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
$ ^5 |0 Y6 k" h c' p7 x1 k- zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. G% q0 D/ u9 T/ h8 d- ?0 v; kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# U# X6 O, }" x' Q3 ~3 P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% N( }/ v( O3 l4 tanswers to our pointed questions., j& B, r5 S: y; \* L3 ?
. I& T+ U- N6 t/ e# q/ xThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' y# R- R8 G. D/ ^; e! D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; C7 ~* t& z; c+ Y: o4 B8 N; A9 l: h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
; [6 R7 z3 j1 P, |, F# G- }7 {5 B$ kfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ w# U2 W `5 w/ I, w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ a) q9 a* l; \: l4 s* k$ Ymedical schools." |4 f- x( r/ K
1 O7 V& b0 K# K. b1 i9 o! T; sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
3 d; ^. l" g3 K3 `* g& `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& O$ @$ Z4 h9 {' rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 k; N* n" q$ e( M# C) t3 P6 iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 f! T6 i; X* |. k+ Xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 u$ m6 }2 W# R& \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, `' o/ x. T* W! q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 i" P1 W7 k) g7 o+ c/ E, H
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 J8 q v" _8 Y) v' b# u% Q/ X) Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( K. Y- Y+ r5 @" Msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! Y8 ?( ?% B; Y* l7 a
I! ~" P `1 ]; cThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
' f0 ~0 _* L# H) bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 e3 i5 k: e8 T" X" _1 N9 |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' w, [2 n# T3 r9 a9 \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
& e5 ]5 ?3 f$ \; J* n7 M& |" qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 C) d; P+ O3 g3 m& Z* I Z4 D3 ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 X, e, g) ?& \2 M( t" x) p( C: o
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ o/ d- U8 |( ]( t. Y/ ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
' ^# ^! x0 R1 Ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 a5 f- O) m6 K- c. @" jcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- ?) D- `2 i( k) D; ^
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% |' ^+ L$ k* O6 C5 e1 }of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, `6 j5 z+ Q+ U2 X D% S1 Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- }" u/ M; j$ _+ A* t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 P' o8 r4 M0 n6 W4 |4 A
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ L; k1 T8 S, G1 g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* s1 e) L3 B3 A1 l
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 a2 @) |) I% V: v L
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 N$ m6 B2 \: L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
# m! y# g8 Y+ ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 ^. t$ L# z4 q9 G" `6 W8 D) n
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* d. @# p9 T' n, Q: v
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 N3 Z4 b3 c. T0 o7 o
are spaces./ c6 H9 p" v1 a4 f
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 R5 g, H, V+ u& T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ E9 F+ Z3 k* N. l7 N8 {! K Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 n/ x- h# f1 P5 T- s% ~4 ]7 y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
$ z6 ` x9 g# P- T Tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 D' e: b9 c! s/ h! Z9 K6 q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
A; n$ H9 C5 ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- r( U" h1 ~& y' V# ^/ Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% U0 w, S$ p9 }$ Z8 ?% b
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- c8 z% l- G) Q6 m/ J/ @
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
