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
0 j7 X: Q, [1 B. Q; Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( @( X; Q0 O( B: a; Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
" R. Z0 M d5 [- y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# u, d" O' N/ kanswers to our pointed questions.- p3 X: @* J; ]. _4 v# `
4 i: X8 A8 \; T) z" DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, s9 k0 D ]4 T45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. Z5 n! E' o: d! [9 T/ j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 r8 `/ h. ^. [$ N' B3 r6 hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( k, H+ W+ i; t) i. Q) gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 B6 R; q/ {3 ^& u8 f0 h# Z( x: Rmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ _" n$ \- v, w1 y6 M- K; Z fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! X8 C) J& X3 w: P Jto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" K5 I+ I. \7 k& p: F5 \, w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 Q+ f8 g. p; d0 [5 Y! r8 h7 |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 s0 B/ O0 M1 ^) L2 f+ K/ Sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
! y! L* l/ c, {% ^: E6 v; Rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 O( `5 D0 ?3 n$ W6 \
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( u" d8 r$ _5 I8 C; a7 r- Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some) G' E8 D3 i1 i
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.) M4 Z5 v% B4 L6 Z: d9 w" z% ]
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 a' T5 ~0 K4 i5 l2 C; N2 o1 i! M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ n% n: j% C: m: V; @8 S) M W& Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ \, J# V& s0 a" U- Y3 P/ p/ \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 j6 F4 }. }. x: A7 |
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( U* _, w6 g' l* B1 z5 Z2 P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
: Z$ m: I7 z* [3 h( a1 k3 |) ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ Y& I: Z1 E- @9 W, \0 R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
7 Y3 Z" ?0 G/ \a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 ~) a# r" r+ z4 W( J
charge the fee defined by the state.: p6 G6 K# [/ Z1 o+ `: `2 |
8 T. q" ^/ g+ f; @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- a8 |$ I1 n1 q# O1 O
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' j8 f, K* Q- l# S! S: j0 `4 ]4 U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
2 Y, n5 v- K* }4 a d+ Struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
/ J* v% O) {7 b5 ?. O/ pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# F8 m5 S' W8 t& e
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 h3 X# Y6 S( g) H0 j- v
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 a4 }' c( V- ^8 Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
: S; k" T: Y; dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; p( J' n7 N& f* _ E3 Z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, q& P4 o6 @( s% y9 |8 ~
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want6 C3 ]; V o# v: R6 u# |
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- D1 e' }1 P0 r3 }$ r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
6 x) j9 V# ~) |! c2 b% m- ^are spaces.- ^" I# v. u5 h
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 u' t1 ^! H7 D# p- J% J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
9 |7 {0 Q* c0 O0 `/ A2 \own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! c {7 v* W- e" q8 D1 j. g
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 F6 N* M# t0 \9 g: Z* Y. @8 l g* {& E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
3 [: C/ |$ K z! d! tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( b! n' G* c9 `0 s# u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of: Y& S& q4 U$ z+ [9 o: N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 K9 i3 t5 g/ V% S$ T) p" O
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
- g2 Q1 ?" ]; [8 ^( I5 R We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
