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 F: F S3 K* R0 dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
; D) L' l4 A1 l# |/ aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
* x Y. o& a3 M F. R; t9 a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
) d9 y- y% m r" fanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
+ v5 a) K; @0 p6 ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand" Z q+ l J8 S' U0 M2 Q. `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 G$ A4 J( }! s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! @6 J1 t; E: Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% D/ ^- t$ O; t( xmedical schools.3 l6 v& B* m5 R: Y9 p3 X" F- H' Z
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! c, {* d( I1 z5 ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 A0 m8 D: }9 G5 @* `' J9 @; v
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 l% F: v* ~4 F
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
9 ?8 x& l5 O) c( }8 H, Vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! { z. O. V' r# q* \
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 s' Y- x/ a4 D/ ]' A" H. g0 K3 Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 `. [' t- z1 W/ v2 T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' ~8 b2 u! }) @* _# p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( c0 y' h$ ?/ ]% m* {8 isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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% `4 L, ?3 Q3 ]: z8 s" ^The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 D! h3 v% i9 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
* q4 X7 F% X, B. Rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
4 ^9 i3 N/ {- G* Z; T: T, Y0 P! Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) L, s& n8 l3 `+ V, |& G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 Q& R6 N e9 }$ u5 K! q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 [: ~/ }1 {; {6 t
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 A6 Q, ~- f- H6 ]8 A
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ X# t. V8 m+ U2 t+ i& P: Ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 q# A0 r4 ~# k* L4 _3 B; g
charge the fee defined by the state.* R) `/ T( g$ B' I6 p5 }) m
5 M. w3 M3 [% B& R* G& l, j" iThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" i+ f9 C5 j6 Z0 S% e; l9 y1 F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" r( W0 W1 w0 m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 N, {' j+ @ ~: W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, q5 O. _' g, d- V1 f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 w( y, e6 M" p Y4 B
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- a( T9 v6 p; c0 P/ C# F+ g2 e/ i
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* V7 u) Z5 o$ {5 M( m, B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
3 o7 v( r% r1 ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 ?! m; u2 D. w; B) v5 @! xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' d. R, \( h/ M5 r* x: b vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: i, W9 m5 M `* K3 c# x% [to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' s& S" b& E0 |/ J* W; Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' f6 u2 l! k- Z, O& jare spaces.
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' l3 ?+ P/ Z; v8 H# F3 FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
0 X! v: i) F* Z1 `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ z* v4 G5 P* |own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 C8 s2 ~, k! i/ q; D2 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- e# ?" d; B: q9 T% C6 Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# z2 a1 n9 t' v$ xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ V3 U' H6 n. e1 S' tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 s. \! s# y/ B) v8 }. K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; s- r: ?2 A+ }. N' cis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 \8 h; d. ^+ y1 W0 } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
