We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & D4 r! R/ M$ o3 K qinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we! O) }% P9 [2 K* B1 d' m4 f! l- U
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.) [/ w& I" ]. G- g
9 G; C# \( X9 GIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,- {& o+ u% y# u+ u; ^
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in & ~2 e; x5 t; ~) K! j2 p. e Za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as$ v ]7 |! [! U/ N7 Y# }/ I2 S
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ! Y# j( k! _& [' Tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep+ ?( W7 j7 s! Q* ~( S/ D1 b; w& \- T
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 a' F# z. P; e% D- ulobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,( D6 R" o. U& P0 z# J9 c" L$ `
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. : f" W8 H: j0 j/ N: t People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 2 Y% @( E# q" C; X' |names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not " Z$ x3 ^, h5 r, @exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 C2 ~) p1 `# E+ L, e: f& yflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through1 \. n1 v6 D" Y
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 7 B+ g! J: t0 P + @( }8 I+ U5 Y0 y3 g# R/ jThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, * K9 j6 x. t$ y8 |' A9 |low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool: `4 D4 E/ a0 z% k" I A8 w \1 {
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top & Z; Q' f, N1 B: j# e5 Nof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the B9 r. d2 V' X$ g+ [/ Wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from( U1 v1 _6 y" R8 @6 X
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes" V& z% X/ I9 I! T5 k0 {( e! T
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 }* f* q& I8 Q& v- z. C) X# Afingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 4 Y" K" n! R, U4 T- D! t/ }* N- {- W4 a, s6 [* |, {
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 8 k& C( [3 q/ `. l. Mjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made' d: {/ Q8 ?# f1 U3 F" R% Q
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ l9 j( x. w6 w& L9 @5 V
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ) C) M6 @/ F8 G" V0 h; I( sa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China: ^/ O$ Z- t- J3 F
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 1 x6 ]$ d. T; {2 ?standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) k- ]: l" }0 _0 [0 t2 N% D2 s& Z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ! O* E" T* H: U" d; D/ V! {8 G"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. O! N; d; \: w& @! U
answers to our pointed questions.8 m4 e4 n+ z$ }8 A1 z/ i1 k8 a
# }: A" Y$ [9 l: eThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ \2 @1 M3 N- _9 a* h8 ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 d7 _2 X! @ G) j A" a
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is . G! ~% n* F2 \! a1 c1 ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 3 f7 q/ y% n1 j: d) P! y9 ]to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- E$ | s: W7 }; X* B* L' ~
medical schools.) U4 w w, z: d9 u, a; H
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 P% x. j. `0 k' y: k
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 1 d( T& {! ^8 j8 nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# R4 b' S7 W+ k% I' X. v X- G
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 t3 v1 i( }- S7 Dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: J- f( _& n3 H) _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There - S9 x w$ P! A: l, s$ `5 \+ ]seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and , X$ Z( q; e, P' S7 ~: P& Wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 9 b+ ^* z# i6 a. G9 Sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some - w/ J2 Z: F; M4 Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& ]! l# I; b( [6 }1 q
?+ P+ Y( d% N- {; B! S$ [: l
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no . i2 i% X0 P$ Q& p6 V$ ` P# Z/ kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ( J6 S- N% a9 g/ ~/ ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people & i6 @2 P1 r; _6 s( Khave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- m% \& M* P- ` S1 o J
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' |2 ~6 K }! U* ~! e5 Zsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ! V7 A/ H# h9 _' g" A1 B+ hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 1 _8 I L3 c- GDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( [# ^9 z3 d u: v& K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 0 [8 ]+ u$ K1 a, R* lcharge the fee defined by the state.1 `( B! t7 Y: ]9 ?
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get & z$ f" h+ k+ W- Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 3 H3 ^7 x- N3 N7 zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big - i! d( x; I; ~7 vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 2 J- `; ^! ^" k( N6 Jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the % x5 w' I6 n3 U+ Uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on + J5 Q9 Y' H1 G2 u/ ?5 z+ W% Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 V c9 J/ I7 `1 T5 p9 F/ a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! ~ m7 f+ X6 B. Y7 p7 p
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 3 x1 B o1 S% \" khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 H6 \% L! [- t! A- Y, P
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 t) R0 @% N: x; T; _; R; G
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) ]" W4 R# h3 Nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 2 P+ U3 e9 t% U1 Dare spaces. 4 `* m# M% w h1 u' Z$ n" g' ^$ ^ $ S5 {! g! \$ sThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ' t8 c, A: T9 @4 E' a" E- Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 u3 T- j& N, f7 r0 S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 J. s+ ~, B* W j, S& R
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. @: o3 x+ K4 c3 n. F% w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' C" k' w4 ?: o9 W
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 5 Z& p% o& C# T8 J7 lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 4 g( H# ^1 o* r( i5 @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ' t& _! D; E) c) ^4 O2 v# K( I8 ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 3 [+ }7 D. F- t+ b) m' R 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 % ~4 |: Z l) [5 n0 c3 y1 V gspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 d, T. \2 ]9 |6 B8 i
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very3 N5 h! b8 h1 B! y8 t
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep7 B# I2 V: {0 o. \
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 c9 \# n/ w2 O. D' @supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ~% u$ X6 U+ u4 C4 G* v% \
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms d: h4 e0 A, R: d3 x4 {6 n
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the( j$ \$ |- o$ D# K% Y6 D
tourist area. ) @! a( {6 k' P6 w5 h ( ?8 g* B4 e! YOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's & M3 S, T: W2 _9 S0 o# Epictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).; J& t, E7 i6 L
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were% | m v3 U, ^9 y
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 0 F" ^8 t5 V0 C, |% q; f9 _less leader-religious. 7 W* f! S, N0 E2 Q0 K6 o/ ]/ X. U& f# C) M' X. J4 _+ l2 N* ^
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ! r: p! ~& F F$ \government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 3 c3 d, L; z4 v# hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US4 J/ E0 `0 n+ c" @- m
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 5 t" Z( R9 r6 d! _8 S 8 j1 Y9 x8 ]6 Z$ sWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the * @2 A, P, P3 _ iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not a3 c* h1 d1 o5 m# \6 o* J$ n
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 6 q" R3 V2 Q, N7 `2 n$ uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 5 Q2 a; s9 i4 f1 x) s6 uforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars; G) ]2 C* z2 W. S8 O/ u
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we $ T/ m8 _7 U8 z( gprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the + n# {- ^1 y5 x. |3 sreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.% y/ s7 z+ I; b6 m; k: v* Q) [
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- }$ W1 e' C+ w# }3 ^3 [7 X
or visitors. 7 n0 L4 s2 L- e. h, u5 l1 ^( a% U- X2 n: F
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
