我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 B3 X) j( z3 e2 E: @
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 W1 J' D' X. u) N9 g Y) {$ lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: P( D2 ~8 @2 K& s& k
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% [" ]2 d4 h: l4 K& N
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% k" c* {0 q0 c z: X" w3 K
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ c: |- P- u! q7 G" g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 z! n- ^" ^& t- \8 h0 |) j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' L: X; i( p, h7 h3 P7 ~3 r9 @2 u
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( K# l6 b7 m b+ g& e7 B
medical schools.7 c7 k; ~' P- o4 v2 ]0 G
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. O+ a" ]4 }3 f6 ]5 F" f8 e9 Q# f6 wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
7 B- K2 h3 K) X, a" Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 G- O* c. ~! f) y7 y8 ?$ @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 R; D: s0 k, v
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! [4 Q; ?; H9 ~. u1 z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' p" T1 N2 a; v, o( n
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and @ i9 k# L! I% o6 ]9 B3 O
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% m5 Y. @5 S0 h5 j ?4 {shortage which the government is addressing by converting some f/ T. d( M$ l- y% V" s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., C; F2 P: f* i4 h/ {
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ H2 g$ p; o/ A! u5 V, A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- F; r0 a6 C* \% U0 _0 C" @" n1 e/ asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' ^0 }- \2 Z; e, `& n6 M
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 m8 b7 r$ v( I* n5 ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! O9 i2 O# B# `% l
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: V0 Q1 I# S1 N+ d9 |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ P& @$ X; d; L2 t& z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 z' a3 |7 M7 s# g4 G1 e# g8 {8 x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& U' u$ ~: B A6 R% a: D1 j4 y
charge the fee defined by the state.
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7 w$ h$ G* b ]- O @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- ?4 L7 A6 p* N3 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type% ]6 g1 N4 K; {! E. R4 T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
' W, I- d; X5 @( u7 ?4 }truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 W) I0 o% |2 U, D" g4 L* Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- U& e; V& v3 `* `+ m: Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* w* r; h& i# G# y' i/ Z* y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! n7 W1 p5 r- c8 m+ [1 j
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* r4 B3 v) q2 f9 \3 ]5 `$ V% B1 z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch3 U5 K( I/ t( R6 p
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ r6 }$ u9 U; l5 \' F5 s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; S; w: i6 W0 U1 y/ C& \5 u* i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ L2 o4 C/ B* ~$ Q; sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ f* x. e, v" G
are spaces.
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' T/ j; Y, X# VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 T. o4 a9 L8 T% Y. K3 ?8 J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" `) y! P$ A, _2 P+ o' {0 Lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 l: c% F1 `* {' x
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 Q* c6 p+ n! r% O& r Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 H; u4 c9 w4 h# Qbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; X2 b( b/ R4 Z4 Enice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ K$ l' M9 w+ K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 G3 Y9 q6 y- l+ g2 b1 e; _9 ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! @' f8 Q3 K+ ] We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
