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
. s5 L( f2 L- S' s& H- wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
# m3 \0 P% S/ O$ X% I \on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ y+ W; w" v4 r: o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
! Z) Y/ D* B8 b+ x0 V1 Z5 Kanswers to our pointed questions.
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! m7 j& X. x8 p# ^The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' f, j# H/ z4 X
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 `/ n( G) c: ~: K0 Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
0 p$ k! m- @4 _& u# xfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! E3 w3 U; g+ C4 a/ M% i
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 k. y9 Q- x' Z C' g4 K2 e7 U
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# T, b( S. s) w. m; x
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- ?0 ]5 q; U1 M" e2 jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. f0 G+ \4 _" m2 Q$ K. s8 Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
; t2 }! T' C- O$ D) y& Z3 f) G! ^is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 D5 M. S4 y- o
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! B$ v3 k# ^: Y* K( F5 L Gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# r5 q+ Y5 e# T; _, O' o U7 smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 Q9 {. d2 u' u# oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some" n4 z( S3 W7 ~' {) x# ?
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) _ M; f# ~$ ^8 H
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- m6 @( @0 I8 M, m, p- M& o9 X+ B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 i, }! L( `- a0 Z& D/ m- Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( a+ {) ?* `2 F4 A# u0 P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 }0 I {- R! X) C1 ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
, i8 g0 j! [& @/ |: s( e* q" |) bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' R; t9 Q5 o- y6 t: t# ?
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
8 |5 n8 \& \0 [! f1 J3 ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
0 F8 Q4 X Z1 Y' ^* f. e& t- ^charge the fee defined by the state.4 K+ r0 D/ n1 ~/ v5 R
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get Z: [' v+ N8 x% L' `1 E
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& N7 w4 R. n4 z* B+ U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, B5 N2 l, M- c5 t0 X6 J, dtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ W' g3 L9 G8 ^& H% s) U
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ Y1 E: T6 d3 v( Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( ~( P! C% u. a: x y" cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ Q4 ^( r/ H& c* {1 byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
7 F n: Z" v: N$ [. ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ |7 R$ h7 Q7 c8 R8 \6 Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 L2 D& v0 B6 M5 S2 @3 W% e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! E; v2 q6 ^' Z! ?7 I8 Q }
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' N6 O. r# l, D& q1 \- ?$ [7 dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) m! O W& \- N, T2 k% uare spaces.
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' g/ v- y0 U% O$ AThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' @" X" h! v B5 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! }/ u. D0 ^4 I9 g M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ v# U2 H9 n# Z: I/ k. |: [! o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- W7 G; K( X6 V* R' I8 V8 x4 Sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, s7 J4 A: {' M/ A
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! c) d! X$ I0 a' N4 v, o9 Snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 a( C/ z! S8 f0 l2 s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( I& W- `9 Y. H
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) B v0 _& H/ f7 R, ?( a We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
