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, y4 G6 c3 ? Z' Q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went0 b7 ]; t# y5 b
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ K. Q0 P# p" ] c3 o0 w* k, m
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 p- ]7 m& f$ Q' X' ~" ranswers to our pointed questions.* L$ y4 |9 e0 I$ f1 g
" e) N! d) D% C( oThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: h$ f9 _! K( w5 P" B+ \, {. i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. ~, |9 d# G' G- j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 K3 L M/ c a9 l& y2 K3 J2 kfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! n5 X P# \6 ?+ V' `1 Gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' m O# Z' v( y$ Q1 X, w7 amedical schools., T( `: m, o1 k
' |( u# \0 K" T E1 m, _Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* ?7 g B: m5 K/ H" Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) N6 m$ V7 B7 x: d% q& B( |! eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ q+ Y, y6 ~+ W4 _assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
: v. s+ p: w; C/ o, His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# K7 \$ p9 ~7 _over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There @4 m: x. X# r$ |( R5 I
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 v- }6 ^# Z1 Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 {7 Q, T; h& Ashortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( _. V. X* X0 F* P i, l g: i; wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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2 `: w- u4 R2 o, o$ OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# E2 B4 Y3 d3 b7 Q7 L8 j/ K+ X& c& U+ M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 O* P5 D4 k# }/ L7 i M: w
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 v" z, F: e( G; e) Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 A! i& _" t* I9 Y6 R. e7 L* ~
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! g c4 p A9 t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 l$ @' s2 N; g- M- ?& x+ l! |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ g7 n- K b9 D- N- | ~
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: w' _' I/ |3 n- P Y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 W, j5 t8 j+ A4 h$ I! h* b) W8 e
charge the fee defined by the state.
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9 T% ]' A8 A1 tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 F$ P' G; w6 U. @
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 Y% r1 y4 w% A M' V+ i
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- D; Z u- X) `; F1 J' d9 M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel5 i% x1 u, V( Y* H4 l3 a$ P" }
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- w7 I8 r; v! d1 d# Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! `4 u/ B$ m O
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) t/ ~% t% o3 e- x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 B% R/ u3 S" l& o! i. _* ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 j. w( e/ L' y) Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
$ D; n, J) {" z2 Gpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% _9 p/ _9 w7 D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 S8 x( |4 l; i0 o tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: V5 s! f0 w, L1 n6 h! iare spaces.
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/ C9 k5 L" X; SThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi. m) |- c% h% @9 O" ]2 R& B O
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. _5 l9 y. D) Q& D2 o; i' pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 e9 h: `) V5 d9 |4 l7 h0 u
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* \# R1 }+ d$ c7 B. @# L- |* j
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 p7 }, b1 |; }6 P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 S, R `" V/ u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( H( \$ I! M) t& V$ b5 R( j" \1 x
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* I4 g) \( @( ~) D8 v9 y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 A/ K$ L0 }) ~% N9 d4 K8 K
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
