我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 V5 @9 v% Z5 [- E+ U2 ~
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 b" \; D) Z0 l' Q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
m2 c. K7 ^4 e6 B0 _( L) @"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 z3 z2 S; P" P9 |
answers to our pointed questions./ F' F# z- Z# ]$ q' a* N# |
$ \8 F4 i" U: t7 p$ f. @# zThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ b+ |' f: h, x% U
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* V2 w' k* Z3 Q9 f; D- V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; a) k; `+ |6 m. n8 z$ K( ~free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( i) ?6 \( y2 y* Q, F7 n8 s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# U9 f' T% w0 X/ i$ I" U
medical schools.
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{8 [0 I' e& l4 Q8 |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& l6 b- V) g& n9 w( e1 Pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* \2 P' w+ d! d D; [% Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: q3 H% W! v1 d! O" @' M f, ]assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. S8 I. F+ H. u+ I9 ^5 @& M% Z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 ]1 l6 T+ M ^' ^! r" F
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" h1 u4 Y3 b I3 z: N! f
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ j0 @$ {9 ?7 j" q$ S4 t7 h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, m0 B1 x; w* h" Z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! q2 h2 E: c5 b- c7 H8 t2 Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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6 m p% J9 V! f% D. W d) V- m; CThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" j- G3 v/ i }) h4 u7 n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% V2 y, v v) d/ ~, G3 z% y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 m- `- U+ `$ ?: w% r3 N* W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 _& s. }9 x4 ^; K& t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
, Q# m8 k! z: G( o- ]# wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. L( g) Z$ x- N* T' A: S
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* G! U/ V: k/ \2 e5 VDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ D) m; O( L8 C
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- O" |. N& b3 N, h8 Echarge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# U; V! t# O. @# _1 J2 ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: j! d- J# j- g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 C# I# T1 z- ]2 ~ p+ p) v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' Y4 V9 V& }4 [1 j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& F2 q6 g7 F4 c" H$ iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 t2 ?1 Y4 A0 l5 y! vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# q6 `) [2 G0 N2 qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 o6 q% g2 x% X: p" Z& w% ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) p9 z( E g4 T( i! K% I+ p+ \2 ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 [0 a/ J/ N; [# D+ `3 N' Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ J2 [, K. J" zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: {9 P8 k U1 u4 t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
2 |& g) H* q* j$ B! W% V/ Iare spaces.8 p3 s* C1 K3 V+ s$ M3 E$ c" K
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! s3 U1 a2 S8 q$ z2 Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 k1 ]) w4 ?4 d: F4 O5 Zown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 K& b8 O* z2 @' I40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! k$ Z- G2 X6 i {. v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" K, u5 @" j% C* X: R
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 |$ u( @8 S7 a2 Q2 }, s: X- P
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% N0 E2 ?4 ?& r7 k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 h, u" m0 V0 P% n( n2 eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) J& B k* V6 I% c
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
