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
! b& _5 y* P3 S1 @6 Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
' f2 s2 U9 a, ^" C& son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) n e N7 P: n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' }2 K7 {& D, q! \2 K" Banswers to our pointed questions.. ^$ K& C, {/ b+ ]7 u1 b
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; v1 h0 w5 O7 w9 V U( G
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# j3 i- \5 [6 c" i3 X+ J2 j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 T6 n7 t% _& n4 O4 l" S3 f
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
1 K% v, X" D3 l3 \. Y( d* mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# |- @0 i+ O) P7 a9 _
medical schools.
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; I; t9 L- H, M% x, kEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 o# {7 P7 G/ M3 y% I9 kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. _6 z$ k: c, S5 e+ j1 w0 H/ Cto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ P8 J' u8 Y' n( b) ]4 T) _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ q( ? P- O& ]% c8 a1 O) _
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ q) b" _; p' n1 h5 z& M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
2 m5 z. n: c* O6 d6 s. @! rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ |1 t: l; g6 E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ O% b2 _0 F% f# I$ N3 B% v( tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 X% s3 |3 y" F$ J# U, |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* ~' ] a1 f- U9 Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* o, x$ ?2 C- Q% f
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ P8 F+ `& B' o$ N0 n/ Q: S- d: S
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) ~# Q, d0 V, p- }. rthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. o. u7 _6 o8 M! h/ c% n) g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 r* s* t6 d9 \) [4 P' k
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% m3 Y# @. ?. ?3 I0 g! Y0 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* ^; w$ ~/ Y% R$ G2 |! P8 s/ A4 P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 E. K6 N- U# V2 i& E6 f# t
charge the fee defined by the state.; A2 s! I& s. K4 s/ N2 k
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ A+ Q, n L+ H; j5 ?8 u4 i( Non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 m' M' p2 _8 L4 Q, H" O9 K' G5 g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. O: z0 h K0 R) f @# y/ I' r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& a/ ~6 _1 Y7 O1 oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ `, L8 F; E; M& @6 iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ i5 G. x% Q1 T$ J( r6 x2 {2 Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 M' _; Z- d4 t6 s5 ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
! `+ ?" O [1 |$ n4 ^0 Vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ [7 R3 [3 t# f- jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# M7 Y, @; i. f6 n9 N2 ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 R: b( n6 z, e0 w; @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) i: U( y# H1 ]9 }- k$ D$ Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
8 N" Z+ E, w. H" D& L" N+ g8 lare spaces.) e% d% R# l5 ?$ H
6 v' p; @. r' y2 k) v" LThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 o7 e& q: M$ w6 P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they9 g* c# {( M6 a
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 h ?! n9 p1 `' h( B$ O* @ C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different m- W. f( a/ q( n* `
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ _' Q( M5 x; Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 G- C* s. F6 I% }! e" x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! ]1 M3 i# ?8 I- X- X8 j% S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 p8 _! X4 L! ?. R* w& b0 K: S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. d. L- A E9 P, D, K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
