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
) N- E/ H5 |2 p4 `standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 C8 { i8 {1 X5 d7 B, [
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
( A/ {3 V) k! P- P4 O"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 r ?7 P7 b$ Y0 i
answers to our pointed questions." J. l2 _" H7 q9 k' k- H0 w
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, [) x/ t& U$ t6 |5 H: A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
7 m) E! X1 V( k) Z2 o" s- Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% g/ }8 o0 [2 P+ Ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
5 _5 L2 l3 d3 k \) f* sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
" ?( l% ^. m% R! r( o. i) Fmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 |% ~/ _ W5 t J1 I4 H- ~) cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! ?* p) P% y! E1 ?, L4 K0 [$ ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 C" o0 R: y6 l% D# Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 C5 [7 ?9 b, B' `
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
5 B) s$ z' k3 X5 Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
# `: h" R3 H) T) h, e- }seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and E; Z( r `& `9 k
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 \, y( z8 v) B: ]- J0 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ w: j1 m2 U5 F, t5 i/ t0 @sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 A5 J/ A# l' O4 T4 p% S; \
# J) s3 ]1 A4 x$ q1 a: b+ wThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( _! W4 R# d, e* ~' A8 [5 F" f
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
- s' N) r4 f# y) Esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; p3 v+ R8 ~+ L0 y8 C
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* }7 U$ r$ \2 K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
6 F: y3 a2 Z, B Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( ]" C" Q+ Z" ?& g" ]4 e
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." u" ~. G2 @2 d* M) l
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
% x) P7 g! n- c+ B8 G5 Wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
" v/ [* R& a7 r' i: v7 j1 ?9 Mcharge the fee defined by the state.2 B5 e+ Q6 X+ F/ D7 D5 v; C/ J
! ~: r) X; P# @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get9 l$ b3 S2 }# o, ]
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
' e9 C) S; C; _0 [' Sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 i8 d2 r$ m: C* m$ j
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* z3 X' h4 z9 h
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
& S, [0 N" I; L6 V; b2 mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! R, ?( e; z8 A0 N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
4 b" V- ^2 e$ W, n, Syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! M; p6 Q* ` m! n
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, s/ A4 c5 e- Y
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: a9 k* N ~/ v* Y+ y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ q& I; k8 g) W% B" b, ]9 { s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, \! D0 c2 F5 F/ u- |+ i: \
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 P: b+ H# w) p' m* c, y9 z
are spaces.
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4 b3 ?7 Y/ s; C3 I M/ j9 g2 OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 x# _+ B8 u- B% p5 T
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" _( z1 v0 c3 c0 [1 c. o% B9 u- j2 kown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 D! g- Q- v7 H1 U! w' {& V
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
+ B7 J. }8 c, l: s* w# ^) t; [* Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: D7 H$ z' h6 M, s, p
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 W6 W/ t6 M% V) c2 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" P9 s @8 t/ O- Z$ \* x; Rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' j0 J, ?, k& G( a8 k& N
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
T0 k1 H' [0 h* {$ | We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
