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
& ?9 V3 e5 ]$ n X& Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
8 j3 `1 O% J# o* m/ ion a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* Q) s { [; P$ N' f8 B) P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# z+ o0 F1 y* Manswers to our pointed questions.
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7 y) v3 n9 F. P: QThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
. L& S' Z6 ?/ S9 J* E45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand' X+ N! I- A! p( `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is [, _% k+ x+ }
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams c, h7 b7 C- I- x- o4 w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# H3 W- x/ q2 _# r- g2 \1 C
medical schools.) R, J' }/ \# E* _, V
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. S- g9 c" v/ W3 j. e3 X5 _: r
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) P8 o- t2 }8 D" A. b1 C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 T# E( S, s( h C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 G/ ^0 g8 l3 [+ Q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# p7 D) p% H7 S$ c% H7 Z- t' Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
& o; {5 z) i1 ~, sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; z7 Q# f& q. {+ R- o" ]: Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, t3 W x- n& @1 ]3 T; C7 P
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 B" j. E1 r/ I8 O( x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& q9 z; g- i# [& k4 ] A! s% m
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ Z6 L; K6 a* |. Q; |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) R2 D, [$ G6 ^! W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" N, J; d2 ~5 a$ |. T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 H+ k. _& M( T) D, w, g: v' @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( G9 I& [" S( k% [7 L( o
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: ^; g+ d x* t% F& N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
& }$ z, n* f% y% T7 @a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 D; F- l! n1 D1 G
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 }6 t3 E- R. M/ ?* {on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 I" h( a. X) D5 M, V- F9 c
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& l% @; E% y# L0 Y. l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 ~/ [* I0 c n% q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 e4 w$ Z* L) b8 Q' T" p4 K. Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ C! A7 I( L3 y$ x: i4 y: Cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& \8 o9 a1 m9 o% ]you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; n2 D& u$ m8 L. i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 [+ A" S( ?- i; ~; F) ?" d
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! L& C1 \% U& u- j4 b9 ^
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 O. \7 S- H) W! H' ^' u! Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 y) N+ {) G2 A1 t( b6 n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ n# G7 e' Y: Jare spaces.$ M& C7 z+ Z6 M+ E1 ]0 n
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
4 h2 \3 c# `$ sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
r8 E7 s" A7 s2 Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the% R; d4 F' J8 K' K$ a) k
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: ?2 N" V( y+ |- H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 R: V2 O5 [' A, y6 b
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* a' ~: t/ a$ J4 y9 S1 O
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 u% w- I) L& \ F. C
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 M" d" E- G! c/ }; M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' o& S/ T6 E: ~& A6 F% _
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
