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, D% D/ v' g2 a
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
7 a7 a3 k) u5 k$ ?. c& f& Xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
. v. H9 E( b+ a% c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
* s1 A5 O' I0 j6 tanswers to our pointed questions.9 ~3 c' @+ d9 W4 g3 t3 K6 y) [
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
% t3 N7 s+ @0 A5 G+ [/ h45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
# g8 p1 \# g& \; oout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
) K# D1 Z' A0 U- P/ b( \# h; J4 bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( f6 t H: i) M+ f% h& M Y3 J
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
2 \$ l U' n# n' ~4 c- ~medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the9 E0 {2 B: [$ v4 g! @8 c- U* Z) ~
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 V4 R6 u6 y" b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; _7 g+ i& D0 J/ h5 |: }; L7 qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
. S- g- N: Y9 l5 `2 n# |) L2 xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 |# E/ H. e- y* Q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
7 c) O; V( _9 yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and; x( d0 j* U3 ^4 [' |
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* M0 v0 b; e6 s0 S0 z3 @" Wshortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 N/ e! V8 d. t% R& k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 v C5 t3 B- X7 Y& X% u
) y1 B% S. o/ t1 \$ a! |The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ K+ \, n' Y$ e* ]/ n d$ g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ k5 @' k- {4 U! `6 l- {7 x
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 g8 F5 h+ n# _
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 r, _1 T% G# ]) @8 Q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% _& u. `* S6 ^$ ?/ J1 s4 z( k8 `1 d
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
5 S' B) S! [+ m! f% w6 ~$ `* edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! b$ M4 N" R! N" g$ j
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
2 k5 Z% o- M# z$ A2 Pa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only j1 W" a& O: ~! `- G1 r
charge the fee defined by the state.: y( V. u) g+ v h0 w
8 [( f/ h/ ^8 ^) i0 g1 `There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get5 v4 e6 H8 c( V% N$ V- i
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
, ^$ W" n$ ~ D" f L7 ~2 b6 qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 H8 r) R. v. z, ?% c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
A- w2 ?- _- y' i% d C8 E- L( `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' y. e& _$ E! t, P* T# R1 ]! q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% F8 v }- o$ V& F3 rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& y" m. ^" k% J- Ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people }5 c3 h0 K5 k+ Q, y7 e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
F: D: y( w$ c- ~! lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# M! `% q; p' m
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 j9 a, v e1 U0 d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
" e- N6 w4 q4 _buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
: U# m0 j, s) eare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* v2 Y- o( k2 T+ N7 p2 @' ^
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! O0 C9 j# N* j# ^( g3 u
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
. q3 H' _2 h* u4 O. z4 H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 `* ^- a p; R% Q) r6 _0 Uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 z/ M B9 {% D! |# B
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 X6 U" r9 E. x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) j% e! N6 u' N6 U/ p" X" @
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 z f1 u! w* B* u9 B2 Dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
0 M! q+ N( ]$ H8 S3 y We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.
