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/ d) ]% |) p9 |* F* e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 B I4 O" N2 Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
- O3 O* F+ f$ L/ h8 Q2 E"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 P. H) s! E9 Q/ kanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 x: c. y% S# S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ f5 w N7 F/ Y: z+ K# v4 P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is; _; W# C5 S/ w* W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 L+ _0 P& K3 N' v+ k2 O ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are R3 {- j, p% ?% ]
medical schools.
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8 o/ \ j% T8 D$ nEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) B; G+ C$ q8 }' }4 ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* q- K' A, E2 t7 F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
* K7 ` |9 F/ `# T- H2 `assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
7 B$ x# t+ F! Z* o. R; [3 O! v" Sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 T/ p/ k2 f( b* S9 nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( b6 z9 D3 k4 d8 l8 T) ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 p% e4 |8 {) N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 ^. j3 o+ @+ J1 o8 a0 ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( M8 {4 n$ P+ S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ T# H. S/ U: m4 b+ x
' C% `& k/ b6 l- k7 m; r6 E SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 ^' _" T/ `2 i I9 C% t+ K/ Q" t( K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ a" `8 y) `, F3 q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( X4 }4 O" y, m" \' Z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* J$ m/ c4 ^3 O0 B9 _4 b# Fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! W. c" K0 ]1 y' I5 J2 K
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- l: R4 q; I" M( X" Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* n8 }+ ~5 C9 `6 DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
* e1 Q7 s. I* e% c2 qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* K& n/ G& b/ _- l' [
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# i9 L& Q6 n6 t5 A8 z" ?3 ^. Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, `, ?6 K* b' a: E9 z: E
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big K% D0 \5 v: x! B4 |" Q2 c9 u2 E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ m# a: ~/ Q% r4 @2 `3 P
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! j! R3 |9 [$ n
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 {* s) }9 N) p% n' l8 q" L( O
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 y& V2 }" p9 o3 ? v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
5 `6 O; I$ N- n6 rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; U4 |9 w8 C+ [8 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- r u) L* ?; l0 S. K8 Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 [0 O& H; W1 Q: ?; @
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or _( g# |& M" M5 \% E, V5 g# w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 U o. C4 _ I: V9 c5 @* sare spaces.4 U H! \6 W- u$ R7 R
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ \1 Y u$ r- M6 A' sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! \7 X' @+ }* {6 w* m' Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* B9 J* d- e3 S40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( ? G2 a4 |" h" ?1 m. a" }. f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 t: Z; p4 K! \" j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
$ U# {+ g5 j) u$ k4 g* O4 \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! I* F7 P: e6 p7 N6 T6 o& Q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. T7 }+ {9 o& u. `6 Sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
* J0 ]. G3 e! G$ Z* q! o We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
