我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living9 D' [9 m1 _- b- p, e2 k1 s
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
5 [0 f3 m+ _) Ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
: m! |/ }0 m9 P& g% a) U0 T"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 b0 c0 X$ h! u0 }7 y4 Sanswers to our pointed questions.% w- N2 K i# o4 ^% m
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
) d$ s; F+ F5 J- U45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" ^& W, _( [3 u! S9 Fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
6 I% }! a& B C* W3 Y1 m+ W/ ?free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. Q8 z7 A* M9 R, }# J. P0 P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
9 {* R* t; b- D K. |medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" {; r. @* ?9 t1 b0 K+ m
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 D' S, ^1 q3 _% i4 p* Z) n/ h
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 k* e4 s! y% H+ S% M" f, @assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! A2 J! I4 c1 a
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% }% k/ N, V0 p% P: _, v- j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 ~) p8 C1 _/ T0 M' q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
\4 ~4 |& E$ Y4 Q! ]mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
8 \; Q" D ?2 [9 x, r; B: hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 R3 \0 S1 d- z+ y$ [6 X+ A7 Q: lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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! m5 L! o) \& } fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: |/ u: _9 Z/ X4 D$ h8 U
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
# k4 j1 |+ X8 u6 Csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 q2 ^) q1 U7 v! f7 \2 G8 @. B! G1 ]$ Ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
+ E+ B* r! H4 T% [; E) A* ~( ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
7 h2 j& y6 T( X- R/ y" q9 Tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! \/ n0 [- r8 y7 |% x x2 |9 m. m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ P5 Q1 R) g3 Y0 e! ^! HDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
j* q5 Y, m+ R" i7 r6 b6 wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
1 L* F1 p; N6 y6 `# Dcharge the fee defined by the state./ n! ^8 ]3 q( }5 A
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
+ C) C8 t. V- U7 g+ u2 von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 r6 r/ z q+ K+ D% E. R; D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ c3 b# y4 o5 f4 |- y+ ^+ etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 I% A$ {6 c* x |
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) y6 a% q9 I J( {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) p8 ]3 P2 _2 I2 U8 y6 [
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 X) L, Z1 d1 R! g6 a$ z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
* h. a. T) ` i' N* ftrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 F( w' }% U a0 W w( S7 x" M" U
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- l/ i; f& P# _: C- h" O, fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 e2 d+ L) Y( u( m! R/ x$ Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
! c" [: M, r! z8 \3 Cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
9 w9 Z9 U# }8 jare spaces.
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: s* l& Y+ N" G$ ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
, F7 }7 T0 [+ ]- x' V0 R, P8 Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 ^' D% ^( \0 n9 G
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 z7 d i' j- A8 y& }0 {+ R
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. i9 C/ E; r O/ ?6 n h9 ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 w( E0 g( S3 d3 O! _8 S7 W8 ?( O0 [+ ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 G2 M% g ~$ B( e* {+ }8 @
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# ^* z9 B' o$ J$ F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ \5 H% x/ E# C7 U: u9 i. F, Q. G
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" u9 C+ G! o. } We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
