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" c6 B1 I6 R6 H- O7 M: a" ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 |7 g/ M6 e& \0 K: ~. t, Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% V! t' r$ v4 P2 X4 ?6 \6 \$ f
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! D3 b2 N& F" _1 c
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 w9 S3 @( l# t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 B% a5 b* }/ N& D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( F; {4 ?+ D7 X8 D4 Dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! Q% W1 ^1 k7 M3 i. a1 v6 L. ~to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 R/ U' ^4 {0 @( ~' Z" m
medical schools.& J e4 Y- d+ q( S1 ~( D; m9 z/ [
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ [( r" j: E( @% i" D, ^1 M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, z, I) i4 N a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 R1 S* b- i) |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 u6 ]& b. _; q$ ]0 {, V
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; t0 m3 K4 h1 M2 _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
4 i W" }/ D$ Aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& U* W- S/ I, A& w2 _+ D) B( i
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 b8 E5 L( K4 Q" i# w' g# vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' J* I9 M; S. Y& L! xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# V4 v0 y$ e/ T. z9 e; w
) f3 I* r) m2 r. k9 UThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
# \. T8 n: w. w$ `; j3 {. eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' ?# \# {, y9 ]$ t" v& j% q0 [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 @$ e0 v+ g, O2 c- T0 a, T; khave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
1 M2 W' C, v& W" R9 Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, t' ?* W$ C4 O& T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: Q( ^" |' z3 G2 Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* p$ `2 b5 Y' i$ V( Q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 C$ d6 I' _0 }. m6 A: ~, Ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% o7 R8 [$ H3 G# W6 {
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 P/ ~* u0 n, T6 X) o
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 i( R% o" C9 b; z1 n3 w
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
2 f) [8 [$ W: itruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
) f/ p% Q o; k, g( g. Z0 Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; Q% p' N: `3 q" ?( C6 ?working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 s* |$ z7 @, k+ Y1 F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* O. \- v3 f3 e
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 v; |! I- Z' S& H
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* D' C* y4 J9 j/ t: X( Vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 l- Q9 o* R$ {
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, ]. m& J* x+ q* c! c" ^to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( ?4 Y$ N0 {2 p' K0 Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. ~: o2 b3 T' D% I9 q! t8 k3 x
are spaces.
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0 m9 | Q1 r1 i: p3 bThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) w: r9 Y$ z+ @# l6 Wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" C" Y8 D! a: e: \% y- `; Q* Qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ y1 w- F1 G9 N7 c+ L
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 t. R) G8 S8 G2 oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# I, N( U- ~8 D+ O& S( M, z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
7 `- b8 ?/ h2 Cnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ E4 b" r1 U n% acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 J) Q+ D E3 ^* [' N) A% u; }is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! N6 n. |7 n( z- h9 j1 e9 b We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
