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
; z, r0 a8 Y# o0 A/ g# j3 Jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
y& h# i" D) m" [0 t& oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
0 o: q8 @, d7 {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give! C3 m# i4 L) { S) @
answers to our pointed questions." T8 C) }' `4 b/ A9 \
& ^4 M _& X$ D) O9 UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 K" u/ Z" z/ t" v( @45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& l8 W& A- v8 R5 e D2 U
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 X) s4 s+ B4 ~1 r+ O- m
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 w S/ E* K5 v$ Q; P9 i- Z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- N% s; j& z( ^
medical schools.' ^' y- Q- G: b) f" x& d7 W+ W/ ?
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
9 T n- I5 {- A# F5 ~# z1 u+ Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants J" R' }+ V: |+ [% E% w% Z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 b: g8 j) t4 dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
4 h, i5 [/ i2 pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 l( D7 Z2 X' D" Oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 u2 r( d1 ~9 ?; ]1 }4 ]# I6 Eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
8 r/ F+ z; Y D! |7 @8 fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 I2 C' X6 o: n% s/ }% x
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. o& ~: F# d7 B j% ~! M Y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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$ m: a8 ^0 p- v9 A; aThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
: E0 k+ _) r6 U# dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- ^1 K4 u* m$ D* a6 t- i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 q3 |. e7 j R2 ]8 n8 Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& Z0 F! H2 m6 p. p. S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 P# d! Y% q6 d- }1 p t. L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
, C( w- l& ^' L1 o1 ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.* o6 {/ l3 i4 g# L- `
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! L3 Z6 U0 c& i5 `: Z; fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 C1 I& D" n+ V6 dcharge the fee defined by the state.& D ~3 n! v8 l5 R
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 H) G; L2 U# Y: L2 { uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
6 v/ y- p h- @" J$ j* }$ oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 A1 s( E$ e7 U1 }8 ?
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& ?' u4 A. M5 _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' V: T* _; m9 t& S7 X% M6 m
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 `* j" }# c8 Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ E& x) }: H1 uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
/ X0 a7 ~$ D" m+ z) j- xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) j; P- L3 @( X( K5 ^9 h; j) Chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 r; W, J' N0 g0 w. D% S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& ~' K- A) c) s% [1 m) r0 `' Q& t1 z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, W! ~" g2 s4 B6 d' ~* j) H* |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, F& V0 j7 ]$ s5 l T% ?
are spaces.* N6 {4 I0 Y1 z: N( {2 Q% b' n
# l; N' D# g3 |3 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: W! b0 B% L2 x6 \' |" H
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 B1 u1 T5 r7 X$ z, S) {own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
: D9 {. L# ~' v' N0 t7 ^* }3 o5 ^! S. `40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) Y: I! r _9 W& { a; ^! Q, w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 o- ~2 ]: [' e" O. sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
( X3 T, M2 W" W* N* @0 I0 i M6 Wnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 n% Q- A, q) h* U: Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' V) n2 |6 g' |* C3 Q6 M1 i r0 p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' `5 l8 v$ B! }5 K" s* K) I* ?
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
