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
; J6 @7 k3 S# @+ @8 L8 Kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& ~3 L' B; ?* W
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
- C3 G j ]5 f4 g0 v. k! u9 k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
/ V/ I$ k+ f* d. b& uanswers to our pointed questions.
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3 t4 Z- u6 y) N4 e. S) DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
( X% o, Y# f2 f% H: j45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
& B4 w5 R" G( I0 L% bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
2 f3 ?3 X9 w8 G3 M$ [. p2 q, G lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ D4 g4 x) f! \1 R% Y- }9 L
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- i: i0 s* j5 w( f9 V
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
" e: D& u2 A( }' b# Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ I6 C1 T+ g3 `: S9 d5 m# U; y0 }, g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: s8 T m, X9 b: C4 |9 V. |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# S( t* x. `1 ^
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. t0 f% A: X, y* y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
) C, [) E* u5 gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) ^5 g8 S* \, t. R& P+ b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 ^! Q. R$ V! @$ rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 ~9 V+ i4 s V# v6 U# X+ T0 P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; o' C5 X1 b! i8 b) T1 v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: K4 P9 G% a3 jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people n0 d1 U$ X+ o6 G6 b. z r. {( e
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& Z5 D- @3 z2 \+ X T7 j
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, k9 L: E+ C: {3 Y( A8 O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% H# J! l; f8 y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
- @: ?7 u: ?" ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 X: @, f8 T( N0 x# I9 ? v; q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& G, {0 Y; P" j0 d1 v& o6 H2 _
charge the fee defined by the state.1 k, x& M3 e8 G" d
) g: c2 B/ ^. f3 S* x" q8 {+ GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
4 L+ ^& `' ], A7 D" Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) u+ \) L. U* O" Uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" M6 c5 C9 j0 D8 u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; x( L" g7 Z- A; z" j3 s5 J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ H. Y& U6 b. j: T' R) |5 M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 P3 ?" X+ X0 I$ N+ e8 H# Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 V8 \+ d! n2 D7 l
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
, M& M: m$ I9 g1 ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" J8 J" ?7 z0 u) Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ u6 E9 b& e5 d; V3 a: \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 N: C5 l" A5 D7 [& z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! `& R3 z1 z& ^5 K' U4 o; q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
( h8 E$ C4 g5 j' B6 {; Y# eare spaces.! {% F, q, T) u5 e7 D
' x5 C# h- x& m) m8 W9 FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' m8 \' O8 ?5 v2 Q% ~# h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 K1 i4 w% [/ m, D; X
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& ~0 G* E u! e40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 ] k6 h( M$ P! U, }3 e8 H( v8 Hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& p n m* j4 y, _
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
K d8 z6 y8 k# \* d+ R1 \( M; Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
3 i9 C7 M F6 N" } u5 ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: d" o0 H9 P$ V8 C
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
; D$ a- U; B d1 l! ^ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
