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 u! o4 i. S3 i0 l: i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
, ]# X! X* [* L) l0 j' aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! h, Y' w& H7 p" c( G$ L
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& J( ?; I5 K. X( P, B6 @$ B2 x
answers to our pointed questions.
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# t- `8 A+ o/ o& o; [8 G2 [% KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 n0 O" @& [. T: r1 G0 i* m4 }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( Q+ _9 Y+ M8 l
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% I& T4 y* [1 h( V" Z6 u
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- F: q8 W) ^7 X- k0 |2 d' Qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" q- R( v1 M; p1 ^- ?. h6 C6 i2 Z
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. t. E% R1 G- q' i' S& jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; C) n2 Z0 c2 s0 V/ q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' h- p2 G8 d/ d- f2 yassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 Z) U0 K% y6 h! Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; g0 v, N }9 v9 A" b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 ]7 T b2 P8 L& L$ s" q- @7 G D
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! O; Z+ a" y6 E7 u3 A5 W) {; lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 y" v0 N" W& s
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 Y. D) C+ k7 r4 fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ C% V- R$ }1 f5 i, q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% v- U$ K" z9 f3 r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: d) v$ H0 j$ ?8 p5 p. m4 X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
* }3 H& ?. v; Z1 Vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- P0 G" N- [3 L, @7 ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ g$ ~% H+ V; }7 r
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 C. F0 s, x- x' p+ m& p+ F; B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& C$ R7 H" d& [( T2 q, Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ A3 ^' J" P4 A, T3 [charge the fee defined by the state., I4 U' |( A! D! |. ~
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 p' U/ i" b4 y1 `on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# B* h$ n* i" n" z3 z3 Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 e3 T: `3 P$ P* N" N2 S j1 l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
! F' X* k* ?8 f0 b( f2 N3 @, Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 P- l6 R# ?: r. w7 u( B; @
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 d5 ^$ [/ ^) e, J, Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# j7 _5 K( D; b: L+ _( M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
# d- X7 n1 a! ]& Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ ^* f) t0 N( | r: k' d0 E/ shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! a; t: R. E! W7 I1 ]1 k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 h& }* Y2 M" k; V% `2 lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( n9 J w& `3 r# Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 m# k- E2 e$ i3 `- r6 l
are spaces./ C8 k! U. X: _* g
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: V. W7 y1 w6 G9 ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ?9 J, c. s; m8 |: K
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. F1 E3 B7 a" q% Y# }0 q5 U) ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 C! ]' G. ]' N6 G4 U! d9 V2 P" e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# c! u0 _% N! }) q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
# v, p0 T9 I1 T* P- [" Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( E& f W0 D0 `* U" u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 v0 p, c" m) c( N2 [6 D. `
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) y/ ]6 |. T& S% ^ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
