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
Y6 @1 r* H& @% J! e) qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( r- u7 M- P: K
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
1 r# i6 e2 W8 J4 c+ }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ u& j7 E( R' d6 panswers to our pointed questions.
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+ P% X1 t9 U: A$ X3 Q1 jThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
s* n; m0 d% I. B- g. W7 S) b0 K45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, v V& p# V* }5 X/ ?, jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ P |, h& G$ ^3 _9 W, b. u7 |
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ H2 u4 W2 @" [5 }) p; b
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
- |" S' i |; u( h6 O4 cmedical schools.& U" D, P" w4 {. m+ z0 j; M
! a* L, a- o+ ]' J8 J7 W8 JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 t! Q" I& N/ W4 O' ?
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. U# D2 y9 D! ^# H
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 X$ Z) z$ \+ _. \" i
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; `: V% i, Y! } P7 _% @4 P
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 e/ k' G$ z0 L' H
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* r$ h5 }$ v- j- o' T {
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( V8 k# S& a$ y/ J! U1 }( b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" B( z+ h5 ~7 w. k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
. S6 G! i3 l( I. D7 G. b9 Y5 qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 G' e' ]5 S2 J- v. D a7 I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
1 g. _% s2 r8 B$ H( c1 Hsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& {" i ^' f' S% z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; Z( R: M: e D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
: F4 p/ Y* l+ x' j5 c4 F/ k" fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 e# Y) H5 {0 m) z4 P9 ^divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* u) x' f- p9 c& L3 ~/ n5 ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% P" ^4 v$ W% ^- [% ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
5 Y+ m6 K" Z! E+ f5 ?+ wcharge the fee defined by the state., w9 L" d, h% M; D0 o9 G
; ~* Z2 x- Y2 j- O. ?There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' O4 f/ ]: s, ~; G/ k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& a0 F. ~4 w3 L* \+ P* u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ a7 }) n1 V0 C+ H" Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( S: h. d- }; P$ t5 \' v" b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ r% e: E. L) q) Mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( G8 ]! K# I" m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, @4 x; ?5 H+ G. R, gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* X9 r) ]# }2 w% u) ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
|3 m: A1 K7 f6 Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 f' ]2 @4 t( D5 N! a7 w5 D# J$ O, Zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 E$ q2 X5 v/ d" P$ k
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( N7 V! s I! x* c1 ~! Q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) [3 Z: h- K% k/ m' `2 J) qare spaces.5 ^( t2 V) T9 L j* p9 \0 q
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
5 l0 i; u" e: h, \ `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% n6 V# ~" l$ l
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 {4 B' j7 U& V2 m1 s1 c; z- b$ R
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 x/ [8 o# l% p/ q, l$ Jparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 x7 j* q& P- ^
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
& {7 i. n: T( v s2 @- u6 T6 M4 h" ^nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( I5 a' @- D& h* Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
' N# |! J3 _! [$ z. b' j# z6 bis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 q/ A; F8 u5 J" Y. r/ X* [2 f& b
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
