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! o5 K+ q$ r* S- `5 d, z g5 _% W; E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! @+ }, J/ _; u& S% e; \
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," t: N/ P# D) u, u
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* X# I. \* K$ M6 m
answers to our pointed questions.
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/ N# t$ A+ T2 V2 U" l) `The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 l w, [ ?" [) W" C4 k( u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 r( O# \0 }7 G% {4 K& Y5 `0 f0 d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
: U& |1 `/ i. I9 u+ t/ @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. y' f8 S3 O& _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 H @4 \9 x; e h1 {; w" vmedical schools.4 \9 P* C2 Y O- F
% ^, F* }$ Q0 D2 p1 K2 _: K' SEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- R$ l$ H/ I" Z0 fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% y* |- c+ I+ k9 p' v9 f$ }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: A" h X9 u( d$ @' K
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: J4 K* o# Q: D( P
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 u; P' h% L5 ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" J) Q' H( T, G( u* b) e
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' v6 ~; [: |' l3 Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 T; {5 M# x" z9 g5 M& {; I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# [4 C# {1 g; J0 M, D
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., N/ s* S& T G2 c8 p( |
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
5 R- |# \/ g$ Y9 ~; n/ wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" e/ `0 x" C9 P3 h) ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
6 q) M+ S) j; Z1 _have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ {5 G7 ]4 k! u7 V
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 `" D) E q# P: J1 j7 z/ T, W lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# T/ S$ o( b4 O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% {( B; E7 ]; W6 `/ N9 V& TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% e9 N7 D+ f. l% z8 j- ?$ l% K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, x2 A- L2 [: Icharge the fee defined by the state.4 [! Q( q2 `6 k8 e i" U# h
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- a2 a5 R# z+ A1 c- Z5 Y/ k- fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 h( P$ r3 i( B3 \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big' U3 ?9 @) q2 H0 E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: I6 n! z4 q5 p: X/ u
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# z c, L8 s& }# s, r* W& \8 R/ l' C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on. g [& ~4 r, S: Z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 L- K# W$ l* A/ q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
o7 j( v; b9 t3 Q/ p% o! l& Dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' {9 {& c: C3 h/ f% s: ^. [
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 {9 R$ K; v9 n. @* ?+ g" \ B: `people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
" Q2 [; x7 G' r" `' n+ ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
) [- {4 }# s5 M' Q: t/ C* Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ l1 x5 w0 ^ F& B
are spaces.- Y, Z/ Y8 O2 j0 u, M7 {7 W2 q
. H5 _! K! G( W. S- K/ M+ ^/ OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( T3 L) ~! Y( K" ?5 Gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 ^2 b: }" E. y( [$ @0 m# o. |# `
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. \3 ^7 B0 }* V: | `40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( \ J8 `0 H P5 z5 @+ Q1 u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: ?9 D2 Y! D: D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ @/ b/ P* [% A. u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
% r/ h5 y/ U: @: G0 E) t! i4 ~car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 Y4 g" V% a$ o% uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) j& _5 x, k- ~5 r! d8 I
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
