我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 D; m" L* o; s9 ]4 d' I4 e- F
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
3 A7 f* l) d& G# s& Y; }on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 m2 ?/ Y2 v, z6 p, M* J3 ^* f"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
1 I+ d" G$ n; T7 L$ ]answers to our pointed questions.
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) w9 z9 u4 u0 \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! k! {# X" w" j: g& C6 j3 ^8 d1 U) m) w
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 A0 ~4 z5 O7 W0 h* B+ }: c5 Mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 P+ _/ N0 j9 k+ }0 ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. M/ O! ~, w8 C6 N0 c7 ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- H4 Q7 X' A" o* s
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ J6 o( T2 V" y* G; F& i- mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 A$ O( R; c/ `5 W3 O
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
% k0 Y, g* I; O0 C: N4 @ L: tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ Y5 X7 ~( E; |, r: F9 Q, a" ?2 ?& |is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 e# @) @6 W1 j# `! [over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) {8 [ p* V# bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and w* v- n! f7 O4 f: v! L2 s
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# u! y/ X& c2 s, U
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some R. {0 I- v! ~+ w" H
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
2 N9 H7 r# k3 f, Y! fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 W8 p- p3 r, x. R2 K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; l( _2 a9 x# Lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
/ D9 X& Y0 n* U( P. g( o% s$ fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
/ A: m# w1 r8 i8 e7 `8 d* asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 W! Z2 h+ X* Y5 {* p% Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 A+ g# \4 L+ SDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
, ^2 o" q2 I) t8 t7 r9 j* x* Ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 a' P, N- I4 Q1 p6 T: \charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 `& Y! p: }5 Z8 {+ v& ^
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 j& _7 _2 H* o0 m; l. vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big D% c* H" C; n4 s# S7 c9 {; w! Z/ ~, Z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) f7 H% ~0 J+ Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ N. Y* h- M1 \) O( n! q$ dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 y+ b1 o3 J/ P
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! T7 W0 ^: w: D- J D' R0 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 t9 o8 S6 `; _! V+ c: W
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
% w* W" H+ {5 ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 A6 d g4 l8 N, Q9 y$ M& U! |people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' ~1 q% L% M4 k1 {. J. d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& u% L% z" f5 S$ Y+ i3 d7 Q0 m4 Kbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 g3 T6 z8 T8 v) F( t" nare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( S# R6 q4 j6 Rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* O0 I" Q# Q Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 b5 M! W- D7 M' o$ c, a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 K. K' e, Y8 jparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 G% d/ n( J8 z, b; E. r2 v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ y$ t, n# }( T! \% jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 n7 b) Q6 k1 }, ?$ z3 ]car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. W, l7 {! {+ x m- s$ J' w
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; @5 Q. x( w4 q5 V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
