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' Y8 |1 Q+ t! u0 ~
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 W% l' G7 H7 x1 y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 B: x7 J5 j; j) Q( c* n3 c4 ~
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 m% ?9 v {# janswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 L) n$ O+ v1 U/ p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 _# E! I/ z! ~
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. C6 v$ x( m9 G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! f D( G' ^0 S1 F# W' m/ ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) J, e3 ~( c9 D* \medical schools.) R T& m) Q9 x0 i: o5 p
9 X j$ c$ W) }/ pEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
! j9 V4 F2 b# @8 h: igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 c$ F/ U4 g1 i. n# Y6 m }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 d, `3 |% j3 X" n2 bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, V! h& G. e* ? Z0 {# E, k# X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- O. Q. F* l9 s' }
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
3 g* t% c$ H( }# xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 W% x9 W0 G2 D1 ~7 w$ ^mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- s7 h" s8 X4 s; Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' @# p9 S" l4 `: d4 Z. Q5 Asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 X/ b: W4 d9 R. D# Z. l X
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
( \0 I# C3 B( o8 [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 c3 F7 b2 E, @4 ]2 H# jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) Z0 L: j3 p9 X( M+ [5 @have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 R8 C; R. V+ z" [3 R1 A/ U" A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 H4 f* ]3 \3 H1 g' l) w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 L' A+ z. e& n3 z5 U% T1 mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: {. W( V; o7 Z* Q8 c: B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; c! N2 Z+ q( [* Y5 q5 m5 K3 Z
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( e2 O& H5 w$ m7 @5 v
charge the fee defined by the state.2 `4 d: O+ a7 t7 t' `: l
0 A8 V% S% [1 ?/ H) N8 Z) N! RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get1 U' L6 ^/ ^2 Z0 e I0 q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 U+ Y( y0 ^, B. g3 B" ]4 W
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& Y6 n% j9 G ^/ @. X/ \' h. ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 M; W& L! o m M3 mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ Y$ {. u7 `) s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 E" K# h* g' ^7 A6 Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- g0 [- q4 w0 R' Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, F, k6 M) O' f9 k' e1 T
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: I( y2 N" I k' I* C2 |+ B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 z) j8 t( ?+ F* i$ H( Ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 [) @( z* u7 K& f9 @' o
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: X: W2 X6 r, z2 S# }" h, v8 nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ v* z- ]* g" Q0 Z2 H' B* U
are spaces.
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+ n7 ?* s# Y3 g1 l! |- RThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ }( f* y0 @+ e. G1 E& U0 n ]- k+ H$ s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* M& y. E6 A! E; ~9 Y, e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
M5 C9 G1 {( i: L% j40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different, n5 @! b( L) q' Q4 ]/ \
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
8 ^+ S' r2 H( |' U! ~6 ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 Y; Z$ m9 s" F9 S \; q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. s7 J( I0 z% g/ o- S5 o
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 X4 k) U% i3 q( O+ ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( g" c& g! D4 y9 r0 R. t0 [
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
