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
: i8 z. o' j& m+ I Qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( P0 Q! y! L" W* n0 I! j
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 w8 [& w, ?' w; L
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; j2 n' | ?9 H) _5 V
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 _- r2 G0 y4 f- ~8 _' |* z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 y! @( r1 \" A; B
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
" c9 v- X4 O, i' x. t6 _$ lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
% o- F4 l# D! w9 P( k3 C1 c, ?to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 j( w$ H" e5 n# R" gmedical schools./ _4 Y; y o7 `# S; m
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. R- U) a8 s$ h8 v+ agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 s2 ^3 _7 O: w/ Z- {to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 m `: W R3 k7 l
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
" v$ G* N1 Q; [8 P7 H$ v& S% Vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ D- j7 I- } p( ~
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There* t0 Q1 g' A8 m' ^5 Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% X3 S4 X0 c/ Z P8 }1 }7 z# Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. D0 I9 M; P2 X" \
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# \! r, J( x. e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 }. s! @3 O0 E; I# h0 N
9 V' [, ~. c! eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* P2 v- I) b, F7 n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 k7 _6 I" I! t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% r( V, Y1 X1 k* `9 M4 m* }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, U! R/ ~4 U% o# d6 Q# R# O3 b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ U3 n5 j a8 `& S8 p, v
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
2 J. v0 D; ]+ sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* [' n" T4 l) u' h% J
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 A, |2 H0 \2 n3 F5 r6 ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ `7 B3 J& f( k! F" c
charge the fee defined by the state.5 ?2 l/ ^4 n7 s
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& F0 w3 D0 G6 h
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
" w1 j6 }: y; C2 n) X, kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 z9 y' X# n9 C2 L$ i
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
3 F" t: S* L" vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 a6 V8 c& G5 N+ q2 T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! |0 C2 E: V. C x" }( F+ ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, y1 X, c. @) n- } e0 ~/ {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
1 p! u3 `! m, a. Ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 k& x# w$ I1 O/ i& T9 G3 F% G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* K0 I* p9 V. N B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ p" K) _; @. y0 i; Y. F0 |
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( m6 n- A5 P' p& L. ]* fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; F/ R6 L5 `3 V" b7 v8 vare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi) c! z( W& X- U4 L6 d& f- s7 }7 S% m
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) s, T6 B! \) eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; E1 ~, E \+ G- k7 J# ?5 @
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
/ C: C8 l' d1 i! d0 C0 O. ` Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 t$ f9 d% y1 j7 {+ s8 }
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; s" ]* }0 s- R2 W
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& X7 q, l& C% p' |. O+ d, W& W F% n; J
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; ]' O8 |+ ^; n7 S7 \# i$ Y4 {
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) }# W" o8 K1 d- @ m
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
