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
8 n9 N3 p1 @6 }: o- q! V0 B) {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& W0 U# A) l' @3 w! z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: O, G2 d5 y1 A; W& `1 A' f
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 \8 W! Z- d. a: ranswers to our pointed questions.3 t% a* o% g6 `
$ K$ [3 E! V4 e5 F" ~4 S* L4 T# l hThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% _. J* e$ K) O# w8 l0 h8 m0 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 t9 X/ Q. t; Y# Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! f ?, O1 u% S& U4 D' \ Q' J$ F, B, @2 K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( K4 o1 U' n1 P5 x8 C' _& yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. N; ]0 Z- N8 ~. }6 `medical schools.
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2 U! w. ~/ ]5 ]* w& U, @* MEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
0 q' \6 d6 R" `$ l- Wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ x5 K7 u q! R/ [ Q9 h1 V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
, [; f4 ~" Y, I0 A5 Iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ T1 H- v* m* y; P# N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( R4 v4 r" _' E+ j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ W- }3 d- v1 N, X# }
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
t( R0 f% H4 [" Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 C, E c2 L5 y3 z& x( B2 j' Y/ s# Dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( Z2 e5 l1 _- Y& usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 @1 ?+ \: ?0 J: f5 \/ m# U
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 ?1 R7 ?2 f7 p6 W
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" z& @4 @8 e* Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 Z+ Y) }$ q" D) e
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
: [+ O) e q* A4 O. A3 Bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby" Y: l7 F' x: X! b: @- e
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
, ?: b9 X J# I% Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& p7 d' n, U# v6 ^5 {/ o( O. T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
0 R0 Y3 @( |$ ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
' y0 F/ \' X# Ucharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
6 P" V8 g& r" E- Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 J7 o2 O# D( V1 u. L
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 z0 {; V1 B" k' O2 S' ]0 }/ W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
( x) ]1 {, v$ A0 H7 D% F$ N: z; Tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ m8 A1 O/ @- F6 R. j
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 C! h& E" N+ i8 q8 @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 c; [1 H8 t6 ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& H9 P1 c2 @5 J) d9 g7 p; _' U o
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
( |- m4 e _$ `, e6 W" j5 hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
' ~+ {( Z+ }5 B5 M& H8 Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! s) V, q/ c7 e8 e$ S) y9 q. h0 u' wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 c- a/ e7 A# p8 ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; Q/ i/ O' n0 P! dare spaces.
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o8 L' g0 h) V) ]3 SThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: B) h) j0 x5 |2 ^& b' W
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) _+ P3 Q1 x/ G: j! iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 n7 G& I. f+ p, x, ?40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 t, i7 K, k! Tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ G! [. w6 j9 Q4 H9 T E& j! P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few {: a" \5 u( K' a
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
" J6 C- V# B' m* N' scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ Z. v# _% j9 o/ s+ gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 T9 a# K2 Z( j; b- t/ y9 j- U We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
