We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very $ G! a( K) ]: _; |( T, Minteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 6 O- B- U' w8 x* ?wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. % B W$ e6 ]2 o6 n2 d% c6 \- d; X ( d0 ]- d8 R) n `: oIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, : q* R3 \. }' H4 ~! N30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 5 ?3 O" ^) @4 N* E4 [/ V4 l" V) Ka very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as' B0 F9 a- o+ Q8 o( z, h
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort, @+ \- R. ^ J: e; {
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 X# N2 n) Y" Bbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the $ S% A2 e0 l" I* olobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 3 e7 [# k- ^: `3 l$ mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 r6 R) f8 P7 Y f: ~
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but7 D3 i! X6 u+ m( l; a& v
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not , h+ O6 V. o% H/ P" Wexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our & o" m6 A' T1 [* B7 jflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through & j& P: |) a, F- ea roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. # X' f0 s+ ?- v& g& J t# _ * T6 Z+ P& ]7 Y: H- ?) b7 n$ mThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 3 t- R) `8 r4 ?. I2 K9 Dlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool $ I. W7 W; l+ ?2 l( [3 D(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top - | o& W5 M- |$ M/ `of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the5 X5 a- f, L2 b0 b' t- C
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ; g2 [1 l9 i" y1 o; I4 Z49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! c( c/ `* y# ]3 yCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with - h. }8 j. ~7 hfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. " h& r8 [! ~+ G I4 ] d7 ^! `9 V; K: Y: k# L
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 8 a, w& T$ H) t* a/ O" K/ [5 c v) mjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made % _! h3 K! R7 X/ t& ?for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba/ L- T$ e* J$ \' t
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 4 W! D5 F$ M- \" |, S5 Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China) r& X5 Z) E/ C* i0 t5 U) h
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( G2 ?* _4 w3 x8 G' g% E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went $ D* Q* F4 s. r9 s2 p( g2 Ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ' C4 Y8 j) b. v, P4 d- S9 v"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ i0 \2 {0 [3 s+ q
answers to our pointed questions. 3 d8 N) y/ p9 z" e" V* }5 Y: y# x$ P, s& a4 y2 _% L
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 f0 ~* G3 [+ d% ]! V
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. d" `" V: ]) g9 a8 q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 1 A6 s$ F. g9 x; K0 V: u1 Ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams p* i7 E. `# [9 _$ O6 m
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are % `8 u; t# u/ W& r4 a* c* H, Ymedical schools. 2 a4 \6 @: F1 \2 F + }8 E* d) |. H2 @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ' `3 E9 e- `. p9 V+ g% ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants / P, v* m, q" R7 b' ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years , w* `: J" A+ d* m ~assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( i$ _, h- T- y: S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 h$ D+ A9 F0 F) D$ E" j: G) F+ }
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 s4 m5 b0 w( |8 |. h: @0 o! T% U
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . s. [* m8 v# x+ V4 E5 fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 9 ?& m; ]2 C8 F" ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some ' T+ ?8 g- z+ `- a( L; usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 4 |+ s- O v5 `# b & Z4 W5 \6 R+ ^8 \/ vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 7 Y1 s4 a) J- Q4 H. P3 _private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ; z3 C" ^: x, ~" `9 @0 w' ^/ P& x) wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% F, v/ P b3 c
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 U4 r& }% d: b- q0 r9 r Uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 8 p* T% @. i9 E- \0 y7 s% ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( A( _, n! o, i) {/ w; g" ~2 W" Z' R
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 W3 Q0 S9 P0 O- A, j4 L' W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 Y) v4 R" | S
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 ^: S0 Y8 Z6 Y
charge the fee defined by the state.6 i' G4 ^3 V4 {+ ?& j
9 {: A3 \# M: v# o3 j1 `, a9 y. RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* K- c: w# t4 R2 N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type $ \( R) l8 X9 Y! Y+ Y! Cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* V3 c8 z2 D$ H6 c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel : G3 ^4 z$ b V6 ~8 bseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the p( _. Y) G6 }6 f) |; H" n' Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: v5 H {9 p; q. v& u6 x
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! l7 Y: T; z m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- ~7 [( N$ B! |3 o1 f/ z* e* e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 5 j& D4 p a. D {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 a$ W1 x' g6 q1 F( o
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# v1 N: q1 C( u8 h5 N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 p. C7 q8 {' V6 z! w8 Q" g* K2 L
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 A7 x, m: v5 O. k/ }8 T7 n# D
are spaces. 3 L5 H8 v, X8 _; t5 e+ ] 0 c9 @) T' q' ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi a+ }+ r& z9 r1 W- T* `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 @7 e* Z5 S, D$ I5 m1 r! E
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 z+ _& A1 m# W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 L3 O2 z7 ~ t% q5 E8 t
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the - L4 D0 U, t$ O2 ]' n+ @2 Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few . g# N8 A! }; Y; j( ^nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 A2 F0 }% H" j" W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; ?' k4 e- A# Vis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 | W. `' D/ a
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 5 i, a& y9 N- b/ ~( Tspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" n, E/ E6 r3 \, ? Y
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 4 _' K n% ?1 N% F0 u& Y' L& Climited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep% w' \/ \. o6 O5 b e5 Z" }
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day7 g3 z! l& }( X
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ H" F: e! V) e9 P! K, V
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms + c& G, m; P" d6 jhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the % A* D' D- L8 k* U5 W+ dtourist area. ! R: s! r; n/ R8 I& D8 X 4 |7 d5 C' L1 n. E/ G' ZOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's* [4 K9 r6 m5 l% S% ~. ^# `
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). $ w, {! m* P' M/ u" _Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were1 k8 N2 x! E1 `& a0 C, \
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps / S( z1 Q5 g# x Hless leader-religious.% \; T5 r$ j. B9 o$ @$ J7 s
, S5 v: n+ h/ ~7 y6 t" Q* Z5 K! V/ iAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 ?, T% t* G/ t8 j. N7 H: K
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big# y: V; ]' o( u
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 6 q1 Q0 d9 C# m1 O9 {% |" sembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).7 f5 \: c8 M9 h9 P
, @1 u+ y. \- G ~6 C# _8 B( XWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ; c4 k( D, Y2 m7 j* A- `* X, mparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ; D! t8 E: N1 cthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1, i. V7 ~ p6 d" { `4 P
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 b# U) T R; x; z8 c
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 4 C& x5 V, {7 A' y/ o/ z(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we+ K4 b$ F$ z% S# u, J8 ?4 i5 f* U
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 1 d8 Z' ?2 F: v' p0 U- breal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : T& W6 [) B9 BAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local : X1 x5 \# f% Y6 A- y: ^or visitors.# Z1 Q( I6 D" H
: m- l- a6 R; f4 A-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
