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 u0 e8 ~0 C& J* E. o/ c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* G9 L" u* T4 q' Q" R) Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 Q/ H" @* k; \; u* Y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 a/ ]2 M, V" Y8 \/ ]4 a; }7 X
answers to our pointed questions.
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; h+ a# Y- H. ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 j# h- d; ^( P) U% S: i' \
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ a/ ^4 U1 H0 Q% Z' q7 p3 H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! Z. R. A2 c8 o1 N5 V% `' G" e
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. e( }3 ~1 F# _; mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 N L' `2 R" z$ @8 D$ N5 {
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; v, D- e& n" t
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 d* Y2 |# X4 j3 Y6 z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 [/ W" b' |/ R# o p1 _+ Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! t% ?: Q" W" J6 Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' h7 u- }+ X! u/ g! aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ F& x7 i) n/ M! O- ]; `, X9 iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 E& s E" W9 D: v9 q+ T* Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 w2 a' ]4 a7 [1 l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% f2 D% @1 s, F- G$ y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 r" s/ O' P9 K6 u7 W* V# J5 z
5 Q! n6 @& r3 p' m- H' O, VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ S4 j* H, m( `+ K/ x
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ \: C/ E" e6 d3 Q! h
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- b5 d5 a4 `5 x4 }' |' l# E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 z% U6 @5 N: @$ Q; L% _- c
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. C9 W3 P# z/ w% Y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: f4 l& t+ n: H+ F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' H' L. M2 s' _
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ W1 ?/ {1 g( H; _4 Qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, @+ |% v$ x* |* {' k1 vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" s* Q4 e+ d4 E! G: u) l
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 @( r5 L3 G9 r, L2 T' Y6 wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 v6 P6 v2 O! {" S/ dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; H8 s4 g3 n% m* T% W: k- L+ t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 Q* v+ ?, @* h5 n: [1 vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 m+ d H ^2 O- u+ p5 i& f3 l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- m0 T% ?* t* k! Ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
- V, B4 X- ^' N5 i- P. K$ o5 v. e6 Gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 x- M: n" e! m6 i7 {1 Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* J/ e4 m ]6 y" ] m8 h$ U$ Q, Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! B7 {# |! O- m3 `
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* r7 v8 R/ P3 c: l1 v5 V
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% I- o3 V; W$ ]8 ?5 F) Eare spaces.- |2 s7 W. C+ ^( D" e7 Q: [
/ }' e( F3 g: N. F. aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& \" C5 E, |- C! Y7 J, p( x1 uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ D$ @: g) ^* R* v" h0 M* Fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ A: R2 M) S2 p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 i/ I; ?3 O( J) J" W# k% ^parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: w a1 r, e" B1 P& G) @; i, w
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
- g5 w6 _8 e, k9 @: R- X4 p* Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' T6 S( {/ ^# v3 c9 Z7 K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
4 U2 e( _1 q9 A1 Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
5 C8 B- G+ @5 ^ _; `1 | We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
