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 V' E0 y1 @- R5 u/ g; Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 _0 L6 [9 W. ~& R, a3 Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
% L3 Q% C2 ~% r1 T. r. i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 e7 [3 i8 ]% E t% y6 n
answers to our pointed questions.3 l6 c7 E) I5 D9 ~7 ~/ ]
2 A) W- ]* W: mThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 Y- B9 i* W @
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 s( g1 f4 X6 T1 ]8 s& i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 e3 j1 T7 f8 n, G6 P* `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ P! F( n% v8 a7 ~; @0 O- I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: \' i# E2 z# ]+ L; ], n
medical schools.2 d" S8 L5 m) C: R) p( Y. b
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; e& D0 e2 }4 q/ z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; }1 W& h$ a2 |7 h# o Qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) k5 m& I+ y D+ C) o% W2 N
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 z" l* B7 ~5 A# d s! h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 h( ~& a# g1 W1 \2 jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. t: P3 ]9 L) T5 p( i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 p7 k& C2 L; W& I: @
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% u0 k$ X: c& b* g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some! }% R4 c8 L. x. e: z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 g, |2 l' z% ~2 \! L( \# S, t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! P0 ?8 u7 _0 B9 U$ T# t4 F
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 j9 F" r8 L& C% A; d0 t7 C
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 k. M7 z+ n) i5 @2 T/ P2 rthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# B) W% v- |! i$ C
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' J2 Q& k" D2 h/ t [divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
F7 }" J: g) n) V ^* X' eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
/ O. t) S4 z9 J! y* j1 x2 ra lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; X3 q5 }9 Z s" G3 }charge the fee defined by the state." R: ?: B, c9 m) c, b
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 b. i7 s( I2 v" z8 w' K
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( s# C9 f# f) A5 J% \
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, D+ y, k% }4 v" Q% S1 s/ E, Rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, `! @: e% M" L6 B' `# b" r
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! L: ?6 I$ i& F2 J$ t) P8 I& n
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on T+ j/ s9 T) N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% q1 J, W2 i% s' ?" H
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. N6 W" m2 G) U b2 U
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 N' |% d0 I6 l- i9 s' E3 L; a+ Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
2 q" D& h5 S% bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ R c/ C1 R$ C' n( B; K9 r
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 {2 R; Y1 B0 ]buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* _+ q' `- g0 d- K
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
/ X ?5 d5 p' o& @+ Nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) H8 A9 r; n6 |9 J9 F3 Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 T- C& V9 F9 e7 c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- E5 B. T: W, |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 z+ Z* [3 F7 w2 z# d6 Sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) s! p. K! H2 c: U1 L
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ [" B$ J& I. @3 r# lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
3 m+ B4 c$ q* G2 m* X0 Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; {, {0 w) J8 o& q' O6 P8 e
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
