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' C8 s0 ^& U' u
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' h8 ?$ ]) f' b% H. ~ P0 N
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! V' W* D9 C$ @+ ] y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( j ^" @9 Z+ |" n. |% f- t
answers to our pointed questions.
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( d( O9 E; ?$ RThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 o( T7 ?: q+ g. k- \5 ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( n( u4 x1 `$ r J: {; H5 s x
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
4 ~; F7 F' o2 `' Efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: [ i. I6 s: Y4 U* ?' w+ hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; K- _4 z) W" r- d" U/ _+ kmedical schools.
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+ i7 F& i ]$ W, D. fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" u: N9 p( I% W1 H% {/ d+ b$ ^2 T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 J$ r! g {6 C. a0 A6 j6 i8 v: _
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% N- K: p, h) ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
5 B$ Q; b6 S* @/ ?" N _is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, j! ~1 t1 n M/ X, V1 `' N
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ _ x* O" `* i$ j" i' v5 o
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
U3 I# Z; {/ Q. }) W+ s6 hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
7 a3 d* y `0 r1 oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some( i& a3 T$ J3 I L5 s3 O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., o8 N8 p3 H5 \. g# `
2 `4 [+ x& a5 K3 i/ FThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
* b0 S6 z& [$ y" @* {private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
4 m q! W% s+ u. Y4 {& x& Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
- a2 P2 M* t9 Q; `have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good f, J) y" O8 P4 m
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) N7 c* i o+ m' N/ z& X$ Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
% g( z) V' S! f; i5 L( F! sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) g/ f' f/ v' @1 m, dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
" {* l1 ^6 k, w" n; A/ r. Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 O2 h, o) d- z# E' W [# S# Acharge the fee defined by the state.9 K, H% n6 d0 R+ O
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 D8 p* A- U# H3 Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
9 L9 d% U4 f0 Z8 [9 zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: p" V* ?# J2 ?* V% Q2 G G$ P2 ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# k4 ?9 u! c9 g. m, C6 H
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! D' [* \2 K) z: f5 p1 v6 A; f
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 Q/ O7 w& }* p7 D* C. m- x# r
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; S9 e3 y5 V0 V& \- k9 q5 cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
( X+ h r, c+ i6 _# p! H! htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# D0 [! l+ `6 `2 s! H& s! Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ v$ Z3 v1 W9 ^ U
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 l0 _9 V; Y. C0 I2 Z: o$ D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 p6 U: u( }4 [: s
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
; L" D, N$ p) k* K, o h9 s iare spaces.$ n- ~# B7 O& n3 L j8 l
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 w8 v r+ S& o8 |6 |) P; ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
% J+ r& q$ z$ ]# iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
4 P7 d1 W+ q% M. u* s* g0 |; R, A& a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
# @- k1 Y$ l. Mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
+ O6 k0 e; i5 F4 ~' |+ a" ]best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
" }# V$ j* m- Hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% t9 W/ k5 H- B8 z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- H( d. m/ Z, x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
% U- U% U6 _% A) K We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
