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. R! |; U) U* e; t" t2 p1 D+ U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 Y/ b1 i$ J( ^- ], k, t' ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) C1 M/ E9 U) H P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( L. _+ |* n' n3 ?% l6 l
answers to our pointed questions.
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@: R7 S% Q4 g: E1 X8 \- CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 ^2 P, x8 W) }7 i3 e# v& v* _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ _6 u( v, g) G, U7 L% V7 Q3 c' ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ G) s$ @. B6 e& J* l7 v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) B" z6 N, E7 D4 k' o- eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ Y: T6 L" Z# E7 S; _7 t4 Fmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 Y& b" y# L+ Q; H4 @8 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: j f% C' i6 a' `( p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: [" E* [* f4 `6 K: s# {& T! W: n
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 k! ^& Z7 J3 p2 tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" J4 B/ n# y( u3 w) v! j. m9 F3 Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 f- { O8 V. g, l) z: u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# b- z/ f T) _$ Xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) q5 }" n N% M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: r: m$ a- q0 Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( j% D& e7 D4 A t$ M' l7 O5 t
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- |& N }' D: h" tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% M& C8 i- U. y' dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' ^3 x" h, S" m- e' i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 H1 F; }, }! C8 N3 x" A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 ?( d0 p2 v+ {sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ C- e" p3 u. {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 E9 h' l4 L* u
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& @) C) i" N3 ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- Y$ h, |$ n6 B! r" W3 Tcharge the fee defined by the state.* H; B4 F% L# P# V. W5 V
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! Y5 d: j# Q. i$ [: x0 {
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ p; H* x2 L E' jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ S1 z$ i! U5 S @0 ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- ^, C. H7 B9 V- {5 K+ _' K, A, Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 S: C E0 }, T1 k& `0 ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, b, ]( f4 r+ W
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 {9 C& S6 y. i( ]& Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 I4 C0 X3 Y( ?* q7 N" d
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# ~# Y) o( t# O K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. O# R" `" e# ~people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% B+ `/ [* n! N( C7 i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, z9 P4 X: h0 p& b q) X
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 I9 k+ W2 x' V+ k8 care spaces.
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( ]! s) ~2 a' u9 WThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 \# Z# J; b# Yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) L( o; v. k) u0 J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& x8 _ R1 ^# E |5 Q& x$ ]! O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( i( u' V' e/ Y# [" A, Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 B: L3 X1 Q w; |3 P9 A5 Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 r" `, n! ^$ |' f1 c. X& g
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 y9 o2 V; W- x. L
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: C( h( m- b8 h i% `# h9 Q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 }" l! M9 b$ l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
