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
, t2 m1 J1 _! p( B: pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. u" S+ I1 J( K# A! _3 F
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 @; O7 ?3 l$ o. A! y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- }9 s% d/ B: I; H1 R3 Canswers to our pointed questions.
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0 K. g6 e4 P* p6 V& S, oThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
- n0 x( a. \- N! e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ }3 A6 h) n+ U# M' W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
" }7 Q2 @1 z( U' Q, ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 S p( g+ l1 L% h& R! f6 _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
" u) i7 N% a/ c( h/ Umedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
* _8 ], T% i) S3 Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
: O. u c3 S" f$ Wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- k# e- l2 H) {' ?9 F: hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
2 T0 [4 v' B1 C* {: m* m8 S' pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
/ A' C- f7 W' G; Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& G- ^0 u4 _" H( S$ u8 K
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) L. B- T; |1 _, lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# x4 |, b- G& Z* A/ k6 `
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 }( u3 b/ l6 u
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! y# B9 g: X. R% r
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) D9 E5 @8 d( V, a% S" j4 Z2 |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
; D5 _& x% Q- |% u& z' ]8 Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
: ^6 s3 e, T' o' L: e0 m6 R. g& t0 ]have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: M) D) i, m B8 Z wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* W& m6 o3 t6 s4 ^8 h3 N1 N: f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
+ Z4 W0 A" e+ u' adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
8 n' D2 N$ `3 ]3 O5 E; DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When" C4 j0 Q+ r- _# _$ M) R
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 r" q: A' e& R1 z5 z- p5 Y4 echarge the fee defined by the state.) N) |, y9 T! n) P# e
+ c1 G& J$ ]; S0 j, L5 GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
$ k: K ]; _5 J5 K& _" h; don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ \7 x. N; d) X* |
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; Q# C, W$ b) p0 \# b
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 R, o2 t2 I3 p8 H7 r
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ h3 Y* I3 T- r3 p' k. Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# b- g1 P& y# j8 Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 H, y4 x' ]1 F3 Y, v6 d, r0 \7 s
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
6 S$ H6 w& @& _! f* L% Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 R; S% ]2 s/ K {0 V* n1 c7 Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) r+ T1 R1 |/ Z1 H( L; J% Y' }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- b3 o O) P3 Eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ ]% J+ O) N) k! p, j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 o7 U" a/ F. B2 n @
are spaces.
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5 }) L# v( G% v! ~. G/ ?There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# M; M6 o {( W! V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
8 f# q( [% ?3 m/ _2 Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' t: ^* E2 q. J" @7 M* E8 P. K) M- F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. e. g: Y. o6 O2 |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
* b4 p( j: ]. K- Z+ ~0 k4 tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
9 B' ?0 `, l. n) }% unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
6 c& [ u$ }% Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 B/ E5 h2 E1 f2 [; r+ t1 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ x. d0 G; P6 e3 i8 r
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
