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
8 x2 s- r P6 g3 H* nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) ~ }$ T# Q3 ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
9 ^% ~2 d8 Z" q( ?, @" c" o& a8 |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* ~5 n8 p- ^9 K' l
answers to our pointed questions.3 E! z! T2 i. i3 z( x$ k
9 i+ j! c' @- @The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 |" L# a2 T- T! M' O- o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
9 {! z9 X- Z& p2 Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
/ ~5 g, o9 }$ \* gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, I6 P& k6 i" `. ?0 g* b" dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: l# |* S; o1 q# cmedical schools.4 L9 J6 s$ e* A
/ n7 u( G. f0 d' I. A1 A/ OEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% f4 y" G( N! Kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants v' e5 i! i; W6 `2 D
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ K" E/ D9 a, h6 F0 t. R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 J2 F) i7 d2 V# a. W
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to& s- Y3 R6 P- t/ X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 ~. d) N8 ] x
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 k$ w6 K6 |4 |" ^( ?+ e5 |3 |
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 ]# Y% b( ^" c3 l2 Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' Q' F, L5 \6 X% d" dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* x2 j {( i2 l, K0 v8 @3 d8 Gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
5 Z& I# h( Z% l1 X7 I9 Y! ?supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
" N, v- J* H. s$ L8 v9 Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ l$ x8 s# }% ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% z% L$ c) { m9 Csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; E! { t" s6 u! w* v4 ?8 ]
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( v3 I6 W9 r1 }) y/ ? U; Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' Z4 w {3 {: d) h1 _$ m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- R+ a4 E2 Q' E2 ^0 U- jcharge the fee defined by the state./ b) A" D( L: Z- j
, O: V% `9 [3 c0 BThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 K( a. m0 X+ f& Ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 U3 a" i9 W1 H5 J+ Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 D& V) H1 o* m( e: ?truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 [/ _' ^, l& |3 T0 a0 y5 B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 B4 z0 u" d/ c& N9 I+ s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on H9 `4 P8 {; `# b
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
8 ?9 ] R* s3 l6 s* H" O9 zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 O9 N) _, a$ d. N8 otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
+ g. V7 {( w' ~; {2 n. E# Q) c* h: mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 Q6 v$ c6 J) }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 M5 T% y; C/ T5 L( m. @1 [, i3 z+ U |
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
9 R) E. }6 z" |. h9 x/ P' abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
5 i0 G2 i x9 Z* M# Xare spaces.
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( [8 R# c' j2 m8 e* [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* M, x* \# f U1 I1 `$ \* q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
; `7 s- t: d- K+ E, X1 [) oown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# l" [4 r. V) H' k
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different( R8 ^" x9 J# x( C
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ j x q1 n" o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( A6 u* i' i9 F+ _/ {: |nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
4 W8 P, c6 {2 w s- Q( dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* t, ^' E' J/ i3 [ e
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ `, l0 J6 T e% m& _" w
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
