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
& d6 p( J; B2 |2 ~& E! Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- ^% k2 _# p( r5 N% ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," o. M ^6 l3 m# u+ ]8 v! r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 C6 Y7 m. ?/ z1 ranswers to our pointed questions.8 x; T) m) D$ M4 _( J
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 B7 L8 j: K' S9 B9 S l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand E) s0 W7 E) N4 V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is
5 O9 ]7 V6 I; y0 r" ^5 jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! M/ c. h: f' R6 j8 y% _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
* h9 Q! P2 Z! Ymedical schools.& Z, {; b' i6 t0 U; j+ j5 N
( \. h) R2 i: _) W6 BEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% C3 P* o; }5 C3 f! h2 f: E
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
$ E& n$ _# ]* h( b$ q4 C( Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! T& r+ o) I* Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 R6 r+ c# }2 t7 z
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
) k5 `, ~7 q( n1 Z+ Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There
+ \/ A8 Y9 N$ M. _8 H$ {, S8 Dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! b! I8 W$ V7 I& [4 O ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; o- k2 d+ f4 I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
/ I+ i* c* W! ~: G3 o+ b9 Esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 j) [9 H" ]6 Y
9 ~3 C6 M% `9 \6 d" GThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
- S; _& _; g% |0 cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
6 t% r v8 Z C& D$ c! rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
. n; |# }' ^9 e6 I! {4 H( ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good
# `9 ^$ w- E) Nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: i+ a# D6 o. F5 i+ j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
g7 X) X# W# r( i+ F1 Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 l" y U! ]* pDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When* n$ m9 |! w0 v- l
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 T1 W* x& \* ?& D7 ~
charge the fee defined by the state.
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4 B" d6 B3 M- Y4 S" {. O& d6 Y2 z* F; DThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 Z7 J9 r2 p# fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ `* h2 U" a7 M7 A" C/ F! cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big |9 R; Q0 Q% q3 H: |# ]
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
; `; s+ ^- L- a7 i' @' Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 C, k. _! d# a9 zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 v( v _3 P0 C/ w8 Z3 @schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
$ q- P$ U5 P& z& g# I+ i* hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( O' \) O+ U! ` W9 K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 l% i: V7 B* v B5 thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- \! R5 W& w' j, {. vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 t. d# Q% s& Y3 [: o6 Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 h D9 e. n, g' v( |
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" p. ]' M6 P Z, c5 p3 y' kare spaces.6 A. F4 Z7 l; G
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! R- X# J# A# i, L0 N' ?7 b
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 S; ]8 m7 l0 D' b* Town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 p2 Q* y" z( F2 @, J, B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 g3 m( A$ ^5 A# tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 A/ Z) \' w0 r+ y4 V" O7 I# y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few
5 s! g, K; P$ j! T0 w7 fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
9 V# I) ^! U' B4 Q. {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
$ Q6 j, j; m9 p% h. k, eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
$ P Q, O8 z9 t7 R6 @9 i We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.