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
# Y! g$ A; s6 S: @; _; bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 b8 w; [& v! y) k7 \6 @; d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' z0 Q% m, O- \7 ^" ?; j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% f: n! V3 A! h. j; I, H
answers to our pointed questions.0 k) i% A7 o$ q3 H ~/ G! `7 F
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 y0 ^' `7 F( L, z3 m& Q1 F1 L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ J( r7 W S# ^8 T$ ^! T- z. |& V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ ^& W: a- ~0 z* n. X# k8 b; Q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
G9 c \9 R5 y# Y3 V/ Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
* M6 M) O( \+ h0 T. ~medical schools./ C1 M4 \: O; b( g" O" ~( \. c9 {
' G) z9 o/ ]$ Q5 r" a3 S! \' SEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ p# P" ?& d* X; [! Z4 U7 i, I4 ^government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- I! N3 T6 |* p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 Z$ R- o+ [5 V4 |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 f$ C1 ]9 R& q6 c Uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
M8 T9 X$ Q1 T; Wover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ L) u9 \" b- ^- \) n* Q6 h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 J) c$ p. ~+ }8 N
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ y; E6 o; d( H
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 |0 ~) E1 l" V( ^$ h2 Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 R* e1 x: U( m
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 Z4 F/ ?( w( x# g+ B
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ g* E& |0 N5 B5 a1 R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: R9 |& ?; }+ Hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' G8 @8 n) ]% u8 e
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" h* t3 Q3 N8 }4 ?, O! y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: ]! v V* _& ~divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) Z. r# M2 A7 ^# w% `Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 {- P6 M# Y, w/ W* J- P, |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ }# Y& O; y$ A7 j+ ~& {% d6 S. vcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
# z" q. ~) N; f3 T9 zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 ]3 u- c& `6 B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 ?5 ]& c. y1 n: etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ a# p/ L: w" ]
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* L$ h: [; ]+ i: d! r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 Q2 a. }/ h9 v! dschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
1 {) X3 _, Q W+ }% Zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ H! L, Q$ H, }: D; L, e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 @ k9 p0 N9 \" j1 b3 P4 \
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% s- J8 M1 `5 `, y+ @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 ^1 m8 @) i; {to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 u- O1 w: e/ p' u c- T; f8 Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 ]* s: Y" o! ]( ]5 @' m* V5 W
are spaces.6 @+ w W* w r% n; V
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
" e# W9 k2 k$ u! f. n% Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
- ]0 B1 K( X0 e- b5 S! r+ K$ |own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
i4 S) ~7 |- a' U! r40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' D* S0 \0 K5 R/ F1 q0 wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 w0 Z+ k$ _; s6 k5 kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( [8 ]1 K6 M* a5 \) |8 vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ~/ o# z4 y/ r6 V! k! ]
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ x1 F' E( z" F( K
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# Q1 J; N$ C- ~6 x& ?( T; K- T
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
