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( P$ V% j7 N( E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: N; I/ {+ b9 L- e5 H6 z- N
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# S ~2 e( X6 l* Q4 \3 M" Z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
" y5 g( J8 q; p9 j6 g5 k' Ianswers to our pointed questions.5 b* O) N/ d% c! ?7 y
Y# Y9 }5 k" M+ l; ?( K" BThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 @- C! E- }3 J& ]
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! D% b2 ]9 y% j7 z- t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) V" p6 m& ~5 L/ {5 e
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 U* n) E% Z: x$ _3 {4 p% Q; a3 h
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 j0 o' p. o s* Z' w+ a7 J; U
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 g) ~" V% Q; r3 [4 @: r1 A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ Q4 y$ ?. p; g4 G& i \3 X! Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: a" E" T1 e. A2 g& s! Xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 W, H4 D& N4 X* A
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# \& [$ Y1 x+ Y$ P* m
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
1 m; n$ q+ z4 p5 Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% j; ~( e5 g3 Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" ~ t* j* l0 d' {+ hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 F+ R& r, K' S: E h+ | e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' y( ~+ r5 x. X( j
: U5 j( b4 W8 l8 q7 r1 iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
; X9 l" n% }; ~5 d! r) C8 C( V% Oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- E, p# M# s# ]" \$ R/ }; s4 T# isupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 y u* Z2 m' ~$ s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ K4 @3 u+ T* [- v' l0 c+ N9 [thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
3 |" ~, ~3 d4 o% I" j V2 x$ W, tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ A1 P8 Q- x$ A2 a9 g H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
# Y8 A; v! ~* Y" }) XDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
6 e6 T9 f2 g$ {9 w. {a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. b5 a$ w" ~3 B: `9 S+ gcharge the fee defined by the state.
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* R$ h; i* `/ U/ z* X, i/ qThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" A2 _' H( O/ h# R6 ^on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
% V4 n# E' d$ m( }7 @' L2 Eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) H: f( _# P0 ^8 G2 g) M9 n) d
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
0 W6 D" S1 a, G7 k: t" s: Eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, V4 u$ A% u W
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! O: d! N5 p2 l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& O7 `( U" q7 W. w' P& c2 ~1 @5 Uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 G' L7 {& k" t G0 J
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. Z. D* P8 [) P: `+ y3 ^" Xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 J* R$ {/ l* g# @. n! J9 A
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: Q4 y7 m8 p3 B; y1 l& U$ N( p1 zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or' _ T- A, U: W3 \; g, x! B
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 k0 g2 V4 }/ ?% o# ?# Dare spaces.! z0 m# l. q# ^5 P* O
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* l5 ^& f: u6 R; t$ b- X2 V. A1 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 }: W, X+ Y% Y/ P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 e! z, q+ D4 C1 p4 t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ V% v0 n7 M4 o7 r7 |6 U$ }/ Q0 o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
1 C: b# f! w- a! d; }9 r; F. r3 O3 |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* \6 E3 e, u. p
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
- r6 A8 Q$ B0 }8 R& y! m) y0 }car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 R6 `* M- m2 n; d. d' a, S9 j
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( O$ J! E% T6 ^8 N/ O) h4 X
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
