我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 d* j" ^, t! ~
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; X7 \) ]& b0 g6 pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
- F; Z" X U: W8 b# O"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" h$ \. |) X* a% _
answers to our pointed questions.
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$ i5 I, K3 `- K/ _$ X cThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* f5 K9 }6 g3 f6 ?" ?1 Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; B! B2 ^8 P+ ]7 F" J
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' s: q" A- ] K+ b0 o7 c. [& m
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" a' W, J' L8 s. J+ n
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% i0 L7 \) d# b8 X
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 y$ s" j5 A1 x
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 j0 q6 s. p* J: x6 t5 F& yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' l6 ~$ j+ t; W7 B% g' n5 D' b
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ j/ _- g0 E$ J8 t8 a
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* D8 R/ e' b/ F3 r. o. A; X2 F
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; e. l- K3 q O# z; \; P' Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 Y4 A& K. }1 k* N3 H" O
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& |! K, i, s" ?& g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ l. k( y7 ~ asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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" H: i) e$ k* X8 b4 kThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 b" x; U- O M5 n$ nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) W1 w# v$ D! Z$ x
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) n: E# U: v. y0 t9 M9 F# s- R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 W8 A# }6 n( L, }0 f7 R* E& I
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# T3 J5 S! O4 B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) f ?0 [. q. ~
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
: K! L6 R3 B) g" c8 G3 qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; z1 c1 k# Q/ W! Q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 Z( Z# [4 S# B6 F3 Ocharge the fee defined by the state., S5 N% b& k' P- T
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
4 ?# N# E0 _4 e3 ~. ^/ ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 J7 |' ]1 c$ `3 [) y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% w C- |6 X5 g- z, m3 X' Q$ j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
- S% _# M' p3 f5 mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 d7 |: D1 }6 A- N. [
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ i: z. t6 A$ o5 P# I X1 N. G& hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' G+ {+ U, y- t& L
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ \* @5 Q# ~5 P7 t1 Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, I, E, F. }7 Y g" l
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 j; o/ S9 M4 u: g1 z- }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( [. u6 x; l, ~; P
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- K, s3 M8 W/ e$ J) T$ d) N! W4 S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ n: ]9 i* G( u! j- u) z
are spaces.
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" v+ U1 p9 \) }$ k# w" p1 ?! J- K2 BThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! i3 [5 {, T+ i: m$ Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 X) N! n( Y) R0 f' Z' m
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! d. x: M5 U& E! C. s/ T$ [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
V$ S) N8 r& Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! V' h3 f/ Y7 S" r, `best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) |6 [6 s% E w5 [: u3 b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# j5 p. Z8 j# j6 a, H9 r2 i: Icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
) H: x* r7 t4 H+ I* ?. ~9 [6 Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" U4 S7 H1 U4 e4 v n- A We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
