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
' E' ]; F* e. N) K- \% r) hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 U O( N7 M& R F8 P/ Xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,$ C1 r; [. P+ p9 c" o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# w: O* g6 ^2 Z: panswers to our pointed questions.! f4 X k7 S* P8 J9 j6 ^
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
6 {" O! h+ p- l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
, M) Z2 z- @% r1 C! ^2 ~0 Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is D) X! d6 x6 Q: K3 f; p! {& S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 V" j/ M8 E# F
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are2 X+ t; b' x4 u
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the, o) K( C+ t. v4 t6 h
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ N/ C0 \1 y, t0 X& g: M" l8 S& i. gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! M% b6 i; |0 Q* m. S# o
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ }8 @* t4 U4 U! e( tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ Z& p5 ]2 B; O Y. o, c
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
. Y- w3 _' ^7 S! ?" R- iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 c4 [4 p5 b* g- Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* c% x2 i' J" p5 z+ @6 [8 z" |& t" v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some p- b6 K0 q4 i% A: M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 @2 T O1 H; V K' z$ j( _
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
, _6 B; g1 N$ v/ q8 q5 f2 aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! F& ^: A+ {" O4 u* I8 i- L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% s1 G: s0 Q8 u' @" m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
3 `& K |) D1 h othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# q z1 ?" R8 ^1 x4 V, |2 g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. B( w& Y$ F' Adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; {4 n4 B/ |7 G6 f. @) D8 @5 qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 U/ H: Y. M5 x( V w: y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ Z$ m1 w0 W3 y& R! J0 B5 @
charge the fee defined by the state.( G- G9 o/ |, }# O6 E
8 [% O, Z1 q$ O$ IThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 H }5 c. a2 v! V# S
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 g" g7 P0 d2 k3 u. ^+ Z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big Y; s% V0 l4 F/ |# o
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% L# p3 o! ^' r! E7 l, b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 ~" P; Y! h3 q! n. _5 `- n ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 B$ D& i1 S3 }: S/ U# uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 C% p& ?) B [. _" d0 b# @# f" ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
$ Q9 L$ W. q6 F' gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
2 ], B- Q$ \1 w4 Q4 n( D; q6 Whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
: z, o5 B0 a; d) k" t* f D+ Upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 q b3 \% ^; \$ D2 n) o- N6 u2 v& M
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 z5 e; d# V6 V* X1 `buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 Z- T/ D7 `" H/ L% J, `
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 u1 C& B/ `& U8 D' I, X
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ d {. _) p& A) j4 sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
e9 W/ E9 ]7 t& l/ J40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ C# X0 a; C( ]5 X% M% |
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" n. j# B$ u: n) _: Q. Q* y5 d
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ P+ u5 A: `9 X5 _ w; Q& s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" K2 y) `+ j4 B' }- scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
5 S+ E3 Y1 `/ I# g7 R# {. ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 m4 u9 S* C: b. N& H {
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
