我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 m2 P8 {6 h9 z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- [9 z/ R! C" c6 g5 _& w' a2 |5 l
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 }$ M4 B2 ]5 m: u6 b3 C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; O% q& |5 [" y
answers to our pointed questions.
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2 c1 r5 S3 c! r% B9 B- u; @' wThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. b7 M% H# S: a0 P9 F" m( l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 n- ? x0 q V# v9 Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
- K& U9 x/ [: {3 n2 ]- e: F9 s/ Gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 N1 J3 x/ j0 H. p( kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. h9 A) G4 |8 x, Imedical schools.
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$ L" S( q& [2 R/ i! Z$ UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ }1 H/ v% R0 z5 @& q% p* h D! l6 c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& [/ F) j8 z* _' l' K* {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: L1 R* Y7 [& X8 g& |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# g0 G& Y$ Y# [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# s0 u+ I: S# v1 D6 X6 B. C- mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" v+ i d# O5 f, F+ M6 S- H6 Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 \3 d! n8 B7 R8 y3 Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk4 q8 M B! R+ C" u5 c3 ^
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
9 F" {! R6 p2 N; D& P" P9 X0 S1 ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 v9 ~& |3 Y; {" O3 @
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and v) [$ r- c' z1 E2 Z$ b/ U
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 j/ m+ P/ n7 d; b
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
, a( H [ `+ |, h& O3 N0 a! othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ y/ A! R. u. F. c/ o& S7 F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high t. U0 b* K# y- u3 |
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# R K1 e% H: }" Y' z/ E# MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 x3 _" x1 Q3 C: \, r7 y' m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. l" w. J _8 y5 A6 ^! j4 M
charge the fee defined by the state." i+ S+ ]0 h" Z, W
G( j+ |9 l! I( c3 g: G/ ^There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: d* S( e( n7 qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: D$ k- j; U1 Y! A3 S; |" ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- ^* e( j$ j2 Q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 R: s. D/ \' V p. Bseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, d" N' D( Z& F5 Y. c
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! ]( q/ {) d& W8 P, G2 J0 ?, Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ h- N, M# `+ v7 w8 g
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people o, Y) P: x2 ^+ s, {8 [
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) a1 q' f' F2 W3 ~
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. S# R& v5 j1 o( c! Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 _7 P9 @1 T; g0 Y! m
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or H, e- F' C, n5 u1 p
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ Z% p% b" t0 B* W6 r* f& uare spaces.
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$ B% ^. t( a. a+ B4 ?9 q9 {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ H% Q1 f/ I l, a3 Fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 n* V, h6 }% {4 u1 z+ P, {
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
5 W7 M) a1 l, l: c$ T+ ?0 c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
! _* r0 C" s% I% vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 o( @( C( n: ^) P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: y! @2 ~8 z- T5 ^8 @/ [nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 _5 Y; ^7 ` ^
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ [! W L" N6 u# }$ m9 L1 S; I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! x0 {. I; Y( x& p- `4 ` We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
