我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living8 T& A: d; R) u6 c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 N2 F" v1 J3 N6 A7 hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,& p; k; s( F4 X0 ?1 \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) ~6 f1 {0 o& C# o, V+ ?0 @2 N- u
answers to our pointed questions.
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+ Y I4 t+ h5 l2 e* t0 UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 ^! y/ x% c+ M45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& k9 i2 x9 L& Y, D5 t- W, J* C
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
3 u/ a8 {4 z: z5 j9 X$ C3 `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! @9 t* j0 b7 l' R' a0 Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 @# _; Q8 L2 ?9 ?
medical schools.! g0 c1 D B0 r3 T( W* ^
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 X6 f, H: Y+ t+ ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
& _1 [1 L/ S, n) @/ L% @# ]7 N |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
! D" f, Z9 a' T: u7 Iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
) T7 F7 Z8 n" |5 z: Qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ Y3 C3 r0 { E S) ?. ^$ c; d
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; x5 Z! S9 w" c ^& O* v$ O& P
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and t9 |% e$ l' L) j7 E
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 J. x3 k. W, {& q- \shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& W9 K: C! D/ J7 }3 ^
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 Q- _* x0 }5 z+ o
& L4 j- J- k+ H+ ~# XThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! d7 [: \! L. E. F2 m9 ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ E# ` k, ?$ n/ J5 Usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ P& {* I ?' }, @
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good# B# w7 i. Y8 N- S& Z R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 z9 a) D4 F5 [4 I* a, m' U
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* M3 v' J& S0 U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 A: m6 x8 R$ s4 J' n0 i8 L. Q6 R/ BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
( [; c" v2 d7 k% xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 ^$ |/ b- I9 _0 A8 s E; echarge the fee defined by the state.8 N3 h( A; P% d4 c
# I4 ~( ?; f1 sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 E; I1 K; d i% h. p# d/ m
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 r3 r, E; _! |8 d) \: Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; a; j% n: P& |1 v1 _
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
, a9 L$ f; J- Nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& e$ N3 [, R1 X3 w& `
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
0 ?, r4 s7 ?( A: b" ^" K0 t. u" @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& Q. b% l! ?( Z) J8 u3 b# {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* v3 _$ B' b7 C% `trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch8 w: s$ F: _- B* c2 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; a, H, P8 n" G. zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' s: y3 H `* t+ y3 d5 C9 P; Wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; I8 n! w& R Y5 L; E) o1 H0 H! T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' B( O" i8 F) e* O& q, f3 Care spaces.
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3 }2 ]( {0 x- oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( A# F6 g; g( V, |' I& |& i
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
+ e# `- T* n( ?( mown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" Q5 N. Q% G. ~# }) }
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
" X& I# ]4 Q! c, k6 O9 I- N3 Tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) O7 v3 G( p6 |4 b& o" f% _- N1 sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
0 |; G% N; w7 d4 f# I6 s! Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( j" h7 z% r3 d, {) w5 I
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ i- f' J9 s! Y* sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ ^" T0 r1 i$ g. e0 y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
