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
5 t/ _# m' v# v, M9 f6 q7 sstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went j2 b, b- O, X u6 Q# E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 @0 V) N) l' s, y6 E$ j; b: }
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% D( O% G: x! J J4 z# n& z. k, @8 eanswers to our pointed questions.* v* V1 u. _) K5 f* N0 I
3 a9 K, s. E+ a0 @0 l2 {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# z1 X* ^- \, u1 t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( g" F/ A& Z! B% w) F B6 Y0 \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! _1 P6 A- |5 u0 T' B4 B6 Ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# M8 Y! x; K, C* fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) f3 [2 d' W1 F3 \. \medical schools., m* J) ]" ?2 O
: X+ M" Y% x, R% M* OEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ F* U m5 h& bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# N8 h# }. Y# ~; U1 O" d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" Z$ l6 Z( {3 q5 u: T. w1 Cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
3 f9 _0 @% c& Jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) W, I0 k; e. d$ y, e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" P8 |; @0 n; [( V9 z! L% C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( O9 S( i5 j' umostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) V# q1 A& k0 `9 e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 S* V( E, C/ \% f3 f, Q( [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
/ j9 M& J7 R' J2 ^4 g8 l4 J0 [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# ?" W8 L" O" |5 N* p* @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 o- w% j" c6 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ t" B$ [+ V# C( ?7 l
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ L* y( ]& r5 g: K) h- T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. I `1 I, R8 m _* t& f# X3 G
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( b! y) j: t2 r9 f7 L/ }Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" w) m- V( h( wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! I& c) v3 c: l' e* M$ y0 ]. hcharge the fee defined by the state.4 }4 T- N0 h w3 U: l5 U' E2 v6 m
: W( B- U: x F: d, I! N2 k2 ]5 F$ bThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( W1 J- S: j& `% ^3 q6 N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) G& f: u! ~9 W& S0 }! t2 Tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 h1 }0 U* p3 j. ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 f5 A2 b* a5 c) z7 _3 I% S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# e$ _% Z% k [- j! xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 z4 Y- ]( B- V$ C. N) Cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" o9 E- i1 N9 e2 G) vyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 c! s8 Q7 h& n- M8 Z& a
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ o E2 s0 M6 j) y# T. b u
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ _3 |# I8 M. i% y# Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- Y2 `) w/ }8 Z* [to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* N. f8 u9 n+ A% c' M4 i1 G F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* m, n& J4 r% M. x+ Z3 o
are spaces., N8 P4 K- Z, T' a4 c2 r" c, ?% f* R
3 f1 b0 Y( f* V/ L+ _! [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 v# w8 `! f0 b5 j# z7 mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( Z5 p* B8 X9 _* S- P' V- Z4 \: T% d
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' q/ V+ P, ?% R7 ^40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' l6 i6 i% | U( G& V
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 X7 X) P; R* ?' P7 Ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
! t) ~9 n [7 ?7 Z' B$ I' c6 snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' N9 o+ ^. q/ j6 I+ C _
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) X7 F9 K3 R- v, ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! k5 v' K$ f( `. [: T We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
