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
8 h1 I9 B6 y8 @) P' g& _4 mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 X% `! s, L* z: M; j
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# E* f$ n. O& B2 i* g `$ s"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 O; I: L7 h3 ]5 A/ |answers to our pointed questions.. o# ]6 N7 C- @7 Y( O1 {9 |
% L# u+ E T& v! c! m& tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% A; g. m' u& ]/ ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 H( L1 F" U E7 Mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 k8 R; F, M. Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) F) p( W$ K. t% k; N& H" }$ e/ U
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, L0 ^! J/ u4 M4 X7 t
medical schools./ t8 k- b! B4 e- x
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the O1 s% ~4 l. e" V
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& U& E8 T: W1 a5 o1 H y7 S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' B# p$ u8 q& ^& ~0 @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& o) L/ J+ y0 e
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 f% ?: y0 u( ]# L' _2 Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 r& h8 h* b7 K, S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! L% I3 a* D! E k2 P7 G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
$ }9 I* o9 |% e6 M* V' B5 Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
n# e, P2 T5 H0 P0 @/ L$ j- asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! y* M- I2 W9 T8 [, T
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) |$ _1 ~+ D; P. N% f" z& z0 z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) H; ?, z5 q P2 w9 H' p# t) L; |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
5 t2 F, G$ y! u' d& m/ K" T8 ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ K: N" { X' v2 Usitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ u; S# ^3 P4 W0 v- I, k0 M9 I7 Ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) `! K! M% g# f7 M* hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 y9 D0 A+ x; _9 ~0 {. e; ~( r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! z. Y2 J! f9 D3 ?charge the fee defined by the state.; b7 h6 I+ A' i4 c0 O% Z
! S' n7 n; P \9 _There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 r$ ?+ R& n) ~& p5 m
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 p: Y& s' j2 {/ o6 e. Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% E7 R+ n" p2 z' |- E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% Z4 V, J, W/ v {1 A) I* p7 e
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" s" V2 Z+ D: ]+ U% z: ^5 _6 p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- M- Z" }* S) N5 F4 Aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 H' K" g% \! j; ?) V$ b5 K3 L
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. y$ }7 Q# w7 a) k$ z: r
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ G0 Z8 E$ Y. h* K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 A5 N! |! X. v. o$ c+ t) R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- h; ]1 C1 e- M7 ~& xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* }8 C/ B6 Y9 ]6 |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 g% Y: S) F" E1 H0 u
are spaces.) `; h+ P7 p7 F, m
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 c# W( w K8 Q* a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
: D9 g7 U- O: f4 g& town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 h& Z( e$ x6 d& a7 {40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 |( p$ E9 T9 y; v2 ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 _ a: |% X5 u& X7 F
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
E9 p; i+ A9 E2 C8 G( x; nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ A1 N, U0 P+ S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# ^6 p; _- A0 `: i4 D M3 n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ E9 _4 f0 _- j; u
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
