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/ ]0 C+ G: J/ c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
4 W- E, V: }6 a1 j7 Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
4 v3 d, D3 C6 B* Y* K- m9 L) j! E"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 V( n, o( g6 S6 s R# ]
answers to our pointed questions.( s% g, H! _+ @" _% p
+ y; d) y8 S) G3 |( j, W( VThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) x0 ^0 L$ _7 ?% J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 ]) c# |' \& ?$ E+ u$ s" c4 G1 u9 h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. v- V6 j7 ]7 I1 ~5 x6 k9 Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 ~, U: w6 p4 j& {/ K7 @. N1 o
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
0 [9 o0 O( L. f. I* q$ Qmedical schools.* r+ z* ?% B" ^) L
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: R/ I& L8 A/ E& O2 _) F6 t3 bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 X& x; N! [7 ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
) t, X; E! f3 D: j$ I. i$ @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 @* [, ^$ N- `6 ?7 D! s3 x9 tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
3 P0 P0 K$ L X! Y$ \% a" Q- l7 Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 y. A! Z$ q3 B$ s6 ~8 y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' J; d) X& x' @ D
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 U$ k! g5 o- a) f6 Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ K7 J5 ?) M3 i3 ^8 X2 `8 y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" k& D- R# u0 [; W' e$ K0 m& Q8 Y1 O
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* T4 Q* d- _0 W( Ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) ^8 p8 ]& s7 L5 T. Yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 p t: G; j3 K6 x6 w7 v1 K5 A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* v0 N; U9 q% R1 v5 J
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 o* v1 e. Z2 \. W7 B6 M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 G- L' E# x% E: a, JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
9 R* e2 V: u2 v9 a% d% oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only+ O2 W: d5 ~) Y
charge the fee defined by the state.8 {4 T! x' Q8 {9 t# d# o
) w- \4 _; Q" L% m! VThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. w0 {6 o/ @, F" n5 D7 c/ yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) Z5 Y( b& h( G3 q$ P3 @& Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 a: Y6 B; s/ C% M7 \3 g$ r( e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& q) I; ^( A* h: h( k+ o
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the" R" L8 h# T+ Z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
3 H' p6 k0 O. s- X+ @/ Xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# |7 a4 k) W. N
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
% K G) K& H4 k. f; F0 y8 ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* w N8 T( x* Z& a/ I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that t) r/ j _) q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 P X+ H. y+ ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" N' a, K% I% B8 Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
& S) ]8 |- P% R; [; F$ care spaces.
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8 @, y. p4 R, e- N. z1 w. hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- h* k3 _# e) p1 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ h& P( u, ~ h) V$ ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
F9 X7 h/ N8 a6 e' Y& A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* c- N! B- Y' v! O' Cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
; [ D, | F8 K4 q! ibest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 V& Y4 @2 Y6 k% A0 g( Unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
0 t) C/ F1 [- V4 J. tcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
9 d5 l$ R8 K6 }" J0 F: y! kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 j$ b9 ^4 M- v
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
