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
8 [3 Y- Y) _8 S& B) U/ ^standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; ?0 j. s" B3 o( Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 N" O" y' t( I, b2 W
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- N6 X: {" R: ?) H+ p8 z" [4 Z! kanswers to our pointed questions.
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2 v6 w" @# X/ DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ t, u& f# ]9 f1 V {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 P7 ?2 H- d" I k( mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 i' o8 S) `6 a' Z* w. X
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: u) p/ N) A0 yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ h# `4 d# ~4 [! i7 y3 d, j
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! z$ ]' _( n! \- f* g1 J, Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants S; h, N; g$ [6 ]3 T1 F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
( ~% t, l" F9 O/ @6 `2 b2 Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! M' u# V+ i, G5 vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 u. p# a/ Y( Bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. F4 I* W! d3 C! R0 Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& ^0 L0 u. R( Pmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( N. }5 l( v2 h% j8 P9 J
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 ?% [4 m c" S! I$ G7 f5 T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ o: P, a5 P* [
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ P" _2 J: A$ L* q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* K J* G% }6 ^' K [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 F4 b( t# e# t
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ E0 U) e( B) ~/ h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# V) G) f7 ^( N. f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
8 {) W! e7 C+ o N, ?! vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 M: S7 }. p- R; E+ e9 i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 L8 n# [7 I" H ?
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 u9 J6 O/ _7 G. z" q: x; Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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+ m, j' b5 q0 L: X/ N/ j! hThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: o& |! f* u: w Z1 son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
7 [& P6 Q4 a$ vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 ?: V- {; u$ v D# i/ x3 Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, I, X9 _0 J6 | L$ q& k
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( A) j! V& R/ c9 C9 W
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 S& c7 x, g/ x# F1 C. _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 Q- K2 y) v: s/ j# `$ ~5 N
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% }/ _+ k0 \, S; y: Dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, H7 i: M: C# U3 T, _hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ R$ y+ v0 c, M7 H" Y4 v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# Y1 x0 _9 x& v& [: i' Ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 r) p D( D' {) c8 m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
% W4 j2 @5 u8 ?6 R7 x1 Z2 Zare spaces.6 N8 z5 q0 [" {$ L! R! Q6 y5 b
) v: }/ L( W4 j) iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi. a+ B& R9 a$ B5 ~7 ~' u# \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they8 Z( S# h7 H m s6 y, ^8 H' N3 V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 L" ~- o4 ?7 @" N8 G
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
& N" S* n& O& B+ v4 ~% u' l* Xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
7 {' D; ?+ Z d: r, a1 n {best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" y( W! K: P- S* unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! j# W7 k! G( H d+ n% P
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
0 f- } z5 Z& k* `is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 j: Z ]- _/ l8 L1 j# F. O We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
