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. t9 Z" n9 Y. ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, ]! d+ x2 e: mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: g; Z1 M; W0 I1 s# o; Q: b; \"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 |$ a1 H8 u+ K. z0 Danswers to our pointed questions.
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5 N4 \+ Z6 f+ }' k% AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 j6 L a L& c6 \+ y6 |, R, x
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
) E5 I* V1 X7 L5 H B0 P- zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
$ A( {3 \; w7 u- wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
1 V8 k+ O4 ` O" A) Tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
V8 ?2 \; z" A! y. Ymedical schools.+ a9 Q: t N3 B" k' o" U; z
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. _/ b0 c5 T" Z. ~8 ^' Tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 {8 U$ Q% R F, Z4 e, ?" k3 j4 y; L7 q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 P" d& U8 ?3 t, C0 K! g) p3 rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: X2 s, J# G* b/ S- i h2 C' @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 c V6 r' W, s, w, u; g5 pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ A5 U+ X! C! F
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& h3 I. d/ k& U8 Dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( L& @- a/ H: H% v) b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 c& n" M- f' ?) R. Ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 _3 F8 F2 }* l# c
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 ^* y3 I1 |8 T L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ g% t9 s O% @: J- N$ Z6 B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# `; a; c" Z! v# O
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, j% ?1 w0 L( V! w8 l; Qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" s3 R. T' u3 m* j- m- {# ?/ d, Gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) f" N9 f$ F9 O& j2 S3 {6 Y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." a8 x9 I! R1 `" t/ y0 R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
1 ?% Z. ?2 R2 z$ c8 F, R" Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: G$ ^; L' z' A5 }0 F7 W- o
charge the fee defined by the state.
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+ T- g$ S K/ a% n% n8 {There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ B. q u% w, ~, _4 ~7 Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 ~0 ?% J' [, `of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 f' u! E/ X6 S0 j. Wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. m, f4 n8 w! f5 q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 T2 y- p2 G" S; T$ p) n9 R7 |working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 d" h6 p: J% B8 p3 D0 H
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 j+ Z0 N ?. }( o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; {* C, ` ^& G) p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 n( u* @" H% Chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# g% b( L: c( r* _, [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ I9 d8 T. ?& ^6 z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 Q) t V! N' [" ?! U
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
@: w) k7 p( oare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 H/ d* f& g: P, p" k* k! t- kto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 `' p3 p( e5 y. b! r3 B% B6 T( }own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
2 G% u* b B( z/ J) S40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ g9 y7 l" t0 y" r0 e! E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 f h4 C6 c: L- q4 {( v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( z9 d, z) D# e, X1 c6 K. vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' h6 V' ?# {; D6 v3 I" bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
, B, D# h, A+ S* Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( z* D5 X+ ~ t, _& c
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
