我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living. Y8 \6 p: [% C
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went/ c$ l r5 q. ^; \9 p9 `* h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
& H+ g6 T" M$ s' T( u" x"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" f2 D/ l: C" G# S! R2 R
answers to our pointed questions.7 {* H/ s. O0 ^* x& i
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 N3 f+ c" n! G& X' ?' }0 W& M$ ]) A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 }" T. g! ~3 F: {6 M$ u8 C# gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
- \1 n; G( X2 S. cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 Z' x) `4 v) W2 dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) V' n" V' V7 Z* { Y# W( n: S$ b; `- `
medical schools.
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# X$ k3 i _7 _' d6 WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! W4 x$ N4 o8 j& z* D% e, r8 Q2 Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% }- k3 w+ J' m2 b9 ^
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" [ X. k% S' S) S8 _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ | _0 _7 v/ {% {* e; wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 K1 N! M; m' K
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 \- I7 b. t! [
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, N. k% Y7 b" S3 X
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 _) l; G- S" x( F5 x: T
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ F1 D5 y" ]" T. t* x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., j! d6 w3 o3 A* [
: H* R8 E/ b: t: ~9 ?; @! ~8 G- N1 `The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, r6 U1 T0 \9 Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 }$ M( u P4 l" Q+ F5 Y' {4 `# _7 ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ U* d; T. R% N, Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) b6 y: c& u: E. o: a
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
! Q: I( M" c% Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. F* V, m: o/ ?# _1 q* Y; u
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- L4 h& v" G# Y+ N% U5 y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) }& X* o6 f1 Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! ^- N. K" O5 N4 `* Xcharge the fee defined by the state.5 Q# e/ ]% Q) c/ A5 M9 i! G2 P
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 H; D0 ~5 a2 E$ T# z( J
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% y& w$ R% |% k5 wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
R* m/ _0 d- [' t! l: }truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ k0 x' n4 I3 F) Z/ G; w5 yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 Q( [8 E, s+ C8 N2 yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 h' h0 A3 d' b- ]schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 N8 p0 }$ Z' e d& s* x- Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 R) d# A4 b/ k7 x) v
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% g8 Z# _2 x% l' }6 M. C
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 i5 H( W z! @+ Z% }, S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 B2 g5 B1 B) \" T; Z) h
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 A' a3 }! I; U8 A1 w6 k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- _1 i1 ?: h# o" \8 v& ]6 V
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' T7 u8 B( [% O6 U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 r+ f9 e! c, c0 M) Kown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 p0 ^+ M8 w R" T+ l8 N3 `3 q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) E% f6 |+ g: Q, K- o, C9 o$ s3 Bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; W* F. ?* x! \8 T; r1 ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- H& S, ]) i7 o, n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' \. c; W2 f! Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 ~: t( t3 _8 H; e) sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( S4 Y0 D" \4 R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
