我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 H. _' h8 S% e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 p& l/ n1 U- n- T+ J1 a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ U# l3 g7 `! t5 e' |; |$ h$ \+ L& u
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* m8 w# l6 M+ q6 k7 Tanswers to our pointed questions.
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+ c% \3 _3 }. _" {, ~: p" VThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,* s0 B9 N. _2 ~# `. s! K- j
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 e: ?0 K( s; e9 t3 [7 C ~out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
+ m% |5 k$ J3 n: Y) C3 c: jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. w# g( w7 g2 U9 R6 q6 p! S
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 r+ V* _0 m1 ~' }medical schools.
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- a/ s# H4 z' X7 K2 NEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. T* z0 J* S3 J- V# cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 ?8 D$ M& N" M: u7 e) O- [
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. x9 l6 S' U, @/ K% V# m
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) a+ i: j! A% e/ Z8 Z/ q: wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
6 [1 z9 s% J* o F0 d/ h8 C1 Dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
, N" W1 m; J4 j- B9 q0 ]! Nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# ?# k6 ?7 k( ]6 V* @4 K. ^- Lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' _" T6 P' f" n# Z/ Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! z% q8 b# c7 W, s& Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- [; z4 G0 l: u rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 m, X. E. C8 r; h, i0 p9 Q: j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. U& o4 p" i# Jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ j4 N1 T) r; v" U9 B1 Ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ ^. C4 C: T) Y# n
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
- V/ Z% `8 O C+ n" r6 jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ v, U% @+ k1 H0 ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- I3 }& |! e) g4 |" G1 W- H
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
( N& a J6 A3 W6 ccharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
: S% _2 ~8 Q% S$ Q( O4 _: }$ ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) u0 f7 I5 a+ Q3 P/ X0 D, rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 c U5 t8 f0 g" M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# C& p" a3 Z' k' z- j" P4 d
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; A: l2 ?" F1 T6 N9 j
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 R8 Z; n: W2 ^schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" u& n! s6 J, F5 r" D. Y7 ], fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' p0 v) w. H# G6 o
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
) M9 u0 a# T/ r+ c5 Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 t, T$ ]! H0 y. a4 J8 n# T fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
% N% s0 |; e& u% b; Pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- x; m2 D" _9 {4 ~4 }buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ L1 U3 l# z, A2 E& J
are spaces.) v/ {3 j# o. a. C0 n4 Z' y
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
& s& ~) {7 s1 s: [8 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
. s! N& \2 i+ T6 z3 aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the$ Y3 J' e: o. i: _
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 n# _; P2 z% }$ l$ h4 y6 Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' q$ _* B# ?* p; ?; @
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& y( Q, D" |- b/ x* z2 e0 m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
i$ _6 I3 K5 Z/ h2 P9 j$ Icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ b8 o D( L( c. b. R
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" r. ^9 k6 ^5 |( ]5 @" D5 q# } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
