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
" E2 Q0 Y# Q3 Qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 P& Y6 }9 y& E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
# h) \% `6 ~7 w0 T4 i. w3 e"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ c# Q9 v! P4 i, W9 P7 W6 ^answers to our pointed questions.7 W! W# V. ]6 [: _+ @$ }$ H
" w0 s1 T3 {7 u H& ?% u4 t; \; kThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 I" ]4 \0 h/ Q4 S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 {( W o2 f: Y7 W- |
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
. y" G9 H3 E; w1 e$ A$ p6 @free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
9 T3 U" }4 p9 O$ n$ T G2 G+ _" s7 fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 G$ _; }" s2 Gmedical schools.
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! i! b; a* l, E7 a+ KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) j& U' Q, f7 c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) K9 G, {. A/ C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: i4 D7 e, y( P/ W/ b1 a0 Hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ |3 f) u6 B7 @( q9 F _. _: B1 H& |( L
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. E( y* p1 ]* g& r6 Q+ l0 V
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ S6 C( V5 \! a2 F; h7 Y& M" u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( q7 Y6 \: t3 x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 o% P6 P. G% K8 w+ C
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ M6 t/ r$ [( ^/ q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* w" ?6 x5 u- [" P0 Z: h% \
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 m/ V% m$ S2 Y( [/ \0 x. v% K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# n% s0 W9 N' u. Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. \' x$ U& P; ~1 d, G) Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
$ c8 M# \) `1 ~6 l: c8 F- g, sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 s$ P. R: K0 H" u* F$ O( k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) a2 k; j7 n9 G- r: |divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ X a- Q" [* I- `) m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
H6 b$ D2 k: }/ T3 d. B% m! Oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- }$ p' d( e) C$ ~charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
. ?! e3 [6 E& C3 r! `1 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
: j' _( m5 A9 Z2 {- c' Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
% g+ o, B7 X+ Q' Ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
6 K/ U5 \: r; {% F& ]* cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. _! E& M5 Q7 P" ]0 w
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% C; f i9 }/ {1 ?4 C' u7 U* Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, R: U0 L- M* q5 C6 D+ N
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" A% h3 W) @! I" h6 _" V! {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
' L& z0 J* E% l; q; rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
9 N5 ?: W' w6 ~/ X- \5 Q5 O5 dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: I U. T `1 ?6 d0 hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# E6 R1 T$ W( [! U' Y( s7 W
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ D8 H0 T& O6 K5 T+ i' Hare spaces.
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/ s! [) e9 k. L5 E4 _There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 J2 M6 |4 w$ g( Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* ?* B, A9 r; q: U3 b) n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 a' u4 w7 s% x
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 Y* z1 `( z" p6 v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' G9 y8 S$ O- X" z$ M3 m0 s k8 Lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
+ N( T" N' n* G: qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 X8 B2 d% K/ W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- U7 u% ]4 l* s) m1 L' I3 s
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) V7 j; a; K5 W9 K4 ?5 R4 r
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
