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
! G; v" H7 F8 R7 nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 B) R. |3 r* G+ P; N
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' |/ A0 i' p4 {5 z; J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 B: Y% P7 a& T, M5 m1 r9 canswers to our pointed questions.
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' } A9 |6 m( q7 U1 KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 p# c, ^+ ^0 ]
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; i! S i7 r [' F1 j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' |. l5 N* z7 A+ {! b6 c
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- {5 s4 }' q- ]$ w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 D# d7 V* C! @, s, n% bmedical schools.5 r- v/ Y) N2 S0 B
, |) N( c; ^. M9 | bEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 e( k+ v6 c) @. c# }2 _
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 e% l! w+ h8 H: R6 Z$ |& k2 lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ u( o- G3 X/ kassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba \" E5 V6 d4 a. `) C! y+ A5 i
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 O5 t9 U! l6 g" _. `
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 ], x+ u/ {5 G+ n7 b
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ S) Z0 g* G2 m" D6 ?# K1 Rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" {- ~% Y* {' j) s9 v' Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- {# {" {" Z3 ]! o. E. }sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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# y/ z+ a4 K* o. M8 @+ i7 ~! cThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
8 l7 ?$ p4 s& c" bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
?1 N8 w3 t/ v9 ~1 @4 B" nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 q5 c! ~' b. i* ^4 l) q/ X& v
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
- j! F: \- U! E) \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
' U* u/ G& c8 Y# Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& k& J9 ]3 [* i; `- z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. i3 a" d; B, Y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' ~3 m5 M3 ~. N3 c. y7 Q' K3 Qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 W7 d' T3 P2 A; Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 _. `+ ~: t [" S
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& X+ j! H2 s1 ^$ O! Fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* E$ \. e. z0 @; b3 H% d, y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 \3 [ h2 U# l/ [: Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 x" x5 }2 o# ~" c9 X# B
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
2 l' w! z8 r0 i/ j1 U0 o( \8 I7 _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% I0 i& l3 Y P' byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& K% ?* A, N1 D: |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# I2 }! R. X4 Rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# H: c. }/ \9 o( X' gpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 q% V; ^( p; g& Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 K, t* Y0 }2 N4 O
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 d' E6 P: k! F7 s# q: ?5 y
are spaces.- |: m/ ]8 }7 ]
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ o, }* F: ?# {; o0 J/ cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; P" ], a. O$ x
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* U4 e3 T, Y: y" m' z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 z4 }( J$ d! G* m# M$ o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' i. p5 I; c* F: X7 @
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' x. n$ K" b0 j o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- {% y, m& |1 ~, K7 _* U V: mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% R. X: u+ b2 I) G/ y1 kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; g9 |; s2 z z
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
