我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 u, u5 e8 k, z& f7 Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
/ ~2 M8 A* O6 ^, S! |on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* i N- [+ _; h$ l/ ]6 P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 [0 @6 [# i+ u) Lanswers to our pointed questions.
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" D% n1 J, w0 o6 dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% m5 X% ^1 P) ]1 @
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
& U1 Z2 g! |; oout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 D2 q: [3 X1 T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 f9 Q6 G# b5 Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; U' }- T# ^3 [+ l2 [$ Y
medical schools.5 g L4 v+ O0 C. U) p
& K4 q+ b9 j( V: x" k) z! r/ TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ C1 ~% K, D7 V' z& o
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 D# F$ n" G4 x& |
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 _- d p( f5 P; T9 c
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: k: ]) c4 M0 w
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( a0 ^/ [/ H1 e8 b$ M' }8 {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
6 M; M" z& Y9 b+ |# s3 Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and C: r7 O9 e% y$ T* S" i9 C
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
, p) n/ z! P [# A; i! J9 J$ _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some- y. J% m2 Q8 g C# q8 N* F3 X4 B d9 V) E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: r! A4 s6 D* q/ Z" gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 }+ t, J9 Y; _; d/ ], a- ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ Q/ M2 b! H5 y ahave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ B, w9 D0 H4 L/ Z3 {% K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
# Z2 m9 ^+ [2 J0 \2 \( D% Xsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( J2 T% A% S( |* H* c6 `! U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 s4 n! _) ]! _Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ I. R! B# W( l# B: T/ f. R9 ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- O4 B. {2 K- i
charge the fee defined by the state.; M3 r$ P l6 i3 c- _1 H
! `! W! Y1 N$ S9 d9 EThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* Y" v+ r4 `# j- ]) P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ H( R4 o* ?2 zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ ^3 f; d" F* J2 e# {% H6 Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 d: s( p( ]7 |5 o. `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. V1 A5 I6 j3 J1 A7 u/ K5 Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ s/ _# A! H* O% S; `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
' r) R" _, Z7 y1 n" Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 o6 L& S" a! j. }& }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ v! Q8 t- I6 o% S; m3 P: l
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; G, F1 }9 D, N2 opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! [, `( u3 }2 z6 zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 Y; g/ ~: k4 |7 m) c: D) q1 gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 o$ z! A+ J- W6 C" v
are spaces.& k$ f0 T1 W+ J+ w
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* H, B' S) y& j5 j5 f
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 G) n8 k9 e( F# z2 Uown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 y/ q" m* l" R40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* h- u$ {- ]7 y6 H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& o. Y9 _+ C# M- ~
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( l; n# L: ^" Q- i5 e
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. [* T: G( b }) \% p, vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 O; s, H& s8 R9 O) P: }6 I" L7 m
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- k9 }, A3 W3 r/ i' @3 d8 q- k
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
