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+ c* E/ t* ?& I
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) o9 p3 s6 c# s" F9 t- @on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 `, ^5 C2 N4 i7 M
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# k- M: m, M, W- e: ?! w" f2 Oanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 e4 a. E U& {$ ~$ g45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" j( Z4 K# Z! ~. Z+ Sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 l7 v Q/ L7 @
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 G( @9 v! s" k. f% v/ W1 Q* I8 @ Pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# |. x3 F. N4 t
medical schools.. ]& p0 d% L/ V4 y( b
/ o) P/ P' q4 _+ i: ]8 GEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the+ O/ o0 _8 E3 h# r1 I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. K2 H6 \, r0 ]! b2 w/ dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: R# Y- l) h, a- b! ~
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 D, i, d- q5 L; ~+ X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- _) s1 x7 |" z) u. e9 z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
k0 P+ g; N, y+ yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 ~8 z: a( S6 M* D, b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* y9 b. }+ M& ^/ Y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some) q- R$ B9 U( V% b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 A+ D' V8 ^; J3 b2 C
# a) L$ _$ _7 oThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no F2 z7 Y1 P {) ~
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 k! C3 W7 I: \' _) e t- T
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% r0 x1 t' w+ q0 z/ ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 K D/ E. ?7 x2 |; h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 z$ _ s) O% c8 ^+ C; m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; g- n1 m6 ?, b Udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! E1 |- ?- S) b; X6 ~1 H$ lDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
. a }7 T5 o$ T* M+ Z& }' Za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only z. {9 T' \* `2 E0 r4 ?* R
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 k2 b3 X5 ?) q" W# F5 Q; z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( Q3 I! e& C+ K2 X
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
- \9 r( Q) T- n) ]. n) u: Ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
% _# ?8 ?, m2 W7 Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, t2 i4 T; B- Q/ ~" ]5 G
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* L/ L: ?8 e7 A$ I( A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% s" M& O( w* `9 G, Z" X* y$ {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
0 q9 C& J: J1 S+ l) _6 S9 p% O. Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 ^3 B4 a0 x, ]/ ^2 N8 ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* @/ J1 K5 k3 O0 Q4 C6 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: ~* J$ s$ M$ h$ d4 w" Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 {4 l- c8 `9 y6 g0 W) C
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 O( \/ y+ h, r8 |; o- i/ f
are spaces.; k- }1 u2 l3 ?) c9 C
! u9 q$ h# B# R! g' k/ oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ F6 O, W3 Z. d% e9 |. \7 c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 H) [$ ^3 J7 m" M j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* f& |: F# Q+ F# Z% K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- a- P: o5 |6 [6 W1 \+ \parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, F) }4 z. O3 E. W9 A9 ~6 T3 K3 _
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
' I% D! \- z/ Vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
8 }/ T% c6 _, i1 N0 g# L5 K rcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 N |" N3 M: C4 G* F3 f4 y A
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ |: o2 z5 W. J' u We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
