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& y6 o- D& r3 }7 e" Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# W" h9 |7 x: von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 ?& \6 y8 E) K8 }$ ~1 P* A. d; o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ T7 V' A1 I# ]& P
answers to our pointed questions.5 C" W; {- c5 C7 [0 K
. {7 E. N& ]: {# U
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 b7 X- K. D- F9 ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# a' L0 E+ m3 H& e* B, D. d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 o: h, |3 G" O
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ r# g( Z* s8 D' }/ i
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
& j0 m W. p9 c! @* a/ Zmedical schools.
9 y3 B4 h% r; m* W! Z( m. F2 k8 m# S4 X6 `0 n3 ?5 ~) k( O
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; u7 O* C C& h: n' ~2 z% l
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. Y# A) E' `' j1 I4 ~5 Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% m9 U' n |8 O9 }4 [assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ t2 \! F- M2 r- q) R7 d* e% @8 tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( n" c* X: v1 d+ _! f; Q4 W+ Q A
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There8 }. A! I( p! Y% h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 Y4 g5 H; l4 Y8 a( h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 I$ O1 ^0 v: w6 V6 P e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some; F# }, h* @! ^
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
$ }5 b' m# g% d6 \7 ] e, |" n0 \8 R, O# U" d- m( ?8 i5 h4 Z
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% Y9 f* L6 {+ t) V! `3 p/ P9 Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
8 b7 T7 `; A: T0 a# ?' [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% J0 r0 s9 D$ G: G
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# W; W, j. W8 s4 S7 ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& v+ e- x1 V/ O' Q2 `6 c
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
$ g2 t: t7 _4 J S Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. {7 M# j( J( }
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 k+ q. q' E# v0 Ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 a9 I [2 l4 Y& B+ g
charge the fee defined by the state.
; r2 ~* G* Z' Q
/ p4 p" P. c; q# |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) O1 [- i- A4 t* t0 v
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
; p9 c9 r) T- ?, `* r" o6 K7 gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: K# b4 Y8 H6 u8 u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 O, I1 ?/ d6 {6 [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the$ |% }6 L9 O" r2 |) {0 a4 Z j& u$ M6 C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) g5 z7 p8 p& `
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 S1 ^7 ]4 S6 }1 Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* a9 P5 T" \$ V0 E8 q+ W8 Ptrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: n" {6 z, S* I, f- O2 Chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- G. _# A3 R# k0 K+ U g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& O, T. m, d& b8 j: U7 @; Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 E, Y* w9 L6 R5 e8 g5 _' x9 N+ `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ D* r8 G( P6 nare spaces.
, {# x- z7 Y F
6 S7 [+ r( ~2 L* B" i6 uThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& j$ o. c$ |. R0 v& g4 `" Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they+ Y" v- f; j8 r
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
+ y& b! `4 K, E: w; _40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# ~4 Y1 n, l7 z" [3 U6 v6 R4 z, X* A' Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 p* s; a O# x+ {! o& t nbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* o" E3 S) ~* X2 |( q1 q8 }& Z2 G( c* _
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ o9 h. j2 X7 k& v
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! E1 G2 E4 H" D. I! W3 n+ j
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 ?4 v; w/ I7 M9 L g" t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
