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
! o" m8 ~: n" R: X, z9 B( R; n) Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: a- N- l" _; w/ { Z9 U# P
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' F- B" t6 n$ T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ \8 D1 R0 F# w0 x4 K* n) H& U& Ganswers to our pointed questions.
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6 J9 I1 j3 d$ Z, Z/ Q3 H; w1 PThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 `. R7 \' N% N q* E2 k8 u
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' R3 j% m6 V& R3 _& Q# rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% b! c0 V# C+ `, @6 k1 C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 r/ P2 R T5 }1 E7 i- A
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, h" J8 a2 Q# I o7 ~1 t
medical schools.; G5 K/ Q% v: h3 f+ q/ M1 u# N3 H; A
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* Z& y- W! P5 m7 l: Z( _. I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) b) L7 _" J, k+ ]8 I$ Q& G8 \
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& y s+ _4 x) ~% G1 q: S4 Cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 R3 f2 r- L6 e# F4 q" W
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) u1 ^9 `! d, W4 e) \8 d$ ~over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) ?8 {, K [$ L* L1 j
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
7 n A- w2 c2 T# Z" Zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 {/ c+ M0 D9 J+ B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 r/ Y- o' \3 f! ~0 M* _ b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 \" ]/ h4 m( @* |: {& Q, \$ ]+ K
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 ^+ U% T$ R b/ I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. G( M# W3 t& r# D) Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* O0 ^2 O) e8 A R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 q. h& ^$ b: V
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) h: E# l; A. t# _5 Z7 X
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
8 ?: K1 k! q4 Ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 z0 p$ y, ~# ^6 VDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ \3 M7 n% _; z$ w) e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, u) z4 n2 T: d' D& l4 t
charge the fee defined by the state.% o4 e( I3 Z0 b- P
M' t' T# K3 K0 ~; C+ PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 q6 e% w. x7 Q, Y/ R, R0 y1 d2 O
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& U1 n8 R; T& o( t- A9 G- U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 \+ C5 U4 r7 `4 e+ O6 H" Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- K- E3 J4 ]2 M! f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- ^4 _5 o" A( }# zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ L d; }6 W6 M) |1 P5 Y2 e% ]schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
( f' \* ^* o, M5 H e eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, L4 h8 v) g: }# W; x* m0 k& {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 W: T6 H2 u9 g& V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ T( X( V% ~ @8 kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 _+ i5 H4 s% F) ^3 f4 H
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 G" @9 | x6 h* G# u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& v6 q0 ]8 K0 J/ p9 [. U% ]! c% {6 U( d6 Y
are spaces.: _0 C g; H/ d+ C) `7 S
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
R( D) Q4 b- vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ T6 ?5 m ?% Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 b7 b7 j' c6 q3 P- p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# n2 ~# @* w+ @parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) W( m2 Y Y( l- }" L! J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ m5 U* f, h5 t& f2 \
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
* F0 `0 x* ^+ \6 ^) m4 N, qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 T' D! a1 s- n/ M7 X! x/ z' i) a
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 D4 Y6 L# k! H7 s We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
