我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living2 o4 X/ @9 M; U/ T# w
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 P( T+ M1 m& c! Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ @( [& Y, b u6 ? I# i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 I2 S3 @, H% z, M% U. fanswers to our pointed questions.
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$ {* L, }9 h2 ZThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 H5 d) H% P0 ^5 g
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand' c! h3 I/ K! V( P$ Z7 L2 ?
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 Q: L: V* q0 x5 @4 D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
0 P9 E4 n: {% B( kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ u; M, m; P* N5 b, P0 {) p
medical schools.
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; m) \" t/ H5 r& Q2 UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& V, p m3 L) \government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 w( O2 B5 G8 f. q& `8 C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, D6 i9 k* h& \$ k* |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
1 g# ]! |/ Y; p; \( |0 gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 v g3 Y Y, G' ^( u, D E
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 _7 i( o! d% i( k/ K8 ~1 q' X
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ ]* J* N& q6 P
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 P4 Y* z* {; q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 `: z; c S$ s3 a; i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: ^2 _2 I/ m4 |3 @4 j
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 ~) B& x3 e" `' D' X: F3 {private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
8 G4 D! g- W6 ?6 A% u% k9 i9 osupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' L( r* T* f4 z9 e) xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
) G- `' \+ t7 Q$ J/ s, Xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 ^5 \" T6 M* u" C/ w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
9 z1 V) T1 X( z9 ^7 f; |4 _4 ~; Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 W+ r$ b9 w$ N4 S$ B6 R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ ~. g \% r$ I- m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 t' a" c" w! F& p! S
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: N, ^9 |1 g, R- u# U, Q/ m8 {) t
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 l6 Y, m7 ]1 }& W( _1 J
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; h% \1 d9 E. G" C: atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 N2 U$ s. d+ J4 R Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
! l$ g" B, b; q4 F6 _working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 ~4 P& n) I) T1 s# t
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
_. ~, N1 j- l4 m' F$ uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! f1 f# s" `6 J x, X Y4 L8 }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 i* Q* r: s& F/ c/ Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 L4 z# x2 O: @; j- B& L( f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! @5 @ X7 [/ T; Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, p7 S% V( _; B% Z E
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 u* \4 O( \$ a6 K' K( t. u( t
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
) }/ z4 {6 ]( t& mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 e. x. i `- q6 |/ W6 g
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* ~. g9 }/ w# u; @) x O
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) F; K2 N" D& r' Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: A- Q o: R1 O3 A- R1 mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 {3 }3 v) ?6 J: S6 `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of9 t9 h, u3 w+ Y+ U
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
( d% u: `2 n3 q h$ t! Y/ g) _5 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& k, I8 r9 E9 {$ n
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
