我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living7 t4 O8 N0 l) H6 h% c; B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
0 ?* Z: ?, }) h1 `& i8 `& E; k5 Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( s E) `+ j1 |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
8 T* g9 P8 W- A- Banswers to our pointed questions.7 J% v4 x& r: r/ y2 ^& C
' f' O! W2 s9 D' }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 }, V* L, T$ h8 I y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" _! i7 T, W& V: [! Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, @4 e' J2 ^ y7 d8 ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
' `' ` A g4 pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
: C; q0 D; h8 q) `, a. nmedical schools.
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/ X- ~: z$ w# x; J3 I4 j9 mEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
, h* T1 O) z: e7 C1 n* r' _ J9 p" ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, c5 }5 e2 S% x4 E; E# W0 h( V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 t5 O6 S3 K7 S
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
P" i, p t) D8 M7 g/ E, Q/ d! iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
2 @. o. y. D0 t. D" b! |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 ~3 S7 j5 M1 d& t. y4 b( t+ k& C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* j3 F) I5 W5 V' Qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
- W8 I$ b7 T# M2 R9 tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ r# v( O6 b1 a+ b% R5 \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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9 n. q9 b2 G' _- GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
9 @8 e# o2 m* K8 q; B: m, xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ T9 |1 A2 U, o1 e5 G$ l* z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 c2 p4 M, t3 g( g# M- Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 d# F' k+ D6 c: l- u* k( c
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- w: y" \6 Y; p, ]7 W
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 |$ }$ t0 o$ l) V
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) A |& P) Z0 e7 d' ?0 b
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 W8 p5 \6 N4 F
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ h# o5 _1 v0 U" C
charge the fee defined by the state.& D/ U! \ A3 @$ p1 _# b
4 W1 \7 H! l$ e6 [; c3 QThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
Y, K: Z1 K# g# G. Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. ^4 S# g2 X" b0 u7 O- ]% a$ ~
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% u# Q0 G. l, W$ I& o0 d
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
" e* h: _6 U ~7 m/ ? [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
1 X. O: J; t1 G- L4 ]working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 G8 s. L; |( T1 j Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
; N4 A/ ~5 I7 o( L) x/ |you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. L; d# v9 T. ?
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
* m& I( H- f# c Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 w- N# q+ _3 ?6 {0 b! v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 h4 Y% F: s: |to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 G- e- z" c; `. C/ Ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% s) s+ Z6 h4 w+ i4 {, |
are spaces.5 B6 z( u. z$ f" v: t9 {, N/ {
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ T7 P* i6 e# F6 V+ X+ Z* |9 B
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 S$ W- L( W2 h
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) K; {1 m. @" l
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* s% }/ E# d1 K. O, B
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ Z+ Z8 _ \) }- z9 Z8 G
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
% v# k$ [9 S3 w- ^3 znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# b: t; Q- @* N7 E+ W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; P( @/ [9 O5 f8 V1 S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." v5 Q) z2 K! { m [
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
