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 E# }0 c4 f+ D4 o* p9 O. ^
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; b4 \0 o8 Y8 ^( con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' b- H( p$ X* }! N! x$ _# n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 n7 b9 ^/ H; i1 G, y
answers to our pointed questions.- s8 C$ L" f: ]
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 j: Y3 d# C& J; y+ ?* m- ~6 { p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ ]1 U! f5 b5 f' B& I
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 F3 h4 T8 C) T# b# l5 [! R& D' s- tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" v, F R K6 Z b" m) s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( @8 x/ S, n! ?! x& d( r; _medical schools.
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+ Q/ R1 ~: J' z2 H) @) XEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 r9 U! Z% p0 t* X' F/ V! K' O# r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 x6 D; Q3 X* B. i% [
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' b5 f" b6 T( I! C1 E+ P2 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! m% w A6 m9 p" ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! M/ J, j! I5 l d
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; `8 M8 s* i0 B- {) ?
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" `# t$ g f5 E$ X( B+ ~; g4 emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% p n! F3 e4 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( b# G _) ?. g) a. r* \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 ~1 _& X4 p/ |
' `" x, q0 s+ E. G/ [) o4 }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- w$ o" \ N \8 O5 S* e+ g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! r; U) A& |6 o/ |7 \
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# s/ D9 H0 b5 f
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 r6 }2 m7 Q7 e, X0 b! E) e `
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ Q$ Q5 \- Y- v2 v2 d8 r" d3 Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 R' X& y2 a' X( O% odivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ T! i, Y3 ?/ h
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 P# {0 k% D Q- J# C; e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; g* M9 \5 W% _2 \( }. k7 q
charge the fee defined by the state., ?: r% d8 M5 U& I6 E! |$ j g
3 p* D* P( r/ R2 X4 sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 G$ \& Y$ |% S3 r9 Z' ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; E/ q* ]. R2 t: e. d) l3 a3 |3 o
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& \, w% J9 C! o- t C. V4 ]
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
$ M, q1 C( m! m) ^) O: p2 p7 M6 D% Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; H, g0 x. y6 ~) vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- T4 O6 I0 _2 Z* `) T h# Y2 Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
/ [$ ]$ o$ d x6 s Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. n4 U$ O) u2 {1 @: [2 L" \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- S, x/ e2 ~% W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 F. a8 K( \2 r: k8 ]; a% Z$ n
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 a) {; a* m& N$ O4 O& kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 Y) J& N6 _+ r; pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 x0 ]1 G) M: J, {9 U0 x4 Rare spaces.0 Q0 j {2 u2 z# R0 t
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* e* w: A, x# X) _" r( v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( k5 w$ _1 Y2 A$ ~) b
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
- ]6 y D, E0 G+ w) |5 I9 b1 ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) ?$ m1 }$ \! R9 _, Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( i# H4 E6 q7 o& d+ W3 M
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! s" ~, b' H3 |3 }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' e$ Q; @' P5 E# pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! x3 Y8 K) P2 g! v0 w0 I) c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 w9 B& }9 Y7 ^ m
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
