我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 ^3 d% x) ^9 h- D9 o3 y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( I- y2 Y L: d; A* p8 ]9 U; aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ [" u$ q/ L( b7 N" M) {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, n5 D7 d3 f) c4 Wanswers to our pointed questions.
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. D# Y" h9 |% `5 E }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 n: K0 R- q. e. Y4 J$ [% b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- x5 X" |1 B; ?# J7 x4 G! Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* T2 h2 m' i! l, Q+ p# {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 p0 h+ M& N- ^' s" L
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 p9 _9 P( }9 Q* ~2 g c/ Kmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 Y& |1 Z% f" ]+ B) t
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants c3 c+ ^& C ~, P; A
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
) M1 h& E1 F- B( a* k0 X3 |5 lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: H! |% o" c) r% n+ i# lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
+ @' ?8 A$ h% W) x: z" j ~8 rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 `$ d9 s+ ^" k) Q7 aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 I. V5 T. N8 X1 ^5 T# U' Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. q2 b; r5 F1 l9 r. Y. A4 |
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& K5 O7 u$ M. J" ^
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* N! g9 A! k$ s: V5 t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 S% `, A# k3 `/ k% M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
3 l; K' j' B; V* f9 qhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. v5 |* n/ V- P! q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
7 h, k' A/ Q1 N. Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 V1 ?; |3 T) b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ U2 l5 r( p3 p+ v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- h: h) `7 L! O+ x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( E+ L- h4 }0 q2 b2 b- l: q% p; ], j
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. v2 q; `5 q2 t5 K; s* Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type% d, M* \; Q C7 V6 J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( ^6 N2 t9 H0 D- ]% ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" s4 H+ U0 A) m/ \/ d3 J1 L" K
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 v$ D4 E/ u# L# [0 Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 U! J" T0 a+ K, W1 bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 e% }' e- b" l, w7 _% u& n, S
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! i3 `& V3 a7 ]
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: p& @7 Z! F4 I1 y$ W0 O% @
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 q; K3 C& C' Y8 P2 v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# Q4 e& K! M0 r- R3 Nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, U5 c4 q. h) m# o7 Q2 q) d/ Abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
U8 R9 f! u5 z! a: c' xare spaces.5 K, _* o5 ?; L" ^* o# _4 U
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% B5 Q; ]1 b* C% n% U+ qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 ~$ R M- V0 d2 |* C4 _own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
% e$ I- I0 p$ a- k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 R+ k; e0 v5 H% E( o* G3 k7 y3 h" f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ E9 }, o3 X- O S" y( E. K5 H! [
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( T, e7 W" I& m6 F3 D w9 E; Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 J, J2 E4 c1 ^6 m1 o6 F O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 N1 Q7 A5 ~7 ~+ \
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 L/ W/ W# z, m, G% \ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
