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- o$ H* x' W8 I7 f4 P2 F d
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
6 C& \" j7 I" O6 p ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
P& |, |' t% A o, L! M7 Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 ^& i! y: V9 w% o# a( ~answers to our pointed questions.
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/ y1 V% H2 ~: V* F! Z" vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 Y$ X% ~4 D0 G% H3 l1 l4 I5 y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
9 I" A$ k2 h) c! |& m9 O) p0 Dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: \2 d" L9 }$ g: R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
4 d* Q: W$ o' P5 B7 t3 R* _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# d$ J" X1 H1 W/ x8 u
medical schools.& I: d; L H# H7 E
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 r& a# H1 Y: J2 T# H8 P" _
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 Q. B7 I+ T- }, Z8 ]# {2 b9 L
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ u( r8 @# r8 ?0 jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& \$ |3 K! n' r2 L* c1 w7 A2 r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! s* t& ]- M7 n
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
; n" I% w# R6 V8 h: M* y# Iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! {6 x0 K7 y S ?3 v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 ~0 [+ o ^/ d- jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' t$ o# M% G( P+ q0 bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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% r; I* K% D0 Y* H7 _5 pThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; m/ I% r1 j6 y# n8 o" H. I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ b2 x! F# Q7 ~* z' {2 T( m2 w. C- p; W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% Y6 E' G& g" ? U+ y2 b
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! t x6 I @# Z1 T* J8 E4 |- F9 hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( r6 q# e0 |4 r! ]- C! F& v
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ ?' ] l h! G& F0 O% V+ Z) y$ idivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- L# W/ a1 x( v; h& D! H5 d3 }Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 p0 S- s" f* X' z+ n$ n+ Z
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( R( z) m, t2 l, S
charge the fee defined by the state.# J$ ?- s& l1 G- r
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ r: H) |- z7 p$ i6 u1 Oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ B5 {5 D) W t! e! {% x
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 r; f7 ~* B. S. ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 p5 T% j$ y, k$ A+ {9 qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 K; E: `. X+ D. {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ b) r. f1 U: H' oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 i! d5 K1 B% M1 j$ ~# d5 U. jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! J/ _3 e3 V# d
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ t ]0 |% B: W0 G* O2 W# o ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 c& k/ M/ {6 lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 V1 C$ t% e( y, U% }( rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. b/ k$ A% `4 z, R) S s( ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# ~: ~1 G8 f7 A8 J2 U
are spaces.: [5 \- X; S! n, @7 x
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 r9 |* P0 F1 ]5 h1 E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ R$ O* p; B$ l0 y$ G2 town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
/ B+ [3 g( ^; I3 l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: @8 Q# l: U- F1 N( O
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' z6 j! h T c& r, d ~8 zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& c6 h1 y6 B" T& C
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' c" J) W$ h, t8 N5 x l# J% j! ~
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 z ~4 d/ }% o- J4 u* |; I7 Mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) |- c' |/ \# }- y
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
