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
4 Q$ H4 H, P/ ?) j" x; O/ astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; Q% w" ^6 I9 @1 u) Son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! {" h4 M, v, X2 W8 p6 a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 s1 l9 ]$ A: r* k% |
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% x* p- T4 _# w1 Y$ z; h) Z6 v: C
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 u) N% p" q% d0 Z" \2 F
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 a; |3 ~. @0 Y9 Bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( m6 [( }! i! D. l: o1 S. b% Z3 H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ f {5 U3 G7 z% f* V
medical schools.+ e! L+ V1 H0 z! @1 O O& j3 j" o7 `
* {( J5 }8 z6 n; K- xEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. U# x; p. @( f6 R3 y* cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 j' L: X7 U3 M/ O9 N tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 ]2 ?6 C# N: w% P
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. s* i5 l7 {6 R
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; c+ S( v0 M+ z( }5 v5 \ hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 z5 {1 c) k3 l7 ]* }
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, t6 ^) g& \4 d3 M9 Y+ R1 E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 I: y, S) I0 _( l' E4 ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% [: x9 T$ y6 G$ osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; H2 I) R$ S/ B! r% G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 H; G& w t4 V9 `! g( s) c5 e
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
+ l; d5 u; V: c; I2 i1 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# e9 \ m; E# {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
, h0 x4 H# w+ j& F: Zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
0 U; s3 v L" l( N3 C/ adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# N# x/ R$ q7 `0 p1 T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
0 H" l9 J! i6 R7 I: H) j8 Oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only y* V6 @% e3 f! B( r0 F) `
charge the fee defined by the state.
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' x) P" e9 O; z2 A$ JThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ B* H9 |: e* n, w( D# son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ g% T. H. R* |- [ u# I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big |6 ? t0 v- V; G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ h. W" ?. y- h% l' l1 |: fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- s5 Y# B4 L/ r) a3 |working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ A E5 L6 @& H6 P7 u% @. w. |schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ }( u; _2 q9 V% k8 d4 v9 G2 H
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 R: j! \5 X7 _$ I9 d( X" I" ]
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
t# E2 d; U5 G3 e* H+ r0 i, a$ Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) b' d$ v7 d: Y l# J
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( [$ j& [) K& X* \8 z( @# T
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
8 s5 v6 t- {$ g3 d7 sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 S5 Y4 |: W% y9 \8 `4 v& Lare spaces.2 T2 b: P5 D. y& t1 f
W/ z% y+ V3 N2 I2 YThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 t" z! O# |( K
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* T; }# j+ W" Z! f" _( ]; h/ s; Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( k) G0 u5 _* S' \( I2 X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- X# ^/ g) M. W7 u0 dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 W* X, Q- J, A) {5 S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* m+ g4 R4 }) J
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: J* _1 h1 r) K& P% |& j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 k5 R1 w" t, B) ^: |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! [1 }6 v, b) l6 N3 S7 x3 @
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
