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 d8 s) d6 h- A( Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 d: S0 s6 P) r; @3 Xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
/ ^, L f, S5 x9 J: q+ [: D"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
& Q( _/ e; F7 ~1 eanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 e: ~! o4 B3 }) Y* s- m! p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ J2 \0 Q; }' k- a/ J
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
( ~5 n8 R! b4 O. C: o# t7 ]8 Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
J$ E- w: t) L2 F9 q8 _( Gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
1 d6 k P& q& ?" nmedical schools.1 v" h& s* [5 o
6 ~3 O: ^$ z0 ]* ]! L! |5 PEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: h1 g3 X% t3 i# ?9 ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 F) v' z. X0 ]0 i2 R0 Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& T7 p+ L& T+ A7 k. H7 y2 Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) e* ~# k: a9 O
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 `0 |1 C2 P8 ~0 y8 H% B& f0 ]2 Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
$ B% k1 ~3 R p7 a# ]seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 u' B/ W5 G V* l4 w- imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk4 g1 Z, H, }6 \9 A' c( B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 Y4 ], Z. g$ jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# H9 q* z0 J Z8 W* t( X' x
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
1 X5 B2 `! x1 W7 P5 Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- ^, E+ X; B9 F0 O- Z Csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- o; V0 t I/ p4 T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ \. y; D! h1 |- }, i- ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) @" M8 q% c* c
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 \+ @5 M# s( j8 {' _divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 I1 y. F+ F; @6 L; w1 q! D7 c( @
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
) |3 b7 H% y$ }& D, w3 ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 ?6 v+ @9 i, A: fcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% A! \6 m# S8 U" n! X) F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ F% D( W! \% v, }- [# _# N
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 S: m H5 h6 S, T f5 r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 f, `& M' x( f" | G$ @+ H
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 p; I7 B+ e1 s% t$ ], cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; x9 [5 ~8 B9 m* _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, s5 ]7 I5 D5 W9 Q- J0 ^4 }& m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 v2 V* U1 z& {2 D
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ q, m5 u4 \3 w2 Z- U6 ?hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' V1 X. m1 g7 o2 l/ {: U" z7 N1 Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 I1 {5 }' B; A6 i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 B) W0 o" Y" Q5 t T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ M" J. q. H/ D$ v. A
are spaces.9 J" z4 {) H" ?9 i
5 _: N7 _: K+ s" H, y3 CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
9 K1 ~2 R A7 @7 }9 bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; W$ u. I' l! y2 ^own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: b% u0 p3 `2 k+ ^7 I, n& E: \1 t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: k* u5 O% ~( w+ S9 P; e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 d$ W/ a0 k- @ K$ kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; R. \ ] P. S. Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" P* x# m& \( _' p" I" c8 j3 h) r# X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. l7 W9 D! `: w! @5 a, I4 S1 T/ V4 f
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( Z& u6 Q# K) w$ q/ t, ^) A We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
