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
0 ~$ a$ T. y& q* _standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
) n0 m4 |# ^) P0 z0 Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
0 R" z6 o8 R# h+ |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; X. h( I% F8 K6 _$ P+ B# f4 ^7 X$ \answers to our pointed questions.) E. V$ ?/ e3 k/ L/ s( Z
/ u" C9 ]8 K* w; V4 pThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& g* F, H1 P) O/ _5 y! W& `- [
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 R5 e: Y k* g# F5 q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
9 j) b# b; ~5 M. H7 g5 Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
" J. e1 v/ B. S- s3 P. gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( K6 x2 y- i6 }; k* e" Imedical schools.
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5 F2 G6 c( [. t7 @8 XEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: }+ H) M9 O8 }2 X7 K* Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 G% q. f7 k" h9 c" f7 Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 ^' e. J J2 P1 T( X0 i' h& H
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ f9 ]9 b G u7 h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 \: s- {) Q( M" ^7 V/ ]
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
9 Q$ v( @, m/ V5 G6 M+ x3 ?seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% H) h' A8 Q( Q6 Y1 Z3 G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
1 t: V. ~5 @4 l8 |; M2 yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 s7 M4 J, @; v7 n2 X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. h( {' j+ z% V
* |& |5 Z; H/ D+ ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
) ~* X7 |$ J& W* Q4 b" zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; q" D; S. F$ y) `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 O' p& a; u3 P( `4 w% @! q V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: y) R q' X! `( O, T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% {. G! S- [* X- Zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. ^5 ]! {/ O4 `/ x9 q) a4 K2 hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; Q9 `3 f/ U6 X" G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
# t9 M! S2 q. ^' I! p: M( A. ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! t7 X# A2 a7 k, u. f/ B
charge the fee defined by the state.
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$ g; g0 @0 a; q2 U% C! qThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 ~! Z. a8 w3 G0 j) Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& O/ n; q" |& D) a; T0 l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 @2 o/ Y+ r9 k/ W3 utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
; F M W) s$ O" Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: k7 K7 G( ^0 q* ^: e! j0 k: Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 W6 T$ p' u( n2 |* W5 |
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 L* j G& l6 u: M8 wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ T% p; a2 h6 } K7 j+ B* w9 u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- T& l- E i5 a8 ~0 L; fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. R& u8 Y, Q" e, Z( ]- b+ n% U7 Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 x) m D/ \0 f ?# n F
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 @! v3 E' C6 \! i; E5 ]9 F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( T/ c( X: A: v9 h& p! m. ~9 [" z, L
are spaces.
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7 `3 q% V6 ^9 w7 k* M0 Y4 H6 r) IThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ E( F6 z1 Z& W4 W2 h$ i
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
9 @( v _1 y2 V3 sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the s( E. V1 H+ ]6 J7 D5 C; g+ M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, A9 w. b8 A. Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# m; Y( s* s8 q5 j& ~; z5 T+ a
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few: Q! W+ L5 S& ?9 ?7 J4 \3 G
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
' R2 S' I/ t' I6 {9 o2 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% h# b. ~1 w+ L a7 [6 \' y: ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ a8 c: Q5 `* W! V1 }4 \1 u% N We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.