我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 S6 N: F- ~; ?: ?9 M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- |* |7 Q3 i1 j7 B$ O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
, _, {- Q1 {7 Y' }, p* r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; |# S A6 a$ Q
answers to our pointed questions.8 K: a( \( h8 r" J) L
' I4 H2 i& h; u% PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; m% W- r6 ?0 y/ h- O0 l* s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' Z! T( ^ B: Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, K9 T2 q5 L7 G. S0 z1 V; u
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& E. I6 R- r' d: v' p3 E' z; I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ k# E2 d/ S8 Q" o5 v
medical schools.0 ]7 F* x0 j$ z' `: W
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ \ G9 b* ] A* Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* C' T' N; T$ z4 D9 [% pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
B6 O0 Y4 J+ z, F7 |, Yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 z F1 _! A5 m' \
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# a! z& F( u: u0 h3 T/ ~
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; H; t& e9 ~' O- t
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 S; ]- H& ~" Bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk x% F, f! S, z$ {& a1 z8 y7 x6 G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 P# p9 H* a$ w) H
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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* q; k; z: ?6 S m/ CThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ }4 H$ I/ n" |7 C8 y! pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 m( i) V( F; I8 \# W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ ^8 u4 O1 R2 @# h) Dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: A* H: c2 @4 U" U* S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 f0 b% z! ] [- c8 |* asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 M {7 M0 m% R( U" `7 J
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 v9 i% l- e' HDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 K$ _2 j! q) k: A# Ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( V7 B0 L& o- C; a5 r
charge the fee defined by the state.! R6 q8 _* W. K$ D
' [/ R' p, k5 R7 O9 l7 n9 PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 v8 k( c; s* _8 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( L2 P, \* o; Y9 w. f$ e
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
* v; R( i/ X2 u0 \! J% Q& wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% Z- z. y4 `4 R' _3 m: W3 dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" i, @ S$ x7 ?; [- E }, y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
& d2 v$ T8 D; x3 nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: `4 O) Q( C q( q. f9 i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 b, ^7 X2 O: itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: s3 Z: E9 [. u3 V& Bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 r+ S7 r/ ]: _6 Z& Ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* J/ u2 {- t X, X4 Oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& b6 A- m. t. \6 `+ xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: J5 u& L& C- \+ E x* \/ Xare spaces.% a* Y8 J3 ]) Q
: d" ~: T' M6 nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' v: g- W' ^/ n6 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 N; p* L E8 a1 [' ?own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
6 K. ?' {7 y% I2 U3 s40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 _0 d3 V( ~% G) s) P% x6 r
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
V* @7 k* y- f5 N/ zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, y4 y8 Q% ]8 w) b, P o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" i( m1 m; J4 v5 r
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it8 g6 U) o3 h: Q$ w+ `# R
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
1 n+ r! I/ `% e5 W We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
