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
( i: u0 S4 J# r' T% u5 f! Y; t( Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& |6 u' a# C/ @4 m
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; P9 a7 C' Y: ^4 l. ^"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 {( P7 m0 w- b1 z. e$ V" `/ i x
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
, A f2 n" x$ C: G+ E2 C/ _0 X$ L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
- m/ O- a [- N) oout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
1 F/ T' X' {) G. L* I% A) Hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 H- [: O0 T x6 }- Lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ T$ L+ T1 V7 a b! }3 A+ m
medical schools. f' y' f- ?/ w7 I% s) [
% g& I9 l- j6 i J+ d: eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 Z9 @! N+ V- {3 r( l8 F! [! R
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% T- j: F! p; Z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; k. X3 Q1 K" |
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) l: F* U% ^. i( r1 k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 o2 U/ I" \5 @# G) H% {" |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
W; ^! y: E0 l" H6 `; o" T0 Iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 a+ A6 Q2 _9 d, u4 ]
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 ?5 H$ _: _$ Q9 Y# p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 b1 }5 }7 A, P9 |0 S# Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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% k/ H$ O5 k0 [* X5 o" ]/ uThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* u [( M2 H( \2 A6 J3 I8 k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( f8 L) p, p9 h: c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) L o4 O1 E4 |5 u2 p0 d! B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
1 k: w R( m# t& N# A% P. }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ a, \; X9 S. U' `4 ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 M' f$ s2 U5 T6 X
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
D* K3 E9 O0 \* r6 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- [( s6 P/ i$ W5 b ?
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( a0 F8 c# ^8 k: d0 s B$ `: x( [0 f" G
charge the fee defined by the state.
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4 z2 M7 H z1 y1 h+ _" S2 p4 `# ]7 sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 i" h! Z- Z2 J# p0 Y3 D
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
3 v" H8 d `0 q! fof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, y! a* w! |! P0 g& }- }
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel" b! E. ]. J2 a% @/ e- j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 R, P* c2 h5 d. z, C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 C, o; l1 M2 @7 o2 f
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ K: E% d7 h9 g* s6 ?you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* Q! f( v' @7 {2 S' ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
" `) l6 u6 g& d S; [( whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
1 G& Q! s7 Q) f/ S( `people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: v3 p/ i i1 R, i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
: O, X/ H, D% Y; B7 Ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) M8 x% u. c) E! J( mare spaces.$ ^& Y( ]7 @, t. }
0 f) P- o7 y* N, w/ E0 e8 v; U* aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
' \: `( a c" v2 Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) C' e; _' U+ K" P$ Y* u+ g
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 t% E) W3 A3 A! W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ B7 A) P0 F! E, c1 u! {( U$ ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: r0 b* o) X8 h8 k/ c4 e
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 b9 s$ |3 n( D4 ]8 @( M1 O: s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 j- E3 n8 Z/ a9 ]) c: u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* u- n9 R) B; }# s6 P: L& x" Eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 |' {4 D& f* y- Q9 a# d
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
