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( M7 j: d3 \1 D8 J3 G! h* [
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
* l5 Z, c5 g! @! g, h* ion a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* V) F' l: V6 F7 w9 d. H* Y/ N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' ^- G; T( S8 C+ r3 c! fanswers to our pointed questions.! _/ u: ]" F8 L8 J" A
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
9 J! C' }6 q. u+ \ q$ {45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. h" l' c. ~ V) @$ c( Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( \5 y) L& r; }; [0 z
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
|' H" A: {. O8 ~" ^* kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 U8 G0 K* s: S+ t" {0 V+ S, z8 y/ gmedical schools.( T4 k2 W2 Q: }- ^) G
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 I/ }0 W" ?' W5 F+ f" Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% v, Y9 e0 \$ A# w. i8 {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% r) b: G% B7 l# a( vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
' c4 S; Q8 b8 |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 Z: r0 h2 S/ @3 S) ]1 t4 P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 w4 D/ X1 Y7 V% nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% c% M+ G& A9 F2 B7 C# r; @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 P# [# w6 X$ F+ Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 ?9 G- _, U; d: ~/ x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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9 O$ {1 Z5 e3 u! d- Y8 _) X: y& w- w" {1 oThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 E, i' G$ O) p/ B+ Y: z2 t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 w, l! R6 M3 H5 I% N
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 r" b0 R' \- i& p3 ]) X* Jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ u' M k0 Q1 ]: g) M! Sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 X" r8 {$ X7 Q, K* T4 X( Q& P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. _7 ]" r* [+ h0 k
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." l4 _2 l, Q' i6 R1 b1 T# v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. O# b. n- U# G- V! ]5 W6 ~, ^
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ \& c9 }% i$ h; Y- mcharge the fee defined by the state.7 L9 c, l: z& w3 z% T5 N
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 D$ u( `- c3 u: L/ f$ ^+ jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; q) g7 e3 p7 Z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; e; l7 P0 `# ntruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; x5 z# q" n; X- x
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- f. @' n( b& ~
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 N( C; f' h! V# n, U# h; I; ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
: [1 O+ U* E$ b8 H) [+ O: n( ]4 @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
+ u: k) o1 E8 }: ktrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ F0 y: ?/ Z! dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- Q" h, L* X- _/ V
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; T0 A/ d8 p4 `. t) e+ C, {0 ], O
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 B- ^% x4 L5 Vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 m# B3 ^" l% T
are spaces.
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3 d4 j' A7 U. ^/ t& r$ [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- c9 d# g- C' t( F; n6 V9 [
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: Z2 R! B: e+ w, b7 L: a( ?/ o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 N% i& b0 R! V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 V! r4 \ j8 w4 D# N a" Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 L; s6 ]$ B6 U0 T- O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 F2 i! i5 K7 _2 I/ `' Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
z; T+ F; \1 o$ B( i4 Vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 `, k! J2 x1 Z2 \$ h2 F# X& qis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
6 R% w9 Y0 `* N7 L2 A We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
