我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living1 T# p6 `5 }' ^' ?. r; J
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ K! x3 ]/ a" V0 H, ^
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ R' L, h1 [& ] X+ I1 c+ b3 j0 h7 e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* b2 O' D% v" N9 eanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
! d: l" a0 R$ R$ q6 [# j45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; t w) d$ ~5 b- A* h! i4 @" Mout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 Z4 N. j, _( ]2 t, p( B( Z/ N
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 t* ]) _; E. Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 b$ m: d+ l' n: f9 a: r z5 [
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
& U8 W+ ^ o( b1 Q$ Y% xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% o) l) Z, }0 u( J& R6 }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 i% W2 t8 U/ C# v
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ @( p; ?: t ~ m. E" pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 X, m7 v: }2 Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
* m( ]( r; v. qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( L( S, J- v1 U4 u" }1 ~3 Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) ?+ U P- q* `9 J# Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ f# h( d, d' j2 Q( ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( \2 J/ \. D! \8 ]& E5 ~0 D7 Q4 O; J
4 K) r$ k' c0 }* S6 OThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ Z# G( y7 y% e! p$ ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 g, \* Y8 g/ }$ A5 _' o, T" K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% v4 e' E" T% o4 w# _2 c4 l, `have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 G2 L9 Q3 D* z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) t4 \/ ^1 e) B' ^. u usitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
\3 v/ e+ W: @7 S9 K# W0 Cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 `$ {, {; f" t2 D$ A2 |0 TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ e2 o; w# L0 a# R2 W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' _8 A, L% b8 R# U; b/ }2 d2 O# xcharge the fee defined by the state.
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$ P/ e7 L- d$ f# CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 _* u$ M' Q4 e' |& E- @# ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ h( Z: r8 ^/ G$ ?! N' K9 _+ @# z8 k
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 h2 Y' {& l4 ~! F) w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 A2 d+ f( l3 Y$ C% g" g% t5 Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# p- d! |% u- X% N2 Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- C# k/ f) s$ u
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ T6 R! Z" q1 z+ a- V) qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* q0 h& U W2 ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 C8 s2 W/ q2 ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
, t; J# G, h6 U/ apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 n4 {8 ?2 A6 d6 i5 e; H; [to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ n% f0 {' k, N2 o* G9 d8 N8 t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
- `1 m- v s- W. h6 q* c9 qare spaces. X% ^/ O) W0 [$ d. |
- ^- ]4 ^, n1 _ A% `There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* f3 V& |/ Q7 z3 b9 M% \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- Q D# n; O( E n, i* w) p! [ k; W. W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, w& N* \0 ~3 u" x4 T8 Q; |
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; I. C3 C) O7 L6 L) _3 dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: _; [# i1 r4 C. N+ e9 Z6 A3 W. l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! O2 F' v. z) c d+ O" i; e
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 @/ _; W7 l, J/ o; W, R. ?6 ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 Q: l# v3 Q& Q3 ]is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ N7 P, h. p/ X/ Q/ ~* Q# t
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
