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
0 G$ r* i) s+ Y5 Pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went" M+ U* J# w H3 Z8 E) g/ Y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 h5 W7 ^) \- x$ O; |" g1 c1 W; z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 ~6 ~, R& h3 G% _9 C( F wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 ]& e, P. @4 y a2 d. Z+ {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 `0 H, G V/ x2 Z8 V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% p, g" L5 `' _0 ?8 l- U: |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 s- V9 K' x4 y- k/ w! c1 ]1 [
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. R- R* \0 o: T- u/ S) F2 g
medical schools.+ Q' I( N& l! X
1 W+ w, v! W; fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# D6 A% A( c |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 ~1 S, P0 l9 d- h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( }& w. N* ?- |6 B3 v8 Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! d% z" z6 }, R
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 M7 @; p3 J8 j( B+ c5 H: Zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 B6 u ~" z2 i3 n& A3 O, B6 dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 X; k0 v4 E: [7 C5 E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! W* B* i4 R' v* f1 j# E4 s/ E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 n0 d) o" J- f# n L) ], T j/ Ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. h) A5 E. a7 W( jThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( w6 r: Z6 d- R3 {$ @) U9 {$ J7 A q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 e- @, o( N$ n- m' `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ _! ]! C1 H$ r7 V/ G! f
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# t; \7 Y, T, D. c' @- T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ E+ h2 i1 m. h5 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 f1 q- \6 D% @% u
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# @% D$ _ x- R( dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- C. A* t" j6 ?- N8 U4 l5 _# v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! s) \. T: e3 A7 w6 i% u8 u( e
charge the fee defined by the state.) {1 G* n% }; u# k
* ]1 G6 x5 y' [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& `3 t: [7 Y, T1 _: Q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 y, s9 x F, s3 r$ {# k( Fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
* g# X0 a1 @; C4 p3 i+ vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 H Y" O9 F9 g8 S4 Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
0 i6 L! e+ q* yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
7 ?: j( w1 }/ x7 Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! J7 |+ [9 x/ b' |: B# \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
9 u8 H. j% F: x3 I) B2 ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ Z! d2 [' u- j; {
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 E( p b2 w# P6 Dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" l3 } q3 W# {- p: _
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 }5 e c+ c, k2 J# F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 T0 K$ }% G8 W4 ^$ e" z
are spaces.6 J( |4 E, w5 K
' O# i+ f8 u& U8 @) ]1 [! p1 dThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 r5 p- x! i) l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 T* r2 J0 |. B
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ O( L% c* D! ?( H. K: V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, H3 F- k/ O! t5 yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the |* {: s: @5 }7 B6 K5 S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 `* E a: |' l5 w8 m7 jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 E& q; Z, e4 P% E2 }- gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 a! G. W9 y% L) n" u# ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ D/ O# ]2 N5 A7 \$ A) @% y9 o
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
