我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living0 |& ~* @) Q: ?5 F3 {4 R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went9 V" n+ v" B1 A( C/ t
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ u q3 j/ k: p3 b& [) O4 ]
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' \0 k1 R1 R5 W$ L0 d+ b7 I7 T/ lanswers to our pointed questions.
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- B4 G& K8 ~5 t' uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 I0 T% K8 n) S
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ Y6 K* M2 v* a3 uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! h% [' e, \5 P9 ?7 D; zfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 v3 j: @% ~7 C3 H2 Bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 \6 W+ ?6 O% C
medical schools.6 t& s) l% q l# t; h0 \5 o
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- H9 R7 }& E' Q5 ]% L5 ^3 Q: G, S4 Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
/ L) U5 a* W N9 w4 Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* r# s7 L! |; }7 A! J7 L, ~$ I* r
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ o* {- b2 r1 c x9 A0 Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to R, h& k$ [( q9 H. r- p
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 @6 `9 R2 @9 l
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ S; q! k) P! p" f5 i
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk4 B" e, L* s; _0 \( [
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) A, `4 a% L! p( Z0 v0 Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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) L+ ~9 L3 r( G3 w4 [1 FThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# t8 m& J9 B4 z/ m* o0 n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- n$ Q& Y5 ^4 }8 rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 e2 f" F. H3 ?5 C- m) A( ]% zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: m- T' A0 |0 B5 a9 q# M; r+ j1 L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- E3 P7 u1 c; z+ d2 ]sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 I3 A7 e% |3 Q- _, C
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% E0 z" i3 {7 s) u
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 W% v9 _( s/ d$ ]# C# a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 b% T W1 ]: m9 O3 ucharge the fee defined by the state.
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* I* n/ g8 Q9 IThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 b+ ^9 b7 l& u% j6 ]8 M
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% V8 j+ T4 f( f) F- _# V) Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, S4 e9 |; E& W9 y; z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 N! M8 w: o6 m8 R! L+ G2 d" R, }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 \- R" o. r7 o* e) s4 H5 H3 s- Q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 O1 e! v8 @, J: o/ Z* l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( [1 Z" E5 p9 _3 U! |7 b- n" h3 b2 Z' K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; l, k6 K/ s, S7 g+ `
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
4 m/ U: B D: Z5 Y* ^3 Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 M9 u, D* F# r4 hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: t: y" N; V& J& Y- H
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or% D: @) X- T7 ~. I2 B7 `# m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
, z8 E" ~ _) R" @are spaces.3 S! P/ J$ S8 U' |: n
. v1 k+ R- |7 H- fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ f7 K& U8 r' O, U% b n+ x
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! x7 L1 B8 u! U$ \# Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ ~4 W+ l% W7 W7 M& e! C( R40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
1 D" J; q9 g8 } m! i" F, r, lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
% v1 }) U- ]6 Ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
2 ]- }- H! E5 l8 P- t9 p! L! Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
. x# U. h" |9 L& \. g2 s+ L" Ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
- d9 u0 N5 T) W- H7 [is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ P8 N3 a' p3 T; Z/ R! A4 T- t; I We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
