我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 F: }" |/ Z& T0 @
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' D% M8 t' G& B$ [
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 J4 J# Y4 }3 |, f0 A1 h1 d) ~
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) k, T, M3 t) _& r- |answers to our pointed questions.. o) h- P0 ~9 Z
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ B8 p6 a" D' U! D( {7 A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 o6 f q+ U1 k9 [
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) h1 e4 G: H/ n* l6 `6 ~0 x+ H
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. E5 H' r, Z Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ J! l8 S4 n& @. M' q: }medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% }4 R7 D2 f# pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% M% k& Z' C( R" Z% ^% r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, x2 C9 N2 U; \9 ]5 F Q( Z
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 Q7 f# T- {! Q5 h4 Tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 `7 Z. H1 @, ~) j2 ]
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ J2 o2 [8 y3 @8 j; z4 f2 y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ n2 k0 Q$ Y+ S0 X) ^) ^5 o
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 Y# c) B' {. F) i* a5 c& c. P; Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' o+ h) h3 _6 _2 _ O% I2 Osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
! g, D+ a# ?5 U3 m9 t! j' X+ Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 }8 q5 H m9 z& n1 p5 A
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 z, L& p) j7 p* c4 Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) T! S& m- {0 f5 h; I' `4 }; D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby j) j6 n/ A, a. P( t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& h. E5 k4 C, r, Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 O" n1 ^1 v1 C/ K8 N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
5 C* `/ R7 e. o! e4 {a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% x$ `8 M' g8 ?
charge the fee defined by the state.5 m9 F/ k- K, v5 g( f
' E4 R2 s$ s5 H4 l" a( e- j: DThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: n) n( B, w F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, N4 @6 g A& L; A% _' zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 i* i1 n" G) g7 b* V* x' T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 d$ \/ s* H9 r5 v7 G6 ~! Wseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
S) g K# `' q' p8 @' j( sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( ~9 `$ N' a/ O! h" Q% q! q; J$ ]
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! p6 F: I, ~: H0 r7 c \1 D
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: j' N$ Q' n; n8 c5 G3 b
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ Z) `# Z& x" w. T2 Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 `6 a4 }; {0 Z" }1 [" ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" v5 E& d/ n$ c7 z V/ \
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& t( L, c. `8 |3 j, O$ c
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' ^* k# a5 o6 ^9 Q# Tare spaces.
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* s+ _! }- ^4 ^; bThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* e! b. v" s' F6 Wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 q) r) ^* R, d+ U6 m, W( m8 s- J4 Cown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. D$ ?# l) ^- m8 Y3 A. w
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ B+ u- e# E! w& |: i6 ^& F
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 w; O' n1 f" V- q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ Y9 Q1 t- E( p5 A/ h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, R7 l, P `9 O/ U( T3 D, d6 }4 B
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 v2 }, z) w/ `: X. c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." e! h# m8 u, l: `& C" u- G
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
