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
/ K& f/ w% V( d" b5 ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
: Q; A0 u: G+ `8 L3 son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
' d" _" k* l8 E8 k8 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 I' r3 e1 M6 ? x$ n, ianswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 @% H' {. v, j. G$ m8 Y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
$ z7 B! I/ c! ~5 c, y' P$ eout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
% F4 y' G7 l; B. V- bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
, y- H. t1 \# Z) ^& Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ v4 _. I8 J! @8 `. U
medical schools.7 y4 R$ a" H6 m$ H
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 q% ?; c" K* a! D3 Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- ~. w; s8 d" b2 J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; X* p' @ N$ j" x) S+ r4 u6 _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 E7 l3 z1 A6 [( b# s3 y1 B' {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( `( L8 d3 A3 E: N- X* @over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There7 y/ |# T/ r4 b! q$ e
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# |1 z+ I/ t. I, ]; s0 m2 l
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk P. f. f6 ^" j; t
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 N' O: K8 w, L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
4 z" u8 b3 ~/ {9 q/ y+ Bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) a# B% g' F3 R) A' t+ I0 k
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 D) A/ I% x m# h l
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' i% l! _' g8 M9 v% C
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 [: u! P5 s- B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# z! L, |4 T6 F9 B* y2 Odivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 ]) s- I7 {9 }. FDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
/ z3 s& [7 a Ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
$ u3 b+ o, m; M1 G: T0 a. [) @charge the fee defined by the state." n S8 u1 s8 D& X
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 K ~* f+ f' u! x; Z' P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; x# Z$ y, N% g3 V2 \
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" M: [+ A6 J, N1 V3 m& Ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& q& U* l$ F: j" s) [
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 y/ ~! ^4 o5 Q( V) @$ v: qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- b. R, |1 k9 X% Z' qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. i- Q* N6 K/ l* d; P+ y8 ^
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' U H" p) h. W& p! J) V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 J# c; H$ `9 J7 Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that H3 s! {7 C# |1 t+ B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 G' ]) z/ C3 A4 E$ q4 ]8 z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: R: s2 Y7 ]" t( Obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 J! L* ?- \; s
are spaces.
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1 a1 ~' z! p$ ^6 {There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
- U8 Q% ]& K4 n. O2 E E# T6 F: tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 `- ]6 d; X- T# u: ~' _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
" ~! n% n% P8 u. Y" G: n% u% ?/ c40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
8 B1 _7 \2 x0 e* B: x( h. _ {+ eparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
a& B0 L1 R6 w$ x8 u" _ |5 mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 o: Y5 H3 }4 `( V5 g0 E: x% e; l7 W$ E
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 G* c. @ i* U% t2 l$ C. Y8 ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" O* ]6 ~+ }8 }5 W
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
( z* I4 @# j8 Y( u7 z/ f* G0 b We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
