We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very . P& x$ V6 ~- ninteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we" Y7 x W0 J! ~4 I/ G4 P3 E
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ) S' q% F4 r7 B! z7 v 4 |* x3 t8 K3 f/ A$ T" c- X; g- ]It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 _/ @, o5 o& B# [30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ; s0 K# L2 u+ T0 z+ @8 za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as {$ H& v2 t0 D! C% ~possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort . r. n3 Z+ ?3 d4 Gshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 7 D Q6 T5 r4 V9 M d; N/ p* Abetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the, ?2 c) X$ e, S* U c6 @! f
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , B& R: _* Z6 [' hwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. # q& k& o6 N/ m. Q, { People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but * U+ ^1 u$ m0 m' o4 {) lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not , K2 C3 u+ I. v1 Iexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our + ^% Q& _* c3 S. j, }8 Nflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through; C* E; \/ Y) B# V: s6 R
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ' e7 `- K% g9 W9 Y + Y% ^: G! }' H+ a6 p+ y/ rThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,& }; @1 U; x+ ]- ^. J0 _
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 4 G4 f; t {7 z6 [3 a(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 9 z; q& Q$ e3 o7 t8 E+ y, ?of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 1 U: v: r+ [$ ~0 r. }* hstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from* F j/ [* e5 _! ?0 c* F
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes " `7 V' Q% R5 q1 _9 gCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ; z- k4 D' N! ^; rfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.: \, ]& ?9 w, S3 E6 f% g D
# c/ y/ r' g! sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are " l* i$ O( A& Yjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ) G) l# B& h7 B( G( D7 B+ nfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba V" o1 Q I5 r% W% K
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 4 p ]5 c6 n$ va staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China+ B' y0 v- P5 C
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 " W0 ~& j; R, L" Mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ( b8 ?5 p) ]! a6 c0 E& Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, # v" Y, Y, ^% z c$ [* q' E"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) k! D! w, h/ E9 {$ [* Z& w6 a
answers to our pointed questions.( v; `5 ]* ?. M/ @- F5 Z: n1 {% Z* I
5 v, o" _- z3 q# L( u7 A sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, o: {0 ]$ a4 [$ s45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( |# z0 w2 P# X+ x8 s# t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& D4 |, W0 Z/ Z" T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 2 ?8 r0 r0 x+ B* v0 fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# t6 [* d, Q1 v& s5 T
medical schools.* P& y, p r0 K7 n' A# m
$ j0 B8 B" l* K k0 s" i n" u
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the7 U2 W6 p& x' F$ }: X& P1 y: A( g
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 ]5 f$ Z& P) B' i0 ?( Q; K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 T. }, C7 ~2 D/ O4 u
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 @6 C: @1 T! M0 |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, n' N. A3 z. @; h: |2 F3 `
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 I) q2 u9 Y2 {; g5 @4 `
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ {" F, V! V* V* T7 _7 s
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk / x& H% D- T1 a9 D- a S* o: i, Ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some- O5 q8 k4 R" L' K7 W& i; \
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 Q/ q" U- ?5 S c+ h0 |
& R# |0 v* M) x2 j% eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 L2 |2 r% p$ s; M+ `, n
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and $ p' o3 k' l1 D8 i' Fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( Y* r4 Q/ w G7 F
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ( F E/ a/ ~4 Vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' {0 O: t* s# W/ F* B. n/ E" bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% O- J' K' l; i2 b; O4 A: E
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. " ^) L! `7 C* j' u3 T5 Y0 JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! h1 v5 A0 Q. d) `; o' W( b6 n; e
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only . `& b! l5 Q O7 Scharge the fee defined by the state.5 [, g9 S; Q7 Y+ a- f
$ ?* k: O9 X7 ?( z1 J1 C1 X8 I) YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / g- ]: A4 w. t9 H! z4 Oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) H; j8 F9 K @' u5 Z" n+ w2 \8 Q
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ h9 n0 u4 s2 |1 s4 d8 ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 3 ^$ G+ W3 R9 I$ S# aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, c% K( Z' Z8 N7 y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! d0 w6 n6 _% D: v: ?3 H
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ o6 W" M6 Z7 C4 T3 M2 I
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ) x, x+ X. ]3 Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch - X; N. T4 l* `& j7 Khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 1 X' h4 J V: ~7 K1 ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; B0 Y1 C& @& [- `
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 6 T' K W* [, Vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 k5 l* k% {2 j3 k4 i7 h( V( }
are spaces. / D, F. x+ `" m) \7 S( `+ [0 O& F P3 ^* X1 N {
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ t* h# l6 m3 a' Z% t( { i6 A
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they - |; k3 J! _9 n; Y' z, C. S6 Hown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 a( Z5 \) g; c# T1 F; N40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ) I6 Y1 z2 O! R" y7 V1 m Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 4 I% Y3 p( U& `4 C* K/ G" Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ' v3 k9 `: z) @+ z" r) V1 vnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of [, R: p( G+ y8 ~- e! n0 S1 Z2 i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ ?$ i5 X3 |! }
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. K. L/ _4 b! I' k2 d
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 . y3 q6 r' u" U. g6 Z0 h( b& r' Aspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 8 n4 o/ T# V" P) l4 Mthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ; B: O, \9 K7 H) k! _4 Y* \3 L8 \0 j8 Mlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep* ~$ t/ R- h: d8 h2 k, a5 S
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 7 Z% Q# ]: K1 l& R5 ?. S7 @# {) t5 Qsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of- |! p- ?) q2 u; S
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 1 w# l8 ]+ E% S- Zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the : t3 ]1 [2 w& }6 mtourist area.4 F" L5 j* c: ^' y
3 z1 y1 P3 c5 }9 }- BOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 F! Y: p: p8 {! O; w4 ~
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ [! z" c3 _7 J, P' q* U# E: o
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were+ w* p) }. S3 m6 V" e
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ' P* c& b* l8 h$ R Y* Z7 H# `5 \
less leader-religious. ) y. f+ {2 G: g- ] ) K' \* q2 t/ C& i! p: K3 cAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, P: d! Z d' j. U2 _
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big. U1 ?9 m( \' o, _
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US3 z N* K, b$ c& X; N0 r1 k
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 _' T$ W- T% [3 B' _% q
: B& }0 J3 n! z$ V
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the2 u. b4 Z' [: S9 h) g5 ]
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not $ ^) h9 y% v- I1 [the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 - g: h( }* M) t9 c( tconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for + ]# |, n8 [2 R( R* tforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars # u+ e) r3 [3 A(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 9 C9 W$ |0 g' A* N1 u1 Qprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the# b) U$ n4 H# T( c$ ^: ?! v. ]
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. V0 v `4 \5 m; g% }And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; {7 b; I2 Y4 ~$ v
or visitors./ r& N+ f0 g# ]/ M" Q
6 e# J6 s9 ^% R# O- v: D+ W-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
