我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living4 B2 b8 J1 L: b! ]
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went Y# j" D1 p5 V: T* I7 l" S2 L
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
, w- Z: k2 k/ ?" z# W$ W! E8 j. X"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give6 Z8 }( h+ L* E: G2 [& V, X
answers to our pointed questions.6 a9 U" P' l* g# K( y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. P3 o! K4 d5 R* A% F
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) r5 h& i0 [0 v3 wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is* H, I6 k. \1 p$ n+ r
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 W. b% I7 t6 M6 p6 Dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are H- E2 m+ c" \% `6 m3 `
medical schools.5 X: N5 F0 ~7 G; a& _) @; I1 \" t1 W
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the' T2 L# q9 z" ?5 d/ j9 b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 t9 |+ [6 V6 D
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* a m4 U/ w/ P4 a
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" t% ?( J% c0 A) u8 r8 `* Sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 ^0 `# Y! g9 z1 J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 l2 o0 l2 U& h0 S' r! O3 Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: T& m& ~9 P6 |/ ~1 c8 C
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
$ _; l% F* C+ n2 s- ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 l. j0 F6 H. g& L3 U! Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 F" P: N! Z' N! D& G9 \1 T2 uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# I0 U8 V$ s+ R: x) dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 c9 |% e( o. m4 y$ Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
8 V& F. ~2 A, A. n1 T2 y# a; d9 k, {thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% D, B- m' \9 C
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 n7 ^- n! N+ [divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- w# z& I; W# t; t& D, cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ Y& Y& u R% X
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' x g, g' c% Ccharge the fee defined by the state.
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4 R5 v% y; w# r% ~, GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. C% t9 F3 W; U
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type h1 Z8 l$ ^7 g3 J- u: C6 w- K0 g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 V/ U9 a) ~& u8 ~0 U) x. Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
# h* ~( p* k$ x3 T( K) J, M- B7 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! J" x' i. _6 |2 E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 O& ~3 L. n+ Z- |8 h# g1 z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; a1 h4 O- ]* q* v3 v0 D0 ?) Q; Tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. [3 r Z) X1 Z! J4 Q' |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. H6 B% j2 Q. ?8 K& N, C1 khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, [ M# l" m5 `+ y) X
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. V; \# ?8 Y7 S0 C. a2 Z! M
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ Z- i5 ]+ d0 M! G
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 \2 D# O: R. _* r+ uare spaces.) {, r1 }1 j+ q) L9 [
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& O! Z; X3 h2 {9 Z1 fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 l V$ e0 i. {/ a% Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" k' h$ G3 }! g4 e( p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, R* R( W& M3 l9 Y# m0 X2 zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
X! n- i) h' Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 t9 p6 I, ?6 J8 q$ ^2 E& n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: y9 l+ F9 l" r( o$ q+ g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 @9 w ]' G# e+ ~: k& A3 ~% ~5 ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 v. U$ k0 Z+ f5 Y4 R# K+ A
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
