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
5 D7 c O5 v8 S' [standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 j9 d9 _) w8 C9 b5 a4 W \
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: S! h" b. m" [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* W' n h( q% @( [! P; z+ G4 t& R% k" S
answers to our pointed questions.5 f1 {9 r8 G6 w) i" F6 d3 j
. P+ d0 _5 L& \; o" l T0 d) MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; c/ {& |6 U- w$ z& v r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" Z: I! f- t5 \2 dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is% J( y" U" f& b/ k& J/ R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 b' n$ H e6 `( bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are w5 l' ~# v: o
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! C% X/ D3 Y* C5 e
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
d: x/ V0 ~) N! h5 a2 Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ h0 c# x! r# Q# ~% }6 J5 C3 O+ Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba
0 C8 n2 a( _1 u/ }4 Zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" ~3 P. @! [% E( A. M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! L5 M. U% x1 t5 T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 [; O& u7 [! r+ t. b6 U% H; J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 @8 U* b8 g/ \: Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- l) q0 b0 @- M) e) b y8 @8 R* bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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v9 F4 G" e' C! D( B% T9 VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no
" {/ V( [, v# v+ o' ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! P1 O8 s5 N) i" wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ m- E! T/ R& u; u# w4 h0 s
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( t( ?: w! @# F2 W
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 S4 b1 Q2 n) ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 S1 D1 V; T/ l6 `& ~: W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 q- u, T/ Z. s2 A/ R: p% _
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 N0 h. |( l4 w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( a: \ j1 y2 W
charge the fee defined by the state.6 ~- e3 J# v! N2 f
' W+ N4 s3 u6 t- k" uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 s. |( e, e1 F! Y. bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 _: \3 F2 i6 t: |- U! x3 g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. C! X* h+ v8 P: _" Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel
5 w2 o% ]) @ X2 n- y+ vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) O' x' U: G; Z0 r; ]3 J0 w& m1 Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" | J5 S! [1 a# {schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 m5 c6 `: r4 f" p. f' l) Oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; z* J1 ]' Q I0 I s& x" T5 _" N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, b; L# s* t" D: fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that W: g( K c' p3 d" I, D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! b1 N3 m7 y# Y0 M; pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, f* F( O) c& c& ^6 G; s0 Fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- Y4 F8 j' h' M% q9 x# r7 R
are spaces.( A. d$ x" b) [3 h9 G
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* ]# O2 E5 b w* X6 A- V0 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ R5 H& y6 |% i! O, G
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 ?9 }2 V: b* }+ I2 Y! {( ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 U( N* P0 q! Z* k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: V9 x L/ K: ^' F( n) ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' K, p+ J4 v1 M8 o" q: }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of
# Y% j9 ^. _! x. f# Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; P6 [$ D+ K6 J4 x6 kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." T5 m. P4 S! k7 P. ]
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.