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
( R1 X: Y* r" C4 a! X: L8 b ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 d& [4 l! E# y7 O7 _1 `- Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ P# V6 T2 v1 g3 |" G" Q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ G) o0 A# a& [answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% Q H2 B1 z$ H0 @( m8 {6 J45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( _- P; j( b* a d% X Y# W* \1 Tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' c4 A d4 D" n% O- v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 ]5 W f" O4 h w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 r" q1 M4 e$ R/ q: Umedical schools.) K- O: l- M7 ?3 C4 Z# l
# l }& H. Y, rEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ G1 H0 u3 p6 J9 ^& w; Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# O+ a7 G, d2 V- Q. u& I, B# U% C( Z% g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 [, M7 b5 V) f5 e0 Q4 w# s6 W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
9 Q5 b6 l6 g( }. \6 Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
9 `; h1 g H$ A& h3 W' jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 V. Z$ n+ l( O. c! B7 s9 l
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 O# C. g3 t( {mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
4 v" g. B) l: Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 N6 p8 F2 p1 _6 Z, Y) n2 \7 f
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
+ N9 k4 E/ w5 k" e/ L: G% v% kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 S! w0 u$ Z$ [- F" i) `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
, F9 \% d5 J& }: L9 D; h* jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
; U5 f+ ~( z' B1 [; Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ G) n6 {3 _2 Q$ }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, n) h' B( Y3 t* v1 ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- a! c5 y! ?; _: C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ r* o; ]( H# m9 R7 z6 e" s! X5 |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. g. J* h' q7 l5 x* x
charge the fee defined by the state.
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9 r6 @1 r) m! v- KThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- |7 [" j/ K2 Gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: T: o; e5 h! t$ U+ X4 k- Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, F: |, Y0 [" l& }3 Z7 @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
* V0 B0 d& [0 F& I1 t* v: ?: e W5 }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 ^; k5 E" p3 h3 C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% O4 v/ L9 W$ K# L- Fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; r# z- t7 w; O; Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% X+ C0 @6 f& |% X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
5 ^7 t- @. o3 f/ V* h! U5 Vhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 F5 ]- R& J/ F2 s+ i! u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
" H$ n1 c i+ a- ^+ nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
z3 F T6 G$ J$ M1 b$ G8 W" _buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 c8 e& d7 L/ ~, q) @3 U
are spaces.
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; w: V/ T6 H8 c; \( r1 d4 UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( o7 h( _- [$ T# M5 wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ o# F+ |% I) N4 {+ @& U' town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. |2 w" l$ h8 c% w D40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( I# r! A. S" @. }2 Fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* p' a/ u& q5 b% c& E: V! @6 M6 C; v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 U B. _0 a8 F& `& |nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 D. m' q4 R$ q' l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 F6 D! g- D9 Q* w! k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ H3 q) P; k1 f" Z0 b8 @, l
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
