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
: Y: V( D8 E9 g. ]$ P# ^. M# l8 S6 T5 Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 r' S! k* a: y- d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 ~3 Z% M: a! J9 _ B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" j* Z, ^$ f- O
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ d# F8 a3 d: ]
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 u0 U6 Z) Q4 {& I+ iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% }) G7 r. V' \, c
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. s8 `% F' }* @+ I" u/ f5 ?( {4 ]: o9 Kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 J6 I; p+ `5 D6 z* C
medical schools.+ j" s) E! z& |4 h, u) W
& @2 L+ F8 x* i' e# TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
# f0 n7 G) t2 V) rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: K( D8 W9 t$ f" t" K9 V8 \7 u3 @
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: N5 g+ |" i9 V/ Z8 H5 ~2 G2 uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- `" a/ E; n& @0 N% V. j7 \2 w. k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
; [# O$ R7 I7 V( t6 [over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 E t; D5 Z5 {
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 T' W" _& a' Q+ kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 @* A; s& L6 ~1 \% R" W5 {8 b" `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
9 O$ S5 U( _5 M* i5 `- dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 p. q% ~9 K3 Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. ~( @/ L5 I) O) M: Z4 N3 Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 E6 y( S$ Q% Z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 d0 W4 G9 g- x& Z1 e9 \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, T* |; `- Q4 q6 G" s. f* f' }/ h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) x3 q6 A7 Z$ ?- D
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 e6 t; a0 d! Z. y; pDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ c: }* l# C i. a; w9 fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. K& |' R) [# j) `! g! V) Lcharge the fee defined by the state., F* x6 h2 M) t3 E' Y7 V
9 I0 ]2 P. r3 _5 T5 ?There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) Y0 n# X$ b' G) D, M' E
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
- g) Y+ ^% _4 Y% m+ S8 Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
) y$ Z+ T- Q& k: A1 l Atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' u! Q( ~. f6 v! x$ e& g
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 _+ j6 S+ E- b1 p ^, cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
/ k. z( B8 O j6 I3 R& a* n$ Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, \% _: ]3 [3 {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) B( p. `3 k1 Z: \8 e3 c& ` t* `6 ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 t- }8 D8 f8 x7 }
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
) {+ x# n- b9 I" _2 Wpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- }9 _9 L; F3 W- r
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 B8 _2 n) p; [6 \; N$ b, ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there y# n; m( D; C6 i0 F, k k; x
are spaces.; i5 |) h; o3 T9 f
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi o+ r$ i3 ~9 Z5 U. R1 x$ n
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they9 R' } X, T. z l+ p- ~& ^2 |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
* D l1 u7 Z/ ^6 [: i40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 \# s$ v. d. N- g4 |4 J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! T/ K ]8 d# \' m7 `& a, y$ s4 M
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 c# A; d+ t& k4 j1 D, ?9 j3 z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% z3 o, b. |* D; @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& L! b% ^4 g+ [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ F7 f" F# ^% d, i; d$ B We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
