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
# @. e4 _4 U: x z8 [' Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 s; N& @" l9 r/ ? i* f
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
+ {0 X2 I# ?3 V0 K0 U"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 L$ W+ p9 ]$ R! Y* m
answers to our pointed questions.
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+ c4 @: V( i( T$ C" ]The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' H' U/ }4 q& Z* H4 p5 F, D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
2 q$ g; V1 Z: @& l6 S" H/ R9 Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 _/ A" O, `6 |" d% l/ u1 afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ f' Y! a2 _/ W' c) Y0 r2 T
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 k# y# Y- D D9 ?8 k7 h6 R( F7 p
medical schools./ o/ Q3 z1 f. p& t0 I% J# ~
. p8 v' p2 D& A5 r2 oEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( k. n1 X |& i' _) q; ?government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 Z, ]) W- a0 C; S& q0 I5 @
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 M+ D3 i8 y, @6 q- G% W; B, i
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
6 H5 j6 w# D. ?4 s0 A$ D% iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; A( Y. b* J* Y) W) I
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# ]( K1 A( p4 j8 h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
. g4 E+ l; s& ?" Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) f' `% A+ ^/ `& H+ g: u5 a* i
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 T. g3 v. a6 B# _9 \3 X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
% C7 A5 ?% Y# t! L0 zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' M* Q# Q3 [: T; `) a [supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
' |1 M5 m2 |- D4 Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: Q% {. P# \ q6 X4 W/ b
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
" u% |' P. n m* k) {$ t4 zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
1 ^8 `; v% j( ~& \) Ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
4 e7 b7 w/ c2 y# ~% BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
! H2 ` g/ f3 }& O4 ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 B% S6 `# b* Q" I6 s( {
charge the fee defined by the state.
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3 V; k# W: n+ l8 K3 J/ Y- |, }There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. }4 M4 M' Y% Q; J6 y
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
+ ]( s9 i% N3 W; k: y) Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
{$ X' G: {8 V, rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
' D9 R6 |9 B! D6 K4 |seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, F- r, m7 q" v4 yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ ^. f1 V T4 D: N( h* ?
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# c) r- L2 h; ?
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 ]5 {' r/ F6 J9 [2 w/ ]0 J
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- o9 j4 C+ I1 mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' H2 U9 ?2 T! Y! p" Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) W9 R2 U. d/ J: q" E, wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 m4 x$ }7 L& t* i+ w, lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ a X( s& h1 x& ^" ^are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* W A" q8 l9 m. T Fto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ N* I8 ?4 o7 G. \% Hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 y0 l( u" c% r- [& W: \
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! b G! V9 P* l( ^/ e8 ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the& N" |% q. ]' f1 l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' H6 t& F, k2 w9 f, L/ |: J6 V
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
1 T6 ~" l" Y! ]0 `8 jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* M% W9 ^" q* `9 f" O; Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 ~( y4 |0 i8 R/ _8 H5 j
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
