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* z; R, T u7 @" `
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 g5 o3 e2 `& O3 p" C
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 {4 F" w J9 x' Q3 m
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, _# X$ @- }0 c, Sanswers to our pointed questions.! f1 A) v; D$ y! y6 z
& f; Z4 c4 q; c$ [) dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: C- I% b% p9 F3 t! [( W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ o$ O# D: [+ R% Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
' \2 k6 \$ e* g0 r* G, hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 R% `. P6 E# G( W- ~% o8 d2 j. u
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 y: d1 [6 \3 S# q+ }5 i3 p, L
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the3 P+ j# t3 X) c0 {
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: x% A, r: T& X; B P
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( E3 f4 O4 G6 U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 O1 d4 S5 l d r) Z. b, Qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 S' G! m1 w+ D" Y# N3 D1 ~6 B5 fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
8 _- F1 V/ D% `/ E' B2 cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: J# b/ n; _6 S: I- r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) f% z1 N3 e' r h- v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& I9 Y+ ]4 `" z* ~3 @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 c8 _# A) v* W
2 \" d9 N0 {4 i9 EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% r1 V0 N5 N1 E0 b+ kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- p$ G' b. S1 J/ c% z8 q Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 \6 E S" S4 |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
' O- g$ I7 M& d# e5 ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ |* u( \$ ?& Wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 S3 h2 l7 I! O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: t5 G; h. ~* Y3 l2 E2 @; a; K% x, C# ]
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% V) O$ P {7 Q# S6 ~
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" z, C) F% ^9 F" _4 I1 G: R/ H
charge the fee defined by the state.* N' G* G1 F6 P+ ]5 |0 v
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" X! S* T1 H3 h" J" Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ K; Q$ i7 u- ?4 R! d1 y1 }" yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. D0 X, N& l+ g P1 _
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 N y; L$ R# M6 x- d. c9 c* Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# J+ M' `; O8 m+ yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- m) S& {0 |5 X6 P- j4 p+ s' t7 a* Tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 a6 T: f" d+ P; l" V; ]/ J* O b; _
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) a6 q% n9 \% a4 C0 P$ {4 F
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch% B6 t% v- O$ \4 J( ]; x# q4 \
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 G6 A: V4 ?+ K1 H1 j: [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 L* j: A: W+ p5 s( n
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 Q9 ?1 h5 ?% H6 k3 g! T& Z8 w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
7 Z8 i, z! a" P+ _$ c( Y% mare spaces.# u, R2 J! N" E7 A
: x! ]2 K! |# R0 E& K1 lThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 g( S; ^3 g3 P, t% |, Y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( |0 E+ }6 D! j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# b% W3 F- l; t1 w" N$ _9 P40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 d1 J- E L. e& W
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 L& d6 N0 n: ?5 |6 m. mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 x9 }$ E* }& g% jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# s9 i: @& l6 p$ ?car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, ^% j8 S% N2 O, t' Q: {; [5 I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. P3 f/ r+ l- x* K+ p9 D( F* I
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
