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
- n$ k+ M% g* M( [standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went
! @9 `& Q) B& n2 h5 Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,
7 m% p; n$ |. T% ~8 f"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, g( U8 e7 S4 \: P2 R) f) A0 l4 f
answers to our pointed questions.
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* G, O. g0 ~+ fThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
1 }; P( N% O" x3 O U" _1 G" {45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 d, @( i# n* I a+ K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
! A1 J! @" w7 Y; Y( `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& J/ [4 g6 @' |7 ]+ l6 Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) j4 q9 _$ J0 ], Cmedical schools.7 B+ ^0 y/ O% v/ h9 b7 N
! a' c) ?5 N! N2 YEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! P% R, T8 P: ~) W& |9 L3 G
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
- j! n" S, O1 _5 E; D3 kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" a7 E, f- j7 z4 o: b/ ?assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
( P: [# `4 l/ @, e: xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
- ?8 M5 M' r: eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 x$ U9 ^3 @! T6 H. P: u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% I0 \* K# |* t- Gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 t+ j2 ~5 ~+ nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. I0 d; f& O: A. D! H
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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& s! [7 V: m* `6 H1 LThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 S. x& z# {/ |# {' a# o1 L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, K9 ^: I' Y0 w. L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 @8 ]: v: M; v E& o0 C
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
9 c5 ^0 ?" d) v3 Z+ D" U8 qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% u! C" D( I# L1 D$ v" _; Gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* X5 l; g @) B6 m5 e2 ~, b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 k3 f# S% N" c2 y. c W4 Q8 M
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When
$ O: H- K! S+ @: @2 {( O: \' wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 e" f& f" T0 B. m3 e& R' Xcharge the fee defined by the state.% @7 I' v3 i4 S) W, L) f7 B& W$ f! [/ ~
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" Z' j% @; ?( Q8 w& G& Won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ o* N5 R& z, Q5 i2 M: Eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( K" a3 L# E7 o' x$ \( V' z% t
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
F- f4 Y. q1 k$ ]: D x2 d" }/ W1 ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 x/ C2 M7 {3 z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 F/ q! L4 y5 F4 \2 ~5 aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
5 s" L* C* q( I9 J2 syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 F& w q# @- X% H' w u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
g+ A+ }) V7 W8 i; ]& Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 y& z. F1 x/ q T+ F
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ X: I- w. k. G
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 r! c, f b; J3 m+ K" ~' s: ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 Y+ q) V4 y" `
are spaces.2 O/ n! k+ F) Y' H4 l& _1 K0 E
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 l6 x4 o1 q& N7 e% @1 v
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
/ K5 K& Y9 j6 town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* E3 X* z4 T6 V% Q/ B0 Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
2 N- n9 |5 c; |: t2 W& lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
$ a( |. F6 ^7 u* p) u# xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
W& E' q' r; q8 `( Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 T, T/ A+ V/ O! b9 X1 |9 j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
7 M" R: R1 r/ E5 `1 R5 \; P* zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! `+ Q! d/ S0 O
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.