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
8 m2 H( H( `/ t) r8 Astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
. U1 P% t9 }9 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
p8 |* V) L3 @. o% {"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
+ n; t; ~& m4 S1 c; k" Ranswers to our pointed questions." G7 H1 s+ d) |* _ O- L
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% y s6 O% V' e: O3 r/ c& O45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 t; a! h/ U3 M+ t: H. z S
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' h+ E2 d4 a5 {7 g8 j6 }) v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ [& ^; D% ^+ J: @) q1 u- O
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 S# i6 `7 c9 J+ `9 P
medical schools., Z8 d0 V, h" L; f o
& F9 E0 K* [7 O" D) c2 YEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& T4 M w1 @8 ~- \3 h
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% ^; |& Q* S: t$ a% zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ |/ _% ^ L; W: _/ E: a0 U& h
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 ^5 I3 R+ n! O! j+ [* r3 R1 Ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 K9 e* d+ ?! G/ j& @/ h, ~4 l
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
" x- b5 b! `+ y! h4 ]8 X0 Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
; D# ?# c/ H2 p1 R. dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
% k& x4 _$ X( J1 z zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- K s8 s; x- o9 j5 i" |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 ~& y; z1 ]$ l; `2 F' D, Q
# J, Y* m0 ^; h9 ?) `The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 x8 A1 a- b" r0 Mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) ` N9 a7 X. d- K2 {
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
; z7 V3 `2 A! t( G+ F& @, [have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
$ X. G, b/ ~2 z& O6 K* z7 S' |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 o. i8 ^7 y' |$ r
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high4 @' B& V% R% q( ^) e3 S; ]+ R
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
" |; q4 _9 |3 i) F5 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
0 |5 W" `! Y# {/ ?) ?6 D9 aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, w% t- O: a6 e' l$ {' a8 Q- Fcharge the fee defined by the state.
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2 W9 K2 x, ^% U2 V9 X5 `* JThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 A, R& k p* g z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 v% X4 m! F$ ^
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
4 |7 @2 M+ n: C4 }% ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" _* I1 s2 z6 i# Oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 V- e; _6 p3 V9 Gworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- T- m: c4 T- D
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. G- e0 R3 z/ i4 tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 {6 \2 L& _3 \' g$ C
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 x% @2 |1 h$ Y0 x4 V; m. j3 Ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, S- |& w5 m+ Y1 j) s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) z+ @. L- n2 Uto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& ]: _0 E% e: [8 l7 ~
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 y" U! q. _+ p4 }are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
6 n/ N! R, O2 Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# r8 G+ p* a5 ?) z8 X; M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
! Q8 x( M" _# p40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! }: J6 v1 o+ e" Y& g! Y8 ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% K7 K: H0 Z2 q5 ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
8 A% m1 J& x/ t2 z3 Fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ F' n& p0 H2 `& q. n1 w A
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- ^1 g1 f3 L. O5 P5 V
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! }3 q7 S. K( F$ ?, S% l6 b9 V. _: @ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
