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! r, Q4 r3 Y" q3 ]' j" v. C
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: q W% }0 [0 l8 c( B* Non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 y3 F9 G& M% ?' j1 k2 N& u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# c8 c1 i4 p9 {! I9 _! B/ R& panswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 e. u2 P3 D0 P, Q9 @# g45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 f/ b, ^+ d% A; `9 nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 e% ~" }' E7 g5 Z7 [# Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
* @: h- x0 b& R1 Y2 z/ G8 P9 kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* p6 o7 X0 |, Z! b4 g( w f
medical schools.
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5 }' U8 h- k& tEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* A% m3 n9 \6 D0 E
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* J* {% G. j7 b1 e: B
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: O d+ `' E5 vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% h* A7 _+ ]" b+ F5 {" d. a
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, T6 z& E9 O* M( W' B1 \# e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 P/ q- V' ~7 ~' F+ K( u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, _+ x7 q0 F1 w0 W7 b" ^$ T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 L' _/ i. F: I6 M# b2 L) gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 |; G/ ~1 B+ u9 y3 osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 E8 w! w; p6 j8 A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. o9 }2 x- N# H. [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 }0 x8 j6 @+ k U1 U3 Lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. C5 H- s' w9 B& c" i. o# n
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
/ m! Z" U3 P% ^# t/ |sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* G+ p6 b. p$ ^2 _divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 p2 s+ M# {) o) ~0 u" F! ~- L
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
4 ?# t3 f, Y4 t, Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" p0 @ ~" N) L5 g2 c/ D
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 ?9 o T3 p( |1 Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( T0 T/ b6 Z5 s& A2 m% o/ x0 D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( c5 K' v' `. y5 R; X }
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ |) Z9 A9 V( ~; Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 J/ i4 ` j, [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 M$ Y0 Z. c$ ~8 r5 w: `( a- [" Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- D, f$ W& v C, I6 r& u z9 eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% r0 x! P4 y# c8 ]( Q* X* p/ V, `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. l* E2 k6 \8 ^; e" vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- ?$ } B- R6 F& p6 X4 {: E N3 j& }) s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" _3 T) B' [& H% x2 j( K7 Y
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
8 l t- o2 N* v& Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& i+ Q/ _" M6 S7 mare spaces.# [ ^8 b5 V i8 z
( ], U$ t" t. S& F6 f: J, I5 TThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi% T7 e/ b! m' R0 e+ Q: C
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' U6 }4 W) M$ p7 \. T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! @- Z* b- u0 [, k5 b& |
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" `; \3 f K5 C6 |1 v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
" u9 _1 Y. E' e" kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" |+ P8 l) r. }+ bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 p1 w( n- F$ @2 a" icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) \+ F. u" k, ~# _$ D
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- Z D1 \5 n) l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
