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% ^' D4 J6 w a4 v+ v* d8 @/ u' J
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. r Y" V. J9 h& d1 zon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; @2 F6 K4 I! W/ F8 J( j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: B1 T% H* \* q1 w
answers to our pointed questions.
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6 t# v4 n, Z! a; Y1 oThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ {0 u( v$ } C5 ]" i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! Y$ g: c4 M4 t* d: P7 H' h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ T( l0 d9 s$ u% z8 k3 l; a+ I$ Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 S8 H8 V: ` |) i8 G3 n1 I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 J: N9 {/ V( U2 d: a3 K7 K
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; A2 ^& S$ L, _6 }/ k% G& E2 G
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants! X; P/ C/ L& F0 t; z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 R5 |" m4 R! N9 e! M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& W) g% i. [+ v) S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% n. J% w0 Q/ n
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" N, s) p r* H2 I' Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 B, O( ?* ~+ g/ ^5 P2 t2 J4 v/ f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( t3 B Y' C/ Y2 l i Q$ q& _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ ?8 E* e% m" Z9 Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: ^# K8 U g: V1 D; hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% j$ t% b3 u3 c3 Fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) z. w9 B- r. r; R4 a# chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 B! S" r$ U; w* Nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 d) L; Y# e( t; s; g* Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high _1 M; B. C: f! n: |0 @! D
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ I# p+ X% M: U! _( s- T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, z3 k# H- r; T- Q; z" S. k
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 D U* e& m& R: t$ [7 rcharge the fee defined by the state., y. Y3 S6 q0 v2 B5 F6 X, ^5 `$ c
T h5 W2 O' J- q [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ i2 L# ?* X" I% H5 X* s. }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, [4 X9 v- a" G$ f0 A8 |/ f. U9 ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 `3 n' w( r4 v! @7 ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* Q& U+ m9 j& L* O: j6 `- |3 v5 useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& S5 X- e0 H9 \: v7 T7 z5 K( jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 l- t7 c4 ]# z7 {( ~/ L) y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 d5 P. b) `& {5 H. @- k
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: b6 m% @0 ~& u0 a+ O. w3 _5 l7 Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 J# D& |0 n. r4 c8 C3 C4 G B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" r+ y& b. ?7 D0 w' v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: o' Q1 C. b* I/ F- ^
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 v. w( n/ s/ |' K5 a. Q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ d* I D9 V( P; M% l/ G! tare spaces.8 L, u3 {% i, B$ T! Y5 p
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& d/ N- c5 W7 [- _& m; s% w! [to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! C' c1 [3 b6 K: V4 t
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 \- E6 [: [+ z' Z6 f2 ^- E! h4 v40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 O: a! v/ K* ^. w$ ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% x7 W2 j. _* m) ?best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( I; R. X+ |2 I3 o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' U( X7 p! l: f0 F* n( `car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% v7 b9 x$ Z, y+ v% H1 d. k4 J, `& qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., B* T# G. |( L5 [ Q$ A
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
