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
5 c8 n9 T* M& Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 Q! u( }6 v" R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," [8 R( O- S8 k7 w4 |/ ]2 W2 H
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ @& t8 \' U* M1 a3 p1 }answers to our pointed questions." J$ F5 J! C u. a g
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& A! r$ T" W. }8 E7 f45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 l& \4 G& `1 u& v: Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ y- L" o" y; q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 R, X3 {' A3 E5 s, Zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% n6 \# F& l- D2 y1 Hmedical schools.
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" W$ D* I0 G5 T0 ~' r! Y- BEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) S1 m6 y7 u. Z) K& S, l/ v& _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, A7 V5 N. `/ _) w0 w* \$ }& k" N
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ `( B" W, i" D8 q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* E# b t9 s/ u
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 ~0 I+ t; J2 V0 L
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& }4 f: o! g* @
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
5 _5 g4 h2 _, r. }% `7 ~( h0 d1 fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( ]% `6 b! r' M% Dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) j. P d$ h' k( Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.- G8 j1 C+ j; g8 p1 {
7 W7 O9 J' U! L& X/ U; h+ i* M& ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; D2 }3 r" |2 K; `, S/ `+ }private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ g9 F' O9 S5 i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 k: r8 k' E" C
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* c2 L6 X8 S) G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
/ v7 N/ V2 y5 y% F) w8 ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 O3 M) X b6 [- ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 i6 E# |0 s) g. p/ D. zDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ X1 \9 I- v- q; h: A" N9 O$ v9 Na lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ q% _7 }% p0 X, |5 X! Pcharge the fee defined by the state.
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4 s- S# a; q% dThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ ?3 {1 K- a5 `( c9 Q' _0 K
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ m( u. M" k( K& N0 \! Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. x9 \7 P& l+ G2 Ftruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' ?4 k& A+ y$ b) ]seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) f) j i9 A" t) O
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& Q+ Z- U2 \" ~- i1 ]3 k0 y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
) {; l7 W+ R8 h3 I9 ^you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 T7 m$ z& r# S9 ?
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
y3 b# x, l m/ Lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" ]7 l" Q9 z# S2 {
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
, v) w# l' o# @5 i8 b6 xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 O' G% E: E: x [, V$ ]6 t
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 y! d: m5 `3 ]6 [4 W1 care spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 n% u- k" l6 h4 M; V- x6 x7 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# n" i9 b& \# [7 g' V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 b* L V. A( \; r7 G* |. r
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; A+ I9 k( ~2 r) }' \6 H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 j* \3 B# v' E, W4 s; E% j3 D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
; l% M( `& I8 W- y5 Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
2 m: W8 U' x& q, Dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* v0 m7 r1 ~- P) W3 z* X1 O
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., k' C. i# R; ^% m% K3 s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
