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
3 e' l( m% k, ~- D% ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. N4 L. k/ B5 s1 l% y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
; X3 U7 O- _8 Z. p"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' H+ z3 J3 V7 t$ c
answers to our pointed questions.7 v, ]6 p) Q& A! n6 D& N. X9 G M/ X
/ \$ ]' S \$ x7 N( pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& }4 j& X& w. w+ t45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 P9 |% G G, X. t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
8 p6 |3 |5 ]& B( A/ lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 @1 y# g3 ^+ b) m
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 s3 o( Z; f7 c$ l r6 U, k( j6 G
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" T8 U7 w( [6 d6 B% c
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# _ H: @" B" m3 f& G" Z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
. r" E4 k# X% n2 dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 Q1 m j6 ~2 h$ J/ F' ]# H; d$ d* h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' }# }/ L1 h' ?over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) @) @3 D4 o- M9 H# }
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
& V, L; H; ~2 o# z" cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* h" Y+ p: z1 c+ ? F3 _1 D8 [- K
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( k# N" \. V5 ?# K* ]* A
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 A5 O2 l j: ~& K
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
6 |- W& h4 C( X% { ~private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 ]. {8 V. B# R! U( {+ L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 i% j4 l$ D7 B7 k- t/ r1 W) h5 Lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% Y; a! m0 D+ h, q: `& Y/ n6 Q" i
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 w* |* i! C9 y6 b2 Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! F" d3 r, K! c% |# I9 b. B
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 j4 `- W' h* Y' X
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
+ u1 U, g6 L8 z- M8 |a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 F5 Q$ {* \( H" n* @+ d
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get z' L6 b( w% i; `
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 T1 G; ?, n* h" Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
9 J. D0 e4 w1 J; r0 |' }truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
& Y5 U5 y; Z7 n. E- g' Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the6 \' o. r) N# G. Y. v* Z! P& N
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 k$ |6 U% G- a4 I& ^schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ ~+ K% p1 R9 W) S
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* `, H1 Q# l" P) H1 @8 Y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
7 f' I; l e1 m* b) Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; M' ]) X. F+ b# fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( _/ O* f6 |: F/ |) eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 W9 W0 }6 {1 ^; C' v4 @
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
+ E7 E! M) J, T4 W# m- I5 R6 ~are spaces.# T( @3 y) P4 {0 { H2 \
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
2 W, y0 A; q1 D$ q1 Eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* u& O9 M# n2 W C6 L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 j' J. P0 {4 ^( o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ F2 U" i2 a0 r+ V# N2 I+ i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! A* t$ f/ e$ H9 ?$ I. Dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
/ M2 `9 Q( V9 J0 M# v7 I9 K Q( n2 pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 U0 P2 G. H5 K+ |car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 b' K% S1 N$ }; c8 T& @0 s
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 Y/ N" C' l# H ~5 F7 \# O We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
