) ~. K; ~# Q& v2 H( q( Cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ |3 R& t. ~& d1 \5 ^7 [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
8 n; P- H3 ~ k1 \. Mtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. X- V) Q2 ]: ~- ~hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* l: [! |9 z; b
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, i! @4 q/ ^0 J2 K" F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, N8 T, K) Q4 e2 z' F% f
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 u8 j5 v4 Z9 S4 e( O2 g3 t
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
3 K/ Y. n5 W) c' G% H3 B# Z/ dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! J4 a n: H( y. o( B
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ w) l) Z( d0 ]0 R
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" n1 o! X" r: \ l" d. x0 O' ]parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' X% A8 H& t& D( w
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ M Y& M# {! a8 ^! hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! p/ J0 E5 _2 s/ {0 h
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ a& U/ z/ ~" c( T# I6 H' F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
4 Y7 u4 T: l6 y9 b! r* y1 K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
