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* e# E1 j: |( T- O O
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# c5 [- V+ {% v5 @: \# M& |( con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 A# y0 t A, I( B. I& Y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 B6 L0 O, ?. w$ v+ s! aanswers to our pointed questions.
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$ P/ v/ k ~- Y5 O( m1 K4 uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 O5 {: M9 b7 d9 ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" S; L3 K7 N6 t& N' Gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is b$ K2 M. G5 F" u. n2 C0 r
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams U0 }+ ?8 Z, y4 ]) I, U
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* c2 q5 @) D' {) X" F* r
medical schools.' E1 m/ t! C& o. B, D( a5 { k
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the: t0 a$ N9 ?/ C* b# S, J$ [; \4 v% r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& V3 J$ h- r J, R3 V6 J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 h |. J- d6 v: k' @8 e0 f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, ?5 b6 }/ X- }; j; Z) T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* Y: ?2 X n4 O' n8 s% nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' `6 C8 `2 X, N+ C* r" K& ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, H) B1 V; i: A/ n& {$ |- i! b9 q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( n- z' Z$ I) Jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. h' m- n$ l0 p1 c) e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 }' V2 u' s; |3 w# c3 ]private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 e; M6 i: J% Q X' W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- p" ^, ]( X2 F. d: |7 j9 Q2 ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: O% M2 j& K, U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 D& z/ K( J) p {1 O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
( o4 _. _4 P2 C. @$ e, e8 Fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 ~, W% P7 C# e J( A0 f
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
/ q% T a$ Q1 Ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ C4 a$ A( u% {3 i/ y- m) Qcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. _: d) f: w9 L
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) B! `: o: E' I% w( Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
I9 n2 i! ?! y g& Ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; b5 h5 v# j" J* g
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 z) f( o# P; Y2 c% l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! T7 T6 }2 i" b Q9 e% i5 q9 Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% o1 v% J2 r+ [4 I3 ~: [
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ R! ~0 t3 h/ C% S v$ O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% Q* M% j1 \9 l0 B2 J0 \$ r0 whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 A; a7 O. _% K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- u3 Y8 \6 F$ S: Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 D. w$ A+ u$ x' Cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ P$ o7 a2 x, k* _% uare spaces.
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1 a" f8 }8 a4 L. TThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 O3 c( a' D. h7 ~, L4 Z2 z
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 l5 [; \1 k1 \5 H: T0 G3 Cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" \% T1 D# A/ F: O$ h( Q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( E$ @" Q3 q7 f% h# Q( ?& g5 R& R9 T
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
( K4 N) a' s/ C1 i" ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( n% Q4 t) f3 I( t( p9 i R
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 {$ d8 G, h- F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 C/ n# X6 u/ M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 n! g4 ?4 y, V& h, p& V( R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
