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# ?' w3 j7 f9 d. S: m' ] U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' N7 D" u* Y- Q& s
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# _/ x& j1 R# @& M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
- U) a6 ?" _9 a* \0 b2 D8 Aanswers to our pointed questions.! l) E; m. |) p( k
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: v. G6 Q" |7 S7 f9 `
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
' _4 R' ?' N# `: jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 u* V8 [* y# g) W. _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 {& w& E& h, O
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 m8 z" Z$ }2 e! Y/ @medical schools. t9 D: E' k* ]+ |6 |" i
; T. w! J/ Y* ~( _. b+ HEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 x# _/ Y+ X) E' {. x, Hgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
8 `7 T5 [ U4 |1 [6 p. B6 L: ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; b& }2 J0 D; e/ V
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
! D4 W$ U. A I% m8 ~3 e; w( Lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( ], P4 ?; t9 L4 b3 C& g) Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# U% V6 H7 V+ ]6 _% z1 ^2 Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* A: H: s; S' pmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
2 i. x+ S2 b4 D; |" o) `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# J$ m: u# N0 _1 F8 U; K M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. J) N! B4 j/ g1 e _% i
1 r- d( k1 n# T) B+ B. W) U8 `The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 r/ W# i. P9 z1 F# P3 C5 Y" Wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' ^3 Z$ O: U" g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 r+ U* j1 }: n9 |3 A: x
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& l A1 E3 |7 W* w2 h0 a3 @
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 Q2 s1 j& d1 ^- f/ L* ? U9 h; P$ Csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# P7 y8 ^" J: O/ E% N* G' F* ] I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 e% [1 q$ T0 d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( N* h" q) S" P: c6 H- za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
7 q `$ d! F, b, M) d5 f3 `charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 d! f. G; x& G5 e+ i
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
( `' n( c6 O' c. n, H" lof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 i2 E3 O- s% G! n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ M- Z) s \4 t
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ M. S8 a0 D2 T! O) `/ Eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
$ p9 V# Q. {; fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ Q7 s; x: Q9 u. l5 q" v6 W' U6 ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) N" g4 }. [0 \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( ~; g$ A% O! j, T6 f
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ n* v( n& v' p" T9 g& A& }
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want v* Y# `) z2 v4 m% i1 J
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 }/ e5 M2 l {! z" I6 v+ b
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! A ]6 m/ W4 N) @6 X
are spaces.
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0 _, T! u' }. m* |4 c b# PThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 B4 W' }# }3 J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 C: Z' K+ C4 W' p
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
# p( i/ s: u+ }) z* n. T3 p+ e40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* q; a8 C1 I, l7 k# y8 ?: ]parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: [) m" x! Y8 W1 i K( D$ L" |- s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 e0 o, p% {8 b; z3 Q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
/ D$ Y- Q+ D* q+ H. d- d0 Vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 z# L- Q0 u4 J, \+ o6 U1 |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. p+ e7 s6 T v: r# s
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
