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" s* L% X" `% u' J" q2 V# M+ L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
/ u- P4 [4 q6 B4 g% Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 U) W. T3 s# D9 {* C/ {* e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 V% O l4 q: Wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: n6 ?: C( O8 c2 y) ?6 E
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 A& y8 d; k* V+ R* F: z8 d a) Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 d0 | E5 W% _4 j# ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& k7 e5 x! d8 c% f4 Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! F6 [. v- H( m+ M% C- Y1 K
medical schools.$ z$ V+ `) t1 O- ^
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- x" m0 N, Z0 m% a g" {" \. F8 ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, f( t' w! n, ?+ a) ^$ p* d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% s7 u; l: b; w0 z# X& ?" H
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! q3 ?+ M9 D$ i( `* r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 }. R# ^4 w% I7 k( X R* Y ^over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
: k2 A5 a* l" l6 R, m; h& G" t1 [; K; Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* { I2 P$ u4 u$ J4 X9 q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, _; n% h- c1 q0 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# ]7 I1 J c8 Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 S6 S: t6 b- R- A M$ g) C) r
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- W4 B; X0 g( |, L& [. G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 m8 s7 i! r2 X8 J' J7 e
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) ^; j' r) P1 P% |% Chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; j5 q) K, M: P9 L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 H8 o8 {6 f& E( ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& s' ]& @0 N# ^9 h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ [2 f: d" z7 y" _' G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( p( X8 d6 W* K6 I; L0 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. C1 C7 @! T# n- V) Scharge the fee defined by the state." v* E, e; b+ L2 ?' B5 X6 D
* u1 A& n* P5 s. a: i! P! n" |2 FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* K7 M/ E5 ~) ]/ }3 y: Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ i* K7 M; l" e9 b8 ^, a! Y9 Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 \" s( A6 l5 ?1 `! ~- utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 G5 `& Q7 u; n2 n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ H2 i3 }1 ~. ^8 u# @5 S" W5 Q& sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 ^4 }. m. A; } t; A4 |
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; [8 K' ^- h/ Y9 M+ f
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people
" i s3 R& ^& z& G# dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! j$ _& `( e2 U' x- R' V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 U! B" {8 T' U1 ^; rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 ~' Q) b N1 a+ N0 gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 J1 ?, I/ M: _' N8 o# ]: h" K3 W" ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# M. o" v2 X. }7 J5 u% X
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ ], Z! Y. H( O8 k0 b( q( X* [
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# @ r+ M8 w K% ^6 b3 ]7 R. k! r
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 n) p/ w' A7 ~6 o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( ]4 E g- B* b( g0 q6 T# W5 Y* iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 ?1 y1 T/ |) K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& N. \0 Y/ D j! V% E
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% J; y! O' S5 {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 z' s* { Y: l" V
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: J! V2 ?/ ]1 |! \7 U; l) K; [ We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
