We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very2 m' @" U4 u0 G) w" b
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we6 J8 U* U. c7 u- Q9 D5 a% T
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. , E; \9 H8 ?% ?/ d/ z ' {' g# N' h' w) m- b5 P- |: PIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,4 [$ J; O1 x5 G2 [* E( f
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in" f+ w5 S2 o. N4 I. J& Q
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as . o3 @8 p# N8 V3 }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort; p9 J6 C4 x' z" ]
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 1 K/ z0 ]1 U+ `$ v1 sbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the + d3 m5 r- q) u' T' blobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ( f5 m* k, _4 w5 j1 E! C3 S& Wwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.7 h$ ], r2 n, O
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 8 {$ ]# I% Z+ u) a- |names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not3 l$ \# J1 ?+ Y% ]. O" c6 y6 J
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our7 w9 o4 I2 P, b: v% U0 H# ^( v
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 0 L0 a8 r# t( G0 e! |6 T0 ra roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. / R) r% e+ U9 O3 x- H7 ^" c/ O7 S; ~5 k
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 4 [2 T y3 O* z; C6 X3 r9 ]7 blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool3 R" E, d9 I' ?* e- r
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( H8 E! O0 w6 k0 k% T( c' O4 Vof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the3 w# x+ {& y/ B8 f8 w% ]: m6 r7 G
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 1 l1 q) R* E5 w7 f" ?49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! [" D* _7 r) B; x) rCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with5 F+ m% n' ?: R: D2 _7 u
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.: L7 }5 l5 |" N, W$ I: F5 Y/ x$ J) y+ e
0 K Y C6 P# J% o* {; [/ @$ Y
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 5 \+ }9 j% {/ e' e- _2 J3 I, r) i1 W$ `just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ' h' o6 y. T5 bfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba % L( X. h+ m; rtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having& F( C& a5 }; c4 Q0 f; S
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China: X* m9 Z1 h3 O: U
daily political studies. 作者: freedom_2008 时间: 2011-1-15 13:28 标题: 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) }; m# }; D+ L3 o3 Y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ) Y$ |0 |, y$ G8 E8 | t- Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, , C6 [# o2 u: Q) F"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ! m) s8 [: |; K: y, t4 }# U/ z4 ranswers to our pointed questions.+ {2 B6 v1 S5 E `% v! R" P
& k' N6 U1 K% B' S; f sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ p- _: X- u. K! @( Q& @
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 P. B: l2 _# ?4 o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 4 W4 T+ Y, f6 `3 {! Afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 5 H$ b' i0 ~5 ~2 W8 Y4 E( f8 i& x+ N0 nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 q( u' \' x5 A: O$ v% g
medical schools. ' d( \( w' I! v% d; \9 Y ; G' E: }5 o& E0 ]- T2 ~* b$ @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 {) q, g' A2 P3 V$ J1 w/ [' g
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ) t3 f- `' E" K, bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& h0 r3 t1 ^* K
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; x0 p! }( |$ {2 [0 I
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ; S; {- b# y! p$ W9 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There8 H# s. M5 J% U( f
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 1 Z7 q" I; I% [3 _mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 ?; k/ u1 c4 M7 J
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some " j7 a# ^3 z/ L( J g( ]sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. , K; S' u: y: F, t 2 x. v0 D, ~1 k0 M2 uThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' p. U9 ?# p& N1 D% Y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- s& H& q6 T' c O
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: d# c: a* A9 H1 P1 a
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 3 s& ? G* f3 f) bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ) ^4 S, w% ^, p# G9 T/ r) Qsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. N; M$ J4 {5 ~ ]6 n* l! v
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 _7 p; o5 }( u- n" p5 I; Q+ F; k
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( _5 I, x; n) {3 z& u- La lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" d F+ c% Y1 N6 ^7 q W
charge the fee defined by the state. 9 t* E" u. g& ^% G v; K * ^0 c: t& N b6 k" F8 J& H; v( O& tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 4 H* R6 K* c* K% m7 U6 _on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 0 Z9 s6 O1 f6 d0 Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 6 o" P3 }* d; N( G# D5 A" itruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 a7 K) A9 k/ m9 }4 ?9 g8 G- ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ) u8 m- l& B$ i$ U+ Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 3 l2 Z% b: _3 ]: n4 rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 9 ^; K. K" W3 m% e: Q- G* X% oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ( y9 v" w: I+ Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( ]+ g' U7 s: o6 i$ E8 I- V+ N9 i; w' c
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that( E% h5 j4 ^0 B" ^7 n; s0 X! l8 m# S3 {5 u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' ^+ U* v0 H' D, J5 {6 N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) Q5 B4 g* r w" E- d' K2 f& obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& C8 l- Y& g# p/ T
are spaces.5 b7 P& f+ p* ?1 g
$ a; e: r9 ]0 }5 X7 JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' R! L/ Q0 h6 M& s5 E, f: H- I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: U, ~" h3 [% i' z( }7 V5 t
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the : {' H: P) g- I+ P5 T9 `40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 t; E2 s6 z$ y( C I
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 3 h2 U' ~' z8 D8 I" R/ Y0 a6 I2 Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few & O& W8 ]$ G {+ Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 b7 f( V6 }* ?) j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ( g8 g+ I5 b x5 n! y0 |5 iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 5 w( S+ |' y* _% ]3 ~- Q We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate. 作者: freedom_2008 时间: 2011-1-15 13:29 标题: 我们2006年的古巴游记 (三)
Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful* p% ?: i9 i) t* j
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" _4 `6 u7 J) w% Z& i
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ! _2 D8 Q. ^( b7 e( zlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) i5 |1 }2 p0 ~, P6 \. p3 `* r( A
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day " W: ~+ i. D' O4 i& }supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of" ]% E8 Y, a u0 ? ^
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ _9 `9 J( _5 b z9 ^& Y
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the % j( @* P& s+ e5 Jtourist area.7 }. c; {' x' a# C9 o( z
+ N1 j4 `3 Z$ s7 hOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's9 Y1 H7 U7 O7 q' @- N. P8 d
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 6 F+ e' [- y/ b Y# Q: f% {Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ' ~; W9 S ]; Ieverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 4 b3 q4 X- ~" l! W8 w5 Q9 Y$ ?4 oless leader-religious./ D. N( _2 e& `# y& X2 `
, J3 L/ \6 r4 @( X3 lAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba. R# T, [; `" z7 w# e2 k' o/ W1 J
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big9 s1 }. X8 j( U" p
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US8 a5 M& S: N$ V& R
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).4 |) ?# @ I2 N" t9 r: t/ M/ |
/ N3 O" B; m: h$ G: W! }We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 5 U# b6 f$ W; } B& x( U! zparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 F0 U7 x% ^4 q4 ]
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 y r! N: ^8 A
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ( e& V. h0 a0 w9 Oforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars & \6 Y$ U0 q+ e# C4 R5 U(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 h) }3 i+ w) ~! b# U+ ^, }; ?probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 7 K4 z, L- n; P+ x9 Sreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + M% o. P0 v4 z7 }! ] E E. vAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( Z1 s5 U/ F% q" @' n4 s9 Mor visitors.2 h9 l% |5 `$ h1 r# V- S
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
