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
4 F# q2 r, I$ vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 ?* |; D& [6 [ E/ U9 Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* @9 f; N3 y; z+ {
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* i& D$ i0 }, s0 H
answers to our pointed questions.
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?; D; u/ }9 q. d0 p+ {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: ]. j* n3 \5 R' A0 n4 [. b9 L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, _2 x. r4 y" _4 p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& e; H! ^" E- G% r5 s3 x) \
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ r+ q7 S3 r' v0 zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 D# T: y, Y% P5 ^3 V9 I
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the' Z# F; l; E: j% ^0 G
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
5 [- M. b/ |) N" C. u8 T7 w$ Gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years r, u) j, H7 j9 c7 x( J0 i3 U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
M$ U1 m% f. G2 Nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% L/ u. R: H" N6 q; @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! E: l+ I6 C& m _
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% n5 q4 F- z' L$ kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% V6 x! e( w0 N, Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 e9 C8 d/ { R+ x- k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# Y% R# j; D. e- Z9 O3 f6 H% y
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 p" s, S5 _- ], [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- F) [3 y- B( M# ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* _: x: C7 l# c8 C# H; R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" L$ U8 i* A; P5 j5 t4 s# v& i
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 v \1 E6 f$ v9 ]' b( a2 ~. w0 l$ y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' O$ _, Y+ S7 g0 F P5 m8 j8 I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ }- N0 |# M( }# }$ k
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 K3 I/ Q3 V5 y7 v9 La lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
: [: j- J7 e9 I& q/ }charge the fee defined by the state.7 j, G5 j3 _9 I4 K% i
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* E) q6 I+ v# T9 I/ o: @on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) g* G. y; d7 z) wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; h0 |/ L6 r! K! f. x8 a: jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
8 v1 i! F n! p$ E6 Aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 X$ f1 U( N& b; _2 b4 @
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. g2 q5 W# Y% X# n1 _4 u G" cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( s& p, s5 {" a- w8 F/ A( g7 q( g9 zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# C. [' Z' B+ \3 k6 E4 Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, K0 c S# z% X( a' }) a: \5 s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" X( h# i6 D' R6 q& O) r
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. Z# {3 m5 ^ ]% l: r- @* X0 A/ X+ v
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 Z+ D0 F' E+ k9 a# S4 b' G" @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! \' f" U/ b( e. d
are spaces.) I0 r& x- g% d+ F
3 q; q3 l6 o1 z4 Z+ Q, O* Z1 _There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. P4 u& q6 a1 m# T6 r8 Cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 j3 G% h& H) X- @4 \* `
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. G& k/ C- d4 w) `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, {1 f' A2 ^% eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 W. I- g. A; V. k0 H# V l( T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 S' c6 C' n! J+ q" \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 \5 _* x% ?' N, I* x+ J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 ]1 { w. l0 Z. |* M. mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 ~( L9 z- U- B: B: J& f. k6 ~ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
