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
: P/ ^3 O; s* ?2 K5 m9 xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* d/ @# d* p2 U. d0 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 [& z7 }- W0 s* J6 k$ [5 M
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
[4 o, H) H" R2 s; a, Lanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 G* F( x0 x, K3 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& [$ C4 ^- c) C Y: T% E7 t7 }/ U, \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. s4 V$ V* {9 G7 K* ?; [3 H0 W5 }
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ t" X9 k; X8 C3 s" R! nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% W9 E% g. ?* G) B0 v' p. f! P
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 K, E7 G% _& Q. t* x' M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; O/ ~7 W" g( S2 ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, G9 i3 _9 v Q7 o; S, e& h
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
/ z, k" U/ _" p# I0 r! i5 f: s) nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; `9 l1 C5 Q5 c9 Y# L# L$ h% w2 ?& B
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ |; G$ U. _/ g( t7 a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: o$ V% u- i: l, Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 V, S" V a! T i
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 p% Q0 A: l" O4 X6 V: |
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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3 e' C7 y! |; f" \$ U8 `' q- ^2 \# [The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ F/ t/ @7 [1 _, k* Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and i8 m: \* _ v7 p/ h9 G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
4 c) Z7 n1 H2 {( ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
% E" Z2 u) u6 l( {thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 d# ~% x9 @* [; c1 D
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: x! ^9 m: J3 Q! ?! w9 F! L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) \1 s: u' Y0 W# DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& j9 s& I# E, Y2 q0 xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ k/ ^/ w e/ {! ~4 S. @
charge the fee defined by the state.- C# |9 }- E6 M6 _) y, M2 t4 X
" n+ Z2 t& W. XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
c0 H) p( Y- K& g6 C l$ @" |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type# @8 Q% v! K" W+ P8 Q( E
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 V8 O$ i" c3 c Z! U+ ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* b+ V; [8 }- Z3 g, o% X, Aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the d- m2 Q/ C" ^8 Y9 f; s/ m0 A
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 Q% `4 O. c% K; o9 L$ W+ z( hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& t0 Z+ c ?% a# T/ G; T% kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' L( W/ s$ n# r! gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 H. P" U6 M. I G/ shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 i, ^8 d; b1 T! M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 @, C5 C3 Q& S( Z% J' z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: `+ o( z+ h" @) qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, ?3 M S* Z, g/ Z0 C
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: n! U; ]5 i9 H- m+ @2 Y' i0 Y3 tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
0 z9 `3 d* P: N* a( iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* W6 R& M6 g/ C7 z5 g40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" g( F9 ^+ T" }: t% x4 T/ m
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ t( z" [4 S# e y' j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 ^/ m5 L( Q$ w3 V J d0 J" P) ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ o4 z9 @8 T! `, b% X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# }! c- f. S3 o6 F, i$ }+ Z& Eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
- ]4 E) [+ L4 B& U8 s, ^2 _" U$ N We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
