We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 s9 Y/ \9 }2 {( K8 x! rinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( X, A2 B- t- L7 e7 P1 d! A hwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.- c# J* g- V- Y- a! x; u2 m9 V$ T
; y6 K6 J5 u$ D" Z* ~' r6 i1 x1 \, {It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, " b# [; i+ U0 `; T+ o30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , a- \. z, {. L: O; b+ ?a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 8 }, L4 }/ S! |; Mpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort & o3 [" B+ X5 f) cshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep . K7 o; Z1 e3 e5 g2 J- [3 Zbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 8 q+ O7 U/ t$ Q! N+ W* xlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 1 [9 @6 r! z: u, c- C' L& Fwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.2 w" Z1 G% c3 z0 z
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but {0 l& `' z9 w) _- J* b& R: T7 G4 Q1 M
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 3 ~, S3 a( ~) ^4 s7 M! `0 \exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our $ a$ Y* M; r9 [7 e9 y' l- Z5 Gflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 0 T; Y: g: q6 }% x5 U* a% \. `! ^a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 9 M) `1 g/ A* l, O5 c* Q1 y6 T9 ^' \" w# }9 z' ?
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,1 d9 P( N' D! n1 m* P
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool/ ?9 w( R% p* Y/ _
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ A# i( b2 ?( F; n. u1 `: ^of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ) D3 a) W( d0 nstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 7 f g. i' _ Y, O9 N& g49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes+ i6 s5 z' ~- y: {2 C
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 q- @, |8 W1 i" e# s( W" m, {fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.$ N) R! r: O- t
7 B; I) x. V1 U o2 ?The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ! E/ i, j% O7 F2 T# S/ Djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made: T( ?$ K- f% e; U7 `' ?
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 9 E W3 y' U" p$ H& O) F# Ctourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having . J" ~( W+ H8 b# D8 Va staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China k9 m' e0 M( U/ R2 E$ }
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: T( ]5 f. S/ { b+ ]9 R8 G
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went * @8 {% M8 N; o( b! [on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, * O. T% `. T! g: u( x% K* }) ["George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 [* E W' V. I9 K
answers to our pointed questions. 1 d0 ?; s S: h# \( e7 t' T& B5 `4 P5 f0 Z- v e
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, . I. r3 _$ K! ?% h/ D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand / |6 I# l' O* \, Y/ Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 4 C; z% N m% U% F1 |7 ^7 A$ Dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) m% [. s/ S3 _
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 1 o2 f0 }6 K& U: _$ @% z# t! [9 F. l, Omedical schools.' ]/ @" C; P j o
/ m- m+ M' d3 ^* g4 x/ E8 D- o/ h
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 5 E* ?( x- w' G7 Qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 A" ?- s9 o* g) U! x+ ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years # g% f- |, @* l( |: `3 p8 {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba - i8 S# Q5 Y8 N0 F% X' Cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - u* _! p! [& o# eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 8 p1 X+ A0 ~7 `seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) O( t+ Y ^8 r0 b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk. `0 k, N0 m3 y# F5 V2 S \+ a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ C6 N) A' C& \" z$ u' b; O) O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 W6 z6 K6 o8 @6 ~% ^$ K# I4 s
P, t, ?) Y) r8 z' L, A
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no % B9 o+ {% |1 B4 K! vprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 V5 @7 s' @$ D
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% U& ~. v6 c( _ a8 t# j7 T7 d3 Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 O* N6 P7 Z. k4 Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 5 J8 r/ H+ y- p G- G/ qsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. ~ K4 X1 C4 y m5 w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 i9 `+ ~- p5 R; Y- @4 WDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 V7 g3 W% P/ h z- G6 d
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only : B6 e( W" W, T: G' e/ Mcharge the fee defined by the state.: A+ W, ]! I \$ z( E# y
0 z' N% A5 S! ~ t+ G, {6 @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get , `! R& `2 T, t! k% ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + A' J/ N! H/ H! Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- e+ U0 J* d0 J* y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel . F; o- P6 i# F4 }+ F0 {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& P* y4 @" Q/ |2 \$ |5 i1 D2 @( }5 X7 z }
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on* v5 z( ^- f" n& @8 Q6 p; {
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if % F9 e' y s' o8 Y6 N. Yyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 E4 t9 Q& C* g$ Y: T& C
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 5 P6 r5 n$ |( ^8 \hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 9 o( c( B/ n$ m1 G, \$ ?- [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ) N1 P; F+ g8 _& V. |: y' pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 Z! R! x9 z+ s% d: p
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 6 y" J0 t" V" b o k2 W E7 vare spaces. : K) Z! G, Z" L. F0 k2 x# v/ }5 ~* u! K; j+ d8 p3 y6 P
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi + u5 p2 ?' C1 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 G' t! X+ R9 C5 J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) P$ C" n% {/ x' J8 J; q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different5 ?5 D( K/ [; S8 ~0 o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' g U& `- u* Y. D4 Z _4 e
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 p) e, k9 ?" S9 Q; m, y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of% l2 c) N \. j( g
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 [$ `7 K' C. |( C$ N
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 V2 y0 h" \4 `' b2 y
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 ! Y( X/ Z1 ^5 ?# ?* ospots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 8 a0 R# ]% d7 e( J3 ]( wthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 8 \% O" F5 u9 o0 Qlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep+ I/ l/ w1 I& P- ?( C9 P1 V" P: e# d
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day # {$ M$ C7 Y+ ~$ C6 _1 q4 Vsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of v8 F+ y& \9 E; y, d1 gthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 8 h% a: H8 z6 C9 o yhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the3 L5 g8 f! E4 ]) I8 X/ ?7 q
tourist area. 1 B9 }" ?/ n9 a6 u0 ^0 q4 N4 V $ v+ n6 Q9 D1 ~) uOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 a! b0 b. S# m) [' d3 q: m( }' A: F2 b
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ! {7 e+ J' E" j+ [Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were) ^0 P/ P D8 u
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ) u8 Y7 A( s ~, w( \less leader-religious.0 I% I6 F3 S- K/ q: J
1 H+ b- F' ~. `; d4 n9 W
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba . P1 t. }% B& q1 ]( D5 ~0 ?government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big/ O) x* p9 W) S5 U- q9 @% t
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! A5 x/ u) J9 y( n+ v( f$ Dembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ; E" _ b0 k9 }" o& Q4 O* [' d& Z7 ~1 T9 D
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the+ ?0 w3 A- v9 p/ z
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / C- B0 S n/ d4 b6 F. x! Sthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! Y \/ J% w% F. s. [- j* P! @convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for# b1 d7 I- f5 M; I& b
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars5 n8 J& K7 S/ w8 _: N/ d# ]4 ]
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we# Z% t9 s4 ]" c0 y' }( ]- C
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the % K& ~% m* h' ^5 A9 Lreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going./ u# F" U& e; Y9 z! N& \. x
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ) x1 Y9 ~) U: n; H3 k: i+ p( D+ tor visitors. 3 E0 N; I, Y4 ?" E7 ]% c- ?3 S) F) Q- V, t0 A* P
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
