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
/ W R- {. }' y; k; }. {4 E% L Mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
2 r# |0 V. }% F, ]: P! U6 w7 ]2 b, non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
! h5 N6 V; ]( }% B! }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: H# Z7 f, _ S1 n- w
answers to our pointed questions.! U) {0 Q6 j0 w) }% l6 N
9 @% Y3 Q z4 C. v8 K7 qThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
' ]; d* ] J- z& t5 r0 f) Z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( H7 |# y" E; dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is i1 v, g/ x3 c2 W1 L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
1 M$ ?0 ^5 j6 {/ C5 S" ?to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
4 V& I4 i- j$ ]# T# g; ^" Omedical schools.
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t9 v) f+ ?2 _+ [) O% w* d1 ]( D0 tEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* \7 D C$ _2 D& a& N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( B6 z6 H+ U: f: e+ i
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' d/ ~ E( [, @4 h8 C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ U5 Q( K# ~$ m' J- v& [0 J
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 `. U4 g/ w- `: g( ?1 C, h! Iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: C8 [9 {, A& G: F9 Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' o* P4 Q3 o$ zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
6 A; B, u& b' R9 l9 C1 Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ P' |4 a5 z9 O# v$ K9 d1 Y- f; H0 Gsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 M" l) l }& u" B8 e* Z! B) D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 f% R0 E3 ~. O/ ?0 X6 t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 q# m: g' k9 ]- w* h- Z( Z" }6 U
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 Q4 S6 g& V/ D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 \! t, n0 A( N9 w4 U" E! ]! r0 d
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: e V& l3 {4 E4 f7 ^; d
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 P9 }/ A2 o8 U# }5 J6 ~% b. b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ S8 S# z1 r& L+ J! r W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! X/ k' }5 E& @3 O" V6 Hcharge the fee defined by the state.9 z* f- T! Z6 }4 v5 t/ [! x& C# d
x0 H2 m+ T" QThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 H% V/ V( E1 V" f# Q, r
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 O1 v. ^% Z' I/ [; O g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
& {; n% b) N6 a7 h. [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
2 K7 E$ c o% S/ M7 ]' bseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 X' O, ]; g d! f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 Y8 L2 u4 b, S! [' e
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. r8 B; d4 `; I" \8 L8 |3 hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ |9 v& W# }. B& t5 c) O$ K6 w+ Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; d0 E& J' b1 Y* }$ R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% P. `3 K1 T0 L3 F: ]+ i Zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
% [" F9 ^' K% r# S6 m- X6 A3 V: K/ xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 n6 U3 _4 ]$ V) S+ sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( {# N/ A# t* k0 \$ ~
are spaces.
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6 b1 P+ V% h7 aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi" D# ]# d0 B" m1 A" Y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 q1 W# c! R7 j& R* e% W/ m
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ u0 y4 Z1 v2 w: Y& E. M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" R9 d/ k' t8 G! Y! v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
4 H3 \) E2 |8 f6 ^/ x: y! |. Z3 Z( @best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 a; `- s# N- m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 ^6 Q- `! W8 ?: c
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
8 g: x3 o+ `: F! f/ s Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& O' C* f6 n. `% z% d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
