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
1 j2 Z" i. s9 x! q: ]! _3 |0 p- w/ Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went q! [3 w& z% M" R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 b0 {) D1 F3 m7 @8 N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
: E" Q/ `- v# Z8 h: v- B5 ]& yanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- v$ u, }1 M: U2 }* c
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. q3 @3 A2 z* e2 i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* u- N5 @8 b' Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams E8 N* k d& }5 z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 P& [9 |& v( H% I5 e( T5 b
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. Q" f6 e: H. O
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% f5 ~5 @( n# [/ ~/ u, s2 Sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' h0 H7 _, q; v! k! e8 k6 Lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
% A0 W6 I$ w! j+ @: l3 n7 |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 G: [/ A" H1 J% X: f' V4 j5 |9 H
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 K0 w) k! V3 n, x( a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: l$ p! g! G9 S' }mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
# X! M$ x& |$ L- ^shortage which the government is addressing by converting some n$ h( J" L( ?7 H8 y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 v5 Y* K8 g7 T. S Y) l4 Q
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 `$ k) h$ d* lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 n! ~. c5 p1 v. k |) S
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ G/ L8 w. K( ]' x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
- M6 y( o. _. h0 G8 wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; p9 B. ]( m* u/ K
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
]& j1 H- V, l4 X" Z7 l. Kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 L# Q+ x: Z/ V$ \" I' S2 w: s; aDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 N# P' F- s* J+ c" la lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only C, t+ k! D% _
charge the fee defined by the state.5 o- ?. ]7 v" \( v
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 K. z5 K- U3 _% k( F; u0 G
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ A& l, y1 `. d B1 r& ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& _9 l. b9 P8 X! o- u Z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% n* O0 U- H, p$ W! }+ C, [) q4 A: gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ |( c" Z! [+ I! W) eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# y( B5 B! v* v! v/ yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 {# x( s6 J! X( {3 syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: o' `: O- y; }6 c/ X3 f
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( P2 V2 |$ A9 L8 u/ K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ e9 r! R- Y) G4 L" \7 n' C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 S& q( W9 F( ]2 J0 I8 z: O4 Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* u- G* ^# V# gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
. O4 \5 y- G; |: s" F8 }are spaces.8 v0 r" j" v' D* f* c2 z5 j
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
. N) X& u1 V) E m, g" ]( S+ |to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& b4 {, N" Y0 M4 Z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* [! ?8 f# M) o, p1 j& g6 I3 D
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 z2 l( f/ j4 Z% c' P3 }5 U0 I# Yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 e! K3 H- |9 {% G3 u
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
: J. S2 o v8 D( C5 W9 X* V$ [nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 n1 b$ e) n) \car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 \6 R- _, v2 ?9 F( z& kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! t1 {- _% ^; P e6 ?/ N- h8 ]' V We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
