我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 _6 H p! g& n; i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
( w: W1 Z) A6 }! v8 }on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
3 u% Z6 W4 j5 L9 @1 _5 W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% P1 G, q5 E& \+ Z! P$ Ranswers to our pointed questions.% d0 n9 v( f( Q1 v6 B; [
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
: R7 _7 p) [1 r1 S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
6 D7 k9 V4 u; N0 `out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ H4 P6 W* ~8 [" q7 s) ]9 K2 r
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. I. ^: ]6 l- Y n$ jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ p3 p6 f/ v: g% l% H/ Dmedical schools.* b* \1 f" ?$ t& c
, z0 G. H/ o! b# Y; T4 W! ~% ?Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
) n, J+ N& j, e! F, Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( K9 A$ k; ~( ?4 a+ e: r. {+ ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
- _' O) D8 v3 ~* x# M' @( Cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
$ T. F* {; v& X4 Q( Uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
. Z6 c% K7 V6 R8 N f& Gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ c& n3 a6 }5 F" p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ A0 ]& k) H* k! M& c
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* }3 n" ]! n9 W; p8 }/ E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
0 @, ]5 O S9 Q- I/ d2 u% |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 `: y. [, _: G
( M" i) @9 ~1 q& p! q, zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
3 |' ^' V9 l) I; mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; Q5 O7 e$ z$ C! \9 m' z0 N! y; s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 `0 l* m% f" e! c" t& m
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# R- ~( [3 a. s E* Z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, N4 @/ w8 C+ q9 t' W$ w& \* l
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 ?2 B, Z+ x9 M8 w9 X" q! pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 k) T- g5 S) D: g
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. Z# _2 H& l& ]$ c/ J+ ?
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 c: i0 f4 A4 K0 r0 m9 B7 F
charge the fee defined by the state.
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/ p$ h' e1 `" ]) q6 I- C. X3 Q0 @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 p a3 U; c* l& i6 D con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 N2 {9 ~8 {+ i! T- aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
0 ^) P$ b0 t& X! s: rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 |/ U" A" S" |! X8 [+ {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 g( O- c9 H$ j) r6 E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
# x; r ?6 ]4 o2 e+ y8 [* u$ n4 W' |schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
* B: i Z4 c8 b w/ Y) Gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ O0 }# f' D7 v# N9 Z4 W, Q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 D( ?' q5 i9 o9 O1 M
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 v6 E% \, X$ _% N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ c) O8 h) u% A* h% x
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
/ Q& P3 B4 e& v9 x4 p% w1 gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 m) g% `8 ^8 g8 D3 u4 \% `; I
are spaces.
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: `5 ^7 D0 X9 ]+ a* DThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 r' j0 V; w3 C7 m9 g5 U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
1 h( L! p5 h! b1 ~2 iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
6 @+ P( T3 x# @9 w3 }8 {# m% n! ^40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ Z6 Y7 r9 q' L+ U$ g0 P
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- z: R4 [$ s0 m* E' s$ J' [/ N/ Hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ d& w+ E& L& _- n& w$ z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! e U+ C t+ h
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 {/ N* E; M7 t4 C3 I) V7 }
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) |. V1 u% I! d: K; u1 X h
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
