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 W6 K' x6 v2 f! j4 c& D
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
e4 l- y) G" R$ N. Von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 D, ]+ E/ L* d2 S! X2 y- n
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ i8 N) @2 _# r. z- [" k9 U$ qanswers to our pointed questions.
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+ p: D& E6 P) g' }2 N; |/ |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# C, `; } _0 ~& U" N' R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; @% C: i2 e+ ]1 p, eout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 M! {9 n: \" _0 T( Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( `1 [: t# P' I8 z# Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 ?% m8 T$ K) r
medical schools.$ h$ A; }/ v. U0 f+ U
+ c. x0 C6 e! N) R$ \, WEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ p& _5 T4 O! ?' O$ c8 igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& u1 \7 |- r+ @7 G5 Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 H5 D0 h1 M/ Z4 q- ]assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 e7 U! P4 P% @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& Q# J% b. V2 I- g$ e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 f* o# e2 ~$ r( [+ a
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
1 R2 \3 ]3 R4 u- wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 @1 j) f) x5 J& M) y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* m( | Q& a5 `. e: h9 W d# n
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% W0 {0 S! d5 K4 i+ z0 c" u
; }8 `! ` d" {4 P% UThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 W( p: I5 ?% d3 W
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% z2 h% ^/ ]6 ?
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# N+ z- W& T; m# Y/ r
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; B; a2 A2 G& `1 a4 lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' ^3 S& m5 T% V }& @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! Q5 `1 f1 Z2 X$ H# C# s" t
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- r+ y% U2 C5 L8 ~ }( P, M+ P f9 S0 C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, }8 g- a0 `' w1 d
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
+ i9 p. V0 R6 g& H' G8 ]charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. q% P7 T. o* u2 c; b# d2 Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% w9 }: P/ B: y5 s3 B: Xof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ k) o+ f$ }- i8 L" _+ Atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* ^/ r9 U; j3 a
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ Z3 U9 d* a- H9 e: K6 _, _8 j
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) t( P4 |$ T* y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% I3 e, m, ]! t7 F7 C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
) x/ `7 }2 p7 M$ W$ ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 r/ q2 z. ^. Z/ _* s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
( h! \+ B( g, v# @% @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 g s$ H' ~. K _
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& z/ |! m" J$ D* M; J# l7 s9 ?& Lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, e3 ^ l/ M: Y3 D( @
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! T) L; q# N; b( m. I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, u; I9 ]- |5 f0 w
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
6 J: l3 p7 T. Y+ {40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* i" f3 S& ?1 V, K* _6 L+ N
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 w9 p+ s. g; \" v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
6 @7 R$ X' A6 _$ z+ `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' |( c- X5 T6 t9 B" D+ a' |car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! e: w; e$ s1 L- \. h4 _% _
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ @, D- V- U, l% [5 f# n7 B7 t; v
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
