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
* W N" v! K/ L$ E) u2 D& Cstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
l5 ~- a) t( {! q( [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; D: q# y8 r& o4 D0 F8 s& q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, Y+ W% W7 L1 w4 k( ~8 R! c0 j. j
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 i$ ?) ]3 R( |' @7 t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" q) S, C V, T+ {, ~7 |out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
* L' f1 Q7 B1 h" }+ Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! O" J- @4 U9 B) P' }8 ~# [
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 Y& Z. y& v( E: r% cmedical schools.
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* V* T( D2 Z3 E6 ?) ]) O+ z }Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; t# v: f9 \* p) C/ Y: A8 |
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 `2 s4 q& S- f) ^to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
$ h- r) Z% X4 p) ^0 A0 {0 Tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* q( ?( z# X5 x" p4 W# b& u: s& _
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( C$ w+ E/ T/ t5 wover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! E1 e( q* b4 h; k* ^! H
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& k1 i0 q1 D* F# W$ ~
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- u1 ` r/ N, ~* _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. s0 d8 S7 T# ]8 Z" M, S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
0 n$ e$ U8 a( @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 j* _# U9 y8 b, c/ G) _. O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; ]/ E" w% p: Z k4 g: Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
1 Z1 D1 V. c9 N; Dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- G. J, ]$ s5 s' d& y+ G$ \+ A
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 B5 l1 e& \+ Ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
0 x$ g: b% L' F% }/ R) cDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( ?8 M( f- p$ v+ a9 m9 n5 k# L; _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# L5 f0 u4 d; `$ O3 e$ p
charge the fee defined by the state.1 r8 E, y+ [# O) o/ A
/ l$ I& S2 a( uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% `9 ?- Z* y" K# Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 l/ R3 s$ y5 |+ A0 Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% o' L% e0 }2 Y7 z ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 N& P/ D. J! n0 t. d# a( Q+ r
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 y% I% U, H+ @# }6 @, U1 [1 U' {5 Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* Z9 c$ ^ ?1 c& H. j6 \& g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' L- w/ i& A4 }" b2 _. }# e! o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
' W/ w% j! `8 O0 q1 M* @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 E% D$ v( K# `$ {) E6 Q# v! D6 Hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: s) H r% Y r( N+ p/ ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
# h a6 w7 B) ?) H, Wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
# x C3 n5 [, h; Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" N' ? d/ h. d9 ]( W! Y0 o) Ware spaces.9 v8 C! Y8 ^# U2 b& B
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ ~+ L/ n5 n7 S3 ?" w
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 W$ ?: y# A3 c6 }0 A/ r/ n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ f- `: [0 x* q* h7 O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( j. u+ X( O0 ], gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) N3 P7 d& w4 w, \# m
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ S% q- o+ q6 {$ n4 m4 P
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ L. ?, t3 T6 ]4 K ]! R, z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* w) S( ?; p& |( k* l" n# Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 H7 Q# M2 c& W ~# G+ s, Y6 L
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
