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+ l; X N4 e$ v4 {# A% \ P- l
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- T3 z$ I" R8 L* ~! p
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* `) Z4 J2 f* O/ P# L, ^2 R9 i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" v% G' t' \+ o/ Oanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; ~# X2 Q. h7 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! H/ t W, s8 K$ M0 r
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is; N6 t! z4 ~$ M1 ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, S) ~, B7 C& i# q2 t: a3 O$ Mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 J, x) H7 a6 d: bmedical schools.% @) F9 l( W4 K) p
/ n1 r0 K% M! [$ O5 l q" ~+ PEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 h4 k0 s9 ]2 a9 tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 j+ j! f. C4 j" P Q( |
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 }$ o( }2 L$ P+ D4 m3 A8 a6 U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 D% y! ]/ R/ k; |! [* p5 g. Z( x
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 g, Y2 u2 f- Q- M6 K7 y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# b# T% @4 ]% q- ~ j* F
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. f$ O* g W" z/ d0 }7 vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
& I2 Y) h( \) U1 Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 f( n3 } o+ g8 h1 l, ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 i" v, N8 ~! ~& h6 E8 |$ `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
$ `% j2 o R8 M$ M* x5 Isupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 a0 d' I7 L, H. M: B1 H
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) d# d- |% Y7 h+ c+ Tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby F& Z7 b& `' m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' j7 ]+ i, G& ]
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- W( k; s" h4 K& N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 y- J/ a( D( w# t
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
* U. I3 f% y5 [4 L2 fcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
/ v. O' d5 m# Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, [4 @. G! x2 d- {- z9 e+ jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 F+ d2 W/ T }9 H4 ^7 k' T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel7 m( W7 S7 O9 B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ w+ u$ s' T* X. M/ ]1 ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 j( G* y! j# l, Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! b4 u' G: Q f! pyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" j8 v3 `( e' atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. y, J* w+ p3 o [hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 f3 o% o) c1 [$ J$ i5 A/ f3 fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 z. \# C1 w. V' j) ?" w' [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ f- m/ s3 s: a2 I+ c1 c0 s
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% P3 S1 i' k& p9 }- Y0 [
are spaces.1 D2 W* s/ x! e, G4 F9 `7 d1 L; S
7 l, T( I* T' MThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' N. H' v' F% q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
2 _! b) X3 a* zown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
, l" P+ y9 t% U! ^1 G" K1 E1 A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
0 W% X! U2 r6 v1 T- zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& [1 q- }, o$ g. N, J3 h1 l# X b) _
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" B! o7 H0 n# S0 q( Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) ?7 u9 B; O) `- y; I" k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 U0 c: z$ u% m* `/ p+ ~is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 s' F+ g9 A& a8 y- V2 c
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
