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
! k# a1 ]4 ]9 Estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
- b" V0 O4 c# H4 n# e! M Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ ~! I4 I: Q' N1 B! H"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. D4 |9 P# j: e8 hanswers to our pointed questions.! [; G, p/ M0 S; Y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ L2 C7 G0 J+ i! F45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 w3 ], h4 D1 {
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' O2 X1 h7 g0 z" l+ e6 x, f* sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 z- `2 z. C) d6 \1 }
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 b0 t9 B' ?$ U8 }
medical schools.) @5 r) `" c8 A3 M. _# h- N
) |- T. i) o2 H. h% ~3 N; A- SEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 k* h: u6 V& J! Z2 ]
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ j# ?/ Z! T$ ]* E. m9 uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) g8 H! b2 h8 _9 a
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 ~& c' b! ?; {3 P& y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- D) P- T% X6 `! E0 o
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. w( b1 [' m8 o. ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 a$ i2 D. z% e, ? {! u) smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* s& _( l3 y- N. X9 ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 T: e0 q4 V, f J( M9 ~2 ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# H% f! a% a# _$ b6 ]6 j
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 l* S) o; l7 T8 D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' S$ S( `/ \& P: H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ K2 Z% Y- m3 w9 v2 _7 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! ^% i2 ^: W0 s7 g$ s3 c, m8 bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- }' z- p+ d3 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ u+ T: f8 _8 i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ H+ y* r3 o/ ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" G8 f. B( Z: }6 R+ g5 S
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 s5 ?7 b8 Q# R3 ]' g: C
charge the fee defined by the state.' d) q" R* M* k
/ B0 j! ~! M/ V' KThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) T! D% Z1 K T6 t% won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 G& Z, q% v$ ]4 S* f! z) [3 Y: ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& u0 T4 w# L* s
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
+ ?( M+ g/ D2 A' w) z2 f7 M3 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; l) [; ^( z- A pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 B/ B, J! X, D! ~- c9 Z3 kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 O$ s1 p' t9 X, S6 byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% k% g' Z" Q1 B" q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- N# I |# \4 U+ c- ]2 s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ t1 C; f6 Y; k8 q0 Y" p
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( U: t/ x7 k3 Z ]to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 }: B/ p$ m& g
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 Y4 q6 D+ d# }0 W2 D$ d
are spaces.
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' u2 n6 z* _* KThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! y5 T$ K8 k7 ^8 e. xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 v1 Q& k- S7 @! w( P- J8 ?, d# _own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 A, `% _8 ^. }" G# }0 }
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" ^2 A9 r0 o, b. s6 n: z* p. }. k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 Y+ m/ d* ~( B3 S( g* o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
I$ {* }3 |3 |; c8 E1 X# Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 ^& G. u/ \5 t; {# u: C- m( qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ A5 p: S3 d8 r/ G) k$ T
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: N, p' o+ R; X7 g* v0 | We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
