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
: b% O/ C" }- D8 v" L6 ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' }: p& r! S- I! d3 @
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 R3 l2 D" }" Z, I' V6 M1 \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ Z2 O' e0 C5 | {4 ianswers to our pointed questions.
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. R3 g5 ?. e4 ^- P' I+ KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ?8 Z* ~, s% i( v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 {+ G i* N T: `; ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 d! f' e. ?5 S+ H' `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" o1 y0 \7 _8 z6 L0 |3 Kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ i# J( H0 w3 h0 q, `# x# x
medical schools.0 s$ i* ?1 L) b
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. f) x7 t0 ?. P v6 B" Y3 P' bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 B9 g! H$ B, q; d% ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' d, w/ g2 t4 P* E3 p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 `. k# s) L1 s2 O: s6 c1 q5 k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* R) e6 ^6 a% y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 p6 q- H4 i+ o. Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 G! B2 H& x$ |+ u
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 G' a+ L/ J7 d7 A Z! H# b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some, d9 _/ } v, `7 h
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. X8 F! h, d' ?0 C. b1 W
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: l* B3 I; e$ T3 `7 d1 Uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
2 y: `: q0 Z# I; x7 r% M' wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
& K& L8 i% T9 Jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& H9 S7 v! G5 ^- \( ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
2 V0 A( h& V% {! U5 c% _4 d. Asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) T t# P( @' j+ d( w B* L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 {- N1 f& p' ?
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) z* V3 M3 Q% N7 o) K' @a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 v+ z% q5 I) v k3 Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# X7 \* l9 C8 o0 v% `: N3 z3 A% w, \on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) j" C$ F3 q C8 a- A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ d* ?( c# N4 M! o; wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 T7 e8 W/ ]( H1 I# _. V2 `
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 b5 F! h2 F- ^7 y9 c5 h7 N$ iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& w* P% u( j& Y! {
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& h* f) D5 u& n" W0 |3 fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' v, y9 C& H* G5 y( c8 Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# R: N- t% u! c7 \. t5 ]/ h$ C! ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
" |: V' p$ W' C9 Z9 q6 kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 s% H9 F2 P2 R8 L0 ]# t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ `6 i. }0 v. v
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi. `, v' f; x$ _! X& l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
% j& ^* @3 d5 I' g6 Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( E( z. U% v) A6 J' X+ s
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* @0 T) S2 _3 W& x0 B6 qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ j% K. K2 r1 \6 t
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
) r3 v- n$ f( N5 Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ o4 `" d2 p8 x2 H2 U
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; u: y0 y" d6 g+ s5 O7 n+ M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
, b; z, r) z" n* F1 @, p We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
