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, `, A3 S5 N* w9 Y1 M: i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
" L' m X0 F; u, v8 L7 fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, @8 g5 X7 }5 [ u7 a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% [# w) e3 N. L; L# V
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 `1 p% {8 t" i `( N. o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( I: w4 H7 g' \3 L2 g7 @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 d1 m0 A* M" M7 Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) F* K) o1 i8 j4 m4 Mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& e7 @1 n( j/ D% {
medical schools.' L4 C0 ?0 k) J2 V
1 ], R# w3 O9 B, z' D6 I) @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% w* E/ T7 E: W8 a6 b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants F+ r6 b! Y# b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: X/ u1 k. P* C. O) _: Y7 z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 Z' x7 V j" x
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; ^* ~; }# `0 L" f8 j3 m
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! J7 S7 B Q; b( ?6 w& f9 e
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) {: J! Z! S' C1 l m6 b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 u/ u* K# V& rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some* a% m1 G8 Z; F- F' ]
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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: Z$ l5 r% j( j' ?& q% ZThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% g6 R7 S9 K+ n' J" Q+ n7 t$ A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# K: D' N% t6 I: l1 @supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 K2 p) A/ n8 O/ X2 y- [2 t; v" Ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ r- m, k8 G# A" P9 ]thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! f4 \ I/ K8 N# X" G; r
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: |9 W0 I" C" M" Z- l) ^. l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." w* u& s8 D6 p
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( V1 O# T* ]/ [( R7 H4 n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, Y0 A. B1 ~7 {% y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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9 V% O2 u7 J/ v2 D# O$ n2 f: d# jThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) |; {6 o* P8 c6 p7 K
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 a& g0 p% p3 y7 |1 \* P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 |7 i0 \$ R% e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; `9 c7 q, e* I$ e" S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the$ S3 Y1 _- e" \1 G& a! g, R+ Y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" T/ E1 X( U1 k
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 K7 B- w; o" F% C# q V( Pyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: F- ?6 J6 ?& x$ N8 O( Y) btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- u- Y% A7 x$ Z1 M$ k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# |( q8 n _& ]; M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 v! u, U! D2 b9 o9 O- {8 r( ~+ S4 Eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# T% U# k& r) }1 ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
4 p2 \/ ?. H! \3 R2 ?- d- Nare spaces.# |, g6 }5 T$ v$ U5 h- Q
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ C6 r% C' b7 P6 vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* R5 I a3 x$ M6 q4 ?/ T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. P3 w f' b: T& r- L% ~ I& f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: Q5 K% J) A* ^2 O1 pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* U: W+ a% m1 }, W" I# {1 [
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 y2 g/ j0 Z1 u1 [: `. j) O5 I
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
+ W$ ?1 n7 X* T! ]( c% z# u' Ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 t* T: N. A# |1 \+ r/ J% b. n; Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ F" j( M! p9 c3 [0 e We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
