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
3 Y E( G/ G; H/ C7 d5 j! Pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; k( l, n# P' I6 ^2 T( D: |! [6 l; }6 z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% U) X: b6 t, o1 A$ J! l' F; M3 N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# b' }6 h( K0 I( U4 o" Qanswers to our pointed questions.
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9 w& n7 D; B' T/ V2 \: o. g6 VThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! x) T5 {* O* G5 ?1 X% ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
& f/ V( A3 A9 \( s8 `8 S9 Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 |; F; c- v# }; k7 t
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 M: g w- I' H$ Y& f! k; M% eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ G% G5 h6 r7 M% `3 H1 F' \medical schools.6 o7 N9 L8 c3 h/ R0 ]6 r' n
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ a6 W; n/ Y; X& c8 l7 _, p
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 `' @) n, B* z o$ T
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 R I- S) }% d7 o) x5 U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 |' p# r- F9 M7 m6 N( Ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 j5 E& W. {* K/ i5 T; M2 J5 ?
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& O3 U3 t, }, D% A& E8 S [: ]
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ s% @! {: z" Y0 v! T. Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! J6 q6 \7 }+ r9 E1 ^
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some! {/ j& u$ D8 m* R* J8 r) [" ~
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 S1 [9 A' `. R/ b. o6 X; p% l8 k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 C( `' |# ^2 _3 J" j8 L$ ?
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 e" J6 M# l" ?; z4 ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# b8 }, o6 {2 b" {; x6 c
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 |8 k5 S# f8 o! u: G' L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; i4 u0 u1 Q% Q! K" Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ [& {* }! T, g7 R) g0 W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' ^+ i- i2 y$ n) H: f& f9 `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; |+ {- j& j" l$ I, ~+ M$ t
charge the fee defined by the state.
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1 ~# o) m8 q% z4 D" z" HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 J% J' C g" v/ L+ F; q' hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 g) s- ?8 ^6 y- [' @of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 D7 H( d( m9 Y0 o. e9 E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 G7 ^- A+ c! i) a5 t; [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) f: Z+ K) }9 o8 B4 rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ p Z/ u- @) m) S) R% p% \+ Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 A, Q" F4 s8 Q3 k3 ]; T/ gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
2 F4 x" n& ]4 [6 \trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
5 l7 P5 w! x! c- z( Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
0 v; `: u) o9 D) Y4 d7 k( fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 M+ M! E, d* w q+ M2 ]to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 [# y5 }$ g7 j0 I `9 ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. o2 ~) Q w. E& f: V
are spaces.2 i1 T E( b- H0 t$ [
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
# K7 K: h. m5 d* }+ ~# ?6 N% ~to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. P6 J: }* K( P& S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: R5 {9 I O* `
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 V2 }- \ H6 J& w3 }3 z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 i" s3 [" X6 R2 r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% D0 O: t' q# G+ Z @: Y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ k4 F+ k* _3 L- b# O! e; Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 r) M/ R) M1 P8 H2 x' a1 \- `4 w
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. P1 ?9 Q( u. k* S, H
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
