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
; w1 o% V( ~% {! F# y% k& d8 Ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. B& I6 P' i% J s9 x1 uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
& Z- |) m2 @+ G; i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% Y4 Q" Z0 D% k. T
answers to our pointed questions.* ^4 _/ r f4 h1 P- h$ {
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( i7 U8 W% m O y5 t0 S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. m" ]" m* J) S3 ?5 g( y) t- e8 dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. J ?6 X" c9 D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 S/ s }) u; h2 c& V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) Y- F% i9 n, [medical schools.( _8 z+ {1 d: a3 S7 e: z
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, C- c8 }+ `3 [& J$ G2 }; m4 s: d! K
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 a1 ?' L v, F3 f, Q* H2 l& c5 U* v
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& u' b2 y2 c! u# h( p, t# u
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 p/ q' |$ |# i# H. n
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) B/ R( e( \3 T: z8 P) g
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 z. f8 H$ }. D# Z( c
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 {# T; @/ X% ^* r' j5 T, q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# ]( p: b9 A* e& f) _: O! E/ y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some) ?' v' i9 w) V0 u: W7 ?
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ ^% H: G- J* s5 n
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 G0 v) i! Y2 z0 W
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
, I) r" ~' U+ e" F( j' j. Asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: [' u6 s6 P5 \! m& P% ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 ?# e4 n0 ^( S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
x9 O5 O, T6 M ^7 U' Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 v% i! G: l3 k( Fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 |3 A, f( O, {1 V7 c" o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 u& K* @+ _) g* f* e4 \# j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, t$ ?0 R z5 s( P# B' vcharge the fee defined by the state.6 c& d% E, e, H; E6 k% @; i0 h
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
( V: t$ o. X+ h( _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( G; F v: Y, V' m+ ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 f; F1 z) y7 R( Otruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ ^) u5 i4 f, O* a$ ^/ jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* m2 c1 p4 B# n" J
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- S- k, v9 Y4 h! K7 eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 h* s: V2 y& H5 s' dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
. N2 I" Y/ S' k1 u9 r: T. |8 Qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) B; M. {5 G5 Z0 y' ^
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 |! f! z! z* a2 a, Mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ r6 \1 L; R, ]. f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
2 i! g8 t0 K% |# y; Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 b. m3 W8 r, `
are spaces.
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' L- q$ g! N0 w0 F) ?7 d8 c7 j5 f9 gThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ m* i, a: i/ O' v7 B! C0 |3 L9 ?
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 v& t+ C( S1 B2 U- y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! }) Z0 F- S5 j9 ~7 `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" W0 [1 ?7 ^8 o. ^2 Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. S R4 \5 W" h+ v, n4 cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 G5 ]: j% I/ N2 a! @/ vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
: n7 m: G) q, xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 b* e5 P6 y2 V3 x5 ?. i/ p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: }( W* p I q$ v% W1 h We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
