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* n# G* d- ~ I {; e& v! N# L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' {" t* C- _$ H4 C, J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 v" T9 U9 A9 }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( r" c9 H+ Q V
answers to our pointed questions.( T# X0 k: e" ?' G
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ^' s; x+ i! i0 j4 c+ L5 D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( q' e+ v, _) R% Eout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 V6 [7 c7 v, P0 ]+ d7 ~* X
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
$ j( p, n# j! y" H' ~0 @' {to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 ~& W" y" d* ?medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% Q2 d# q. [) ?/ o7 O8 T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' d% ~3 G2 `; I& w% gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& m8 U. l' [( b% p: \, {$ I$ E
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) I% R: N. ?' M' U
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 x) ]3 p5 X# b" i {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; [1 t* \, z0 r8 A9 D4 h; C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 v) r. \! J/ N+ u# C6 z4 cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) [# F( j- m% u0 R5 K+ z3 [shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 p8 e% w0 S9 u! S$ l2 o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: r4 K) @% @# C: H
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 [$ r4 D A: c0 i& H! n3 i
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 W- g' j: W9 @8 i" Rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 W1 z& V+ m0 @8 j. i' h3 p8 @have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
! Y% l# ^+ ], k8 U( ?: `* c7 a8 h3 Lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ U8 [1 z& C, Y" f+ O# b3 Msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 p2 T: [4 `; |9 _) \6 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; M6 b! J! e! `! O" zDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& N" M- A4 ] s/ ^5 ?7 L5 J
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% ?0 U! B9 K9 Dcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. B" |0 U* w6 zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: U% o+ e0 ~* F; g3 hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 r7 @, o+ z& B. b) S
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
9 S( h- I/ i* y* A. R' L; dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- }3 Q c4 o0 G- p+ k3 L: D; {( hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 d, [6 D O2 n: n0 s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% x9 X/ y0 `3 m# c
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people4 {$ J4 ?8 \+ P% y6 X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 n" }( p& s( V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 ~4 ^8 v% g% R4 o- x9 c# ?; ?people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
+ }' O: E P% I6 m% dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" v/ [) Z7 W+ i1 ~7 Q5 ^0 xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* W- Y- [/ N/ B9 i
are spaces.' f2 y& }4 \! M: l8 q
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' o2 C1 V8 i; [. h0 l* H+ Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# W. j: \5 q. T1 R8 `5 w- e
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( B6 [1 C+ ~' w% o6 T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% }$ u! J( G! R6 N7 `# v8 B; _parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 r( Z7 s- V2 M* r5 O! Ibest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" ~* e3 O$ [" I: i3 o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; G/ u2 y ~+ f; f E! J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- ?7 E, D: ~9 ~* f) _: I Q7 ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& N2 T) r- b3 A$ s# p8 e
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
