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
& s; s; p! Y& G9 j% O" r! L2 Z- nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) I" I" |: u; k) c/ e: F2 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- A1 @/ ?' _% D8 b
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. q* O3 \1 C+ d8 r4 _ danswers to our pointed questions.& D L1 I6 M8 n
+ I. y: F, d: M( jThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 u5 f c5 l* L3 j# h- W. ?4 J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
: t4 H7 d: K9 x9 h# Oout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( C* u e0 Q% @! N. O& Gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 B/ r6 L- e+ k( H& W) |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, C7 A2 n/ ]/ G, t9 o& ~* |1 f
medical schools.: O9 x8 A1 Y, S& c
& l6 O$ O2 b, U' M' fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. t+ L( g- p$ u, H. Y; d; ^government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* \$ b& q. D( @2 {4 ^to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 A' b, D; ]8 p7 y& n
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) W& W3 ? {. V# I/ p1 C1 _
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ I# Y, o* x6 \3 n) E. r& U& r' _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% l$ k( L& F1 ~
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
, Z2 C; J" k9 c8 ~6 h1 Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& G+ z5 |& l9 R- d0 C5 p* u% ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- k% S( M0 s$ Z3 H5 msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: v3 r! b9 c; X, t1 K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' {2 o" P- `. msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" T. G: i- O8 n1 a% ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good. P! j1 i, O/ W2 [# h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
* o! j% m0 ?0 H- `: ?sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
' g& { p3 z6 K, e F( D# P) ]0 Cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; [$ Z" a0 g- @) J4 C2 p* }% UDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
q+ K& X4 ~' \9 k" ^; pa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& a5 Z& W; \/ T! w* X4 a) w: [charge the fee defined by the state.3 A. s, d* _9 h+ e
$ `6 v, r2 b [: `) U) S% |/ @( uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# ~1 Q, b: K7 h! ~4 v
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
3 }4 i0 k9 A' M9 M2 n( k& l; a" Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
6 U: A0 F' X# `4 j& @& |3 l& etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 ~6 ^% ^- K N% d3 Zseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 b3 D1 J7 f: I+ k) T, E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 b+ C* c+ e1 B% [schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% d0 C# T& Y1 [( W$ U1 R1 k( Ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. @ a* w( [9 M. j) t; L7 O G4 K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
: i+ L( Z; r! y; @- n Vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* i1 O/ H3 {% ]9 [ H
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; u* m6 d( t& ]& e. z! N6 w2 j
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
2 U9 m. `7 o/ l0 ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( x, l8 y/ y$ t3 `
are spaces.
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1 z- {* d. Y% q! e7 f: q- KThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 L6 w! e" z" x; I- r
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) o/ S4 f8 F( R( C0 yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, L' }% b" d4 k' Q. b8 z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 v9 V: I5 V6 B+ T: ?: }1 t ]; Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! V) z* _ [, I$ u6 Q; Zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
* a8 @, _" O. W9 d }! hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( n) Y1 C8 s3 e9 c! H- |
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* N0 C4 o1 e+ y: Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 i! w, D- |; I$ L
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
