我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living5 V3 b& C# p& R, L8 C. n
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 H6 n6 m- @$ G4 }" g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% P) L+ l. ~1 e' O
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% y/ b& [" N$ Q0 T$ z& S, ]
answers to our pointed questions., h. K- m( E0 e+ H4 w
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ _. w, S E: B) E% _$ }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
2 E- G) O4 Z6 M9 b2 Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
, |* e5 B1 |, w9 Y, w+ m5 V0 {& Wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
; k5 y" q [$ c4 C+ h% kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
W7 Y# o+ h8 a9 o- bmedical schools.4 I# g! i# ~+ Z
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" F+ F2 o7 O( l, a6 `/ egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 b+ O( r4 ]1 i" ^5 X8 zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% R' {8 b$ N: G5 ?$ Oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! S1 o7 F7 J" X" {7 G7 `% ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# F7 n1 b+ S1 ]; I1 e9 Gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# [( |, o( P: z3 wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ \6 k t- f& E' @- {' p9 j
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 U2 H! U7 d9 z8 N6 zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 `1 [. `6 H( w0 j
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ h u m, {2 |
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ m5 b7 C+ w$ M4 ]" B( f* O
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* I3 H9 @8 e9 G2 \) `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" ?! C5 D7 I: y- y# s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
( t$ e% z4 z8 f2 tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: H$ @- l5 m$ I. [! x
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 q5 m3 {! _ T0 @4 w7 Gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' W# H+ @" n1 f. Q1 c
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
: ^, S' U0 Q) H1 w# Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 ]+ O/ q u, W- ?8 w( Gcharge the fee defined by the state.
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1 f+ u2 |- d+ b# {5 o/ QThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
P5 d @/ y$ J, z1 F7 r2 G( Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. {8 x4 G3 n, Y! kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
7 t# c1 G# V. `7 c( ~truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
: q; C0 L9 I* c0 H* ~seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. f* V4 Y7 E* [) _2 l+ d
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: `6 U! P$ g p
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# S6 C8 a" C) ]& h4 J4 Tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
, l+ f* D7 H; F. @4 j! i" ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) ~9 l! _3 a7 s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: S% b0 g) ^; s8 n1 V; l4 z9 @
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 j; @. h$ Z5 X. B0 Z4 d5 ]4 Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
6 g" o0 U& z- pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 N& S# J' o% t1 u! G. [
are spaces.1 C g) \; d$ i3 s- l
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ v `) x$ f2 F. j6 [9 lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& B! S9 E$ q- @! y' w
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; e7 P5 R1 L; g( }# o# v40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 W" [* a8 ~2 o' N2 Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% [5 d9 `3 T% [5 v. e" cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
4 b- T" k \+ Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) }: y. k1 E! X/ R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: E- }' X7 e5 d& ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
* B$ G% a" I! ]% m7 B! E We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
