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 ]6 f- L$ T2 x
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 y6 _$ r6 ~& \, t! Z6 I; y% Pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
2 s7 G, D, r* k) Z! w/ c# X"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
6 @! j0 |1 x6 Z Y6 Z+ ~answers to our pointed questions., d: r9 J j+ v- e. K6 ?9 i
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 ], V+ D# ?2 o3 W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 w! Z/ w U0 yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. [& M) }, B) S( [; t( _% ?
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* o7 O6 o- w6 }: e* z, K/ u
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- p4 w! l' f5 \' M8 `5 I
medical schools.
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" x6 Y& B& ]3 u% f6 C* HEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 t+ o( p' Y& A( x" l6 Dgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 H, C/ b$ u9 T f; ~. @% q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' f6 k6 Z5 V8 U. w4 Z. qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 g& ? Z! \1 }! k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 G8 A. p9 N; i- W
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ V. G5 k9 O6 X4 ^$ _2 O5 \( T cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! I2 P( _$ j# n. {, mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 E/ j u' k- U4 h: tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( T, D* d$ O4 n( u9 r fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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5 a5 e$ q( m7 n0 vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& f# ]5 P- \) w e/ l
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% a1 n8 [" X2 m2 h0 A5 [# Hsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. w4 ^3 l1 x; t0 nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) V. _+ Q1 k% p6 V1 e
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 B" b3 G! x% Z, c5 tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( J# q( P0 R% _3 G
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ z6 ~3 `' N5 a7 \% r" \% i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; Z. y5 b2 k" v0 c( O" s
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& a) u' S$ z$ T
charge the fee defined by the state.
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# g, \/ I* E$ D$ Z l( aThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( ?+ u$ Q( `& E, D7 I2 ]
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 y) o! u2 _# A8 `, _: f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% S. }% w" \5 P- Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 k* X& c6 Q) T8 ^4 Vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: z, a; V, w& g( sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
' m! B, H7 G# P- N1 n+ c) Fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 I% N. u4 Y0 g4 S6 o6 ?7 Tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ I& i1 _! e R' \$ G* x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) d0 _" ^+ d0 A( _) o% ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 Z6 c4 X$ O) B4 \0 d; j4 c+ q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 V5 a* C* c7 {% u3 z9 Rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 L" |4 g5 {7 k$ y% ^' ?* }/ W) A+ K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" Q$ `9 l1 ?, `% L7 J) y0 y5 _are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi" J" Q$ r# U4 L3 j3 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) B; B4 g5 M7 e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
) a+ R( W3 D) ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different4 M" f2 [9 U: h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 s7 }! A0 f# i! L# Q7 f1 @9 U" ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
I7 i4 Z% | a4 p/ unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: ^# j( P) X. |% M C$ F& Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
k h2 t" ^& M3 Y2 S; B* _( q' mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ d4 T9 }& {4 x, P We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
