We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ! Y6 o, ~7 p6 z( Uinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 8 y e3 w( X$ S/ p2 V; }wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ! J% z8 m6 u" e* N9 o2 I$ D& P" ?* h
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% \" d# [2 i; W7 i5 [' L, ^$ {2 k
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in9 E) R9 s! ^4 g3 y) A# A$ T$ x
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 I% M1 u) {" L/ p2 ]1 J( p6 {
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort' c7 {( L* P2 ^1 j, H" j, z5 o& ]* H
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( a) ]1 O6 k+ R: y" K+ W4 s9 ?
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the " L! i( y4 a$ S2 |lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, * }4 v( v- Y$ c. l* I {with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; @8 [+ y. r+ ^, G: @7 C
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 2 `, g% s2 Q" ?, @0 Fnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ' B; K1 u; \, @; yexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our " }" D) R, ^( L; y: v# R& h1 Eflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through& W5 o$ q$ j K& `: [" k
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.7 C9 Y; h; B+ l3 L
* \% J; l; c c6 \# uThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, + W( A6 g$ }! S) @low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 9 i, o. E# K" D) l4 u5 r W(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 b# W, N. j3 c% ]3 o- ^# Wof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 7 v: J0 Z+ L u/ H7 r0 Vstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from " r T6 `% Z# R; h' g: S8 o' _" g49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ( g: K% `& J) [/ u: v& ]Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 2 d% G6 I2 j$ N# k! s9 T( Dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.8 B5 H9 ]+ w* K0 C2 l2 f3 E
9 B0 p7 l+ s% o# q$ T H/ L
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are' ^( C) i* t3 x1 ]
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made : L% D0 m) p$ K0 D- O; `' t# m/ |for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba9 L/ y1 R, {3 a
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having- d0 `0 j# x1 W- }/ q: L% j$ g8 D
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China; i2 \# @) w+ Z/ q, j! D
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 ( I0 ]% k+ M' Q9 c+ _5 ]# x" Bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went * A/ u+ N8 d( I9 b3 ? T S# O) U; Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, * {7 E# f3 o, x1 t& {3 ^# D"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give + a6 w% @4 w' ` [answers to our pointed questions. {+ m& f# r8 H! T / {" C$ Z. y% z& ^, Y4 kThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ E; K, E$ k; l& S, J0 ^/ p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* j) q$ n# v/ m+ d9 o0 b
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - ~4 v2 q* b8 ?9 X3 e7 Tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, M5 s$ k o5 i0 b$ w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are - ~* j c3 x- z; @ Amedical schools.- I$ S$ }4 j* b" Y4 C+ t( |8 p2 T
0 V7 ^* c; F% @" T0 K/ a
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ l. `% Q3 v9 N* O5 ?! [
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants " r) U, Y' X, W4 W; z/ s7 Y; zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . o. l7 E$ H3 X8 W& q$ `assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba " c0 H7 v; U7 q0 R- Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to $ o4 @& U; w- C2 [2 D5 ?$ Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There # i( l' g5 |; d' S/ n+ kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ w, F: u' l4 T8 `' J7 h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; v( s: B" h3 U; z5 e% E6 Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( s- U" h( u# R: j5 ]( u; E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. . E0 J! `0 `) ^9 l/ w" ?/ a8 ^( P! ?5 Y0 l7 b4 ~5 n. o
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ; ~9 U. u# r; m# A( |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 L" I' s3 u& E& d [+ l
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 3 p R9 U8 z1 xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- y- O0 @ ?' s2 p9 P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 c+ j2 b8 g" e( u v4 W- P- m
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 @: V8 i4 W0 \4 X
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., L$ L# R7 U. K1 O, @
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# w/ {4 u* v, Y: t
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 E$ \7 ^4 h9 o2 m
charge the fee defined by the state. / D i) U/ E8 u% U. E5 b7 g/ r 1 V3 P( Q, d1 p2 m. OThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( Q6 Z4 V; e5 F) I; z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- q& U# N& U G5 H8 T1 N) e ~2 I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! _% v. l$ K2 y3 ?truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& K7 S [) U d5 o7 U
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the . w3 X% O; a L+ | _2 Aworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on # i9 N% _. y" F3 ~* Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 9 @5 y1 ` Q4 {+ Pyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; _' X$ a2 L. V: a/ `, [4 l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ H4 \& k" ~7 C# B. z, F6 |8 u7 N
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that % S0 f B( T0 fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ( t4 Q- q1 J, M* y9 y, B1 cto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or& Y8 r; S( B) K0 L6 J `
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 N) N) l5 U+ b: O5 t6 A- I7 W
are spaces.7 E! [5 l* Y; F1 P3 c
7 [( D" I( l: h7 }0 yThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi $ E) O0 I5 _" vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 j- [" E5 f1 c) |
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 R4 _! t( _ V9 W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" H8 b: ]" y ?6 ]0 v3 h& Z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 b6 d, m4 [! A, }- L3 j* I( T2 p
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ) v+ Y E+ F2 E' jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 }# Y0 x# T6 P: u4 o# q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; G& w H# g& K5 his a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., I! y; T2 N3 P* }* U" M
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 ! Z! s* C( D) j' Qspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all% E2 Z+ e- V% X) H' Z% N ?
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very4 \6 W" E# U. A/ j- A
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 5 f% }" E# y9 V( O1 e9 v4 erecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 9 c1 L% m h) k% Ssupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 6 J. G: _7 `1 z% @5 G5 s# nthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms - q" x" E w) P i- W+ Bhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 2 ?# J4 B+ Q$ s% N7 etourist area.& x J/ A6 d8 `, T/ p- ]
" b, E x! N6 z; u
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 6 N/ l% t+ W! Cpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. Z. ]# A5 Q3 T; p0 q8 l
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - [' w5 s R4 I( W \ ?6 Z K1 jeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 p$ [/ Q" j; D% T4 gless leader-religious.; i2 k/ y, r( n# q# C
) ]" T& i" }/ H- t8 w4 E EAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 6 g3 u% F' b+ k% n7 |government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 4 w0 Q! g+ c1 r3 P9 hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US# L, N7 Z. W% `4 ]% R
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 8 m" T$ E3 ]( y: o, a3 I6 `( H" L# c% l
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 0 E# T ] x/ H7 L4 j+ b' nparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not p7 x H3 y0 f% [* a
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 & A. ?' _& ^" }0 r& wconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 7 i1 j- e& n; Q" d* }foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars / n N3 _! V( ?" H$ q) d(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ; t. }- |: [ G, h2 r; V6 Wprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 4 T3 ~9 O. ~. l" s7 Zreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.' T0 ]4 r; ]# ]! V
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local+ U y3 P2 r+ s7 A9 e: ?; P( {
or visitors. ! d# u4 M6 @# m" H6 u3 x; d$ h( a1 Z; C' `4 y" g. Z6 H& P1 o
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
