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$ o3 a- r4 U1 X! Q7 w
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 H7 w8 I6 V( a4 \- D
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( P3 B ^+ F9 L" k' A1 r1 d"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' p1 x$ Q0 j" v6 Uanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ e( Q- Q- `. W% }" _1 U5 h2 S
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 I$ x# F# b% ^* fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 F. O# w+ a( @7 v2 x) Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. |0 `% m+ r8 a' }7 K; W4 ?7 `& oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( ^5 g1 N0 F$ Bmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: F6 I1 z& N4 b/ H/ s/ Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 E. W7 [7 P* H, U7 T7 sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. C$ y( q! _ S- k& U
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
+ t! R/ x+ ?0 e$ qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( e( I( e# ^4 r+ u: j% p) e0 S3 ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
' j3 ?2 g, z% r* C$ c0 q3 Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
2 R7 ~! d" s6 r x( qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" D; ^3 C" L; h K
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& y. S R& u" N$ O* @ X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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2 E- ]0 o, D1 Y& k( oThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 z+ ~1 M4 _. Q$ m5 ^, g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
( d$ ]/ {* d2 q* c6 s7 Rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 K5 b* d9 [, V5 q" }. R0 K
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% Y. e! _' |4 R0 Q6 I, V
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
! g" o9 Z+ Z! e9 b( Bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 C: ^# \0 a, V1 Z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 s9 O2 ^9 d, ~# I' w; h" j* T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When' @* L- \: b) V [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* D2 u4 p" A& b Z
charge the fee defined by the state./ h, d' }' L7 {! `+ [# R c
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) _1 b- Y* I' i8 bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" E/ H: V: p1 e" V
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& V7 t/ z+ t$ G X& y4 {6 M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
1 c& _& @# D, s c$ l9 Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; U: ~! _2 f, W1 f# d' p1 Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' r- F1 H: ^0 T: b; n( K
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 J; B, n$ p8 i; L* N
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 O) x2 L9 z( e2 S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# I0 Y+ k; z$ {& K' h9 \
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
* y5 g3 G' C @9 V( ^- @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 _7 i% G) a* R( U( T6 v, D8 k/ G Ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 a8 Z2 T J2 R! Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* l9 J% d9 @" i9 u$ d9 C& Y
are spaces.+ m* F y" G" P2 W. [1 X
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
- [+ ?0 @* t& N: jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: N3 Q6 d7 z' ^; }! h. M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
$ J. l6 z7 x2 @+ a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. l2 l7 Q! t2 ~& Q! |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 f; C* Y+ W% q. e- i
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 W# ^! u/ f# j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
( A6 @& {3 j" B; a( C9 H" scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 z3 s1 c. \7 \
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 ]7 n5 `+ ?' c$ ~* W- [4 _ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
