We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very7 {5 Q: ?. g- @
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we r( o+ n4 n# l D, I2 z3 o
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. e0 M$ ^; n) k( |0 y' n) [1 M/ k. X5 o9 \* \
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 8 t. K) P: I& y: i3 t) n30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in : ~4 [! g* a) G3 T6 S6 u0 @a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) z( ~. P* E# {; }% W5 F
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort a( I I6 R. Y
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep7 b" a0 D% ~# O
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the8 x- K8 ]* ^: T, k
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 2 P8 ^3 p, @# q# O I( c2 pwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ! d4 u# M& B7 X# L/ n* z, ~' ~; ` People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but - |, ?" g0 p! D& ]3 Unames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not # [5 S, p* C( Z+ zexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our: f5 z! ^) V" c6 M: Z
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 0 l* B" P( n0 c3 a, R9 ~1 s( Fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 X$ `0 [- V, N L) k7 u$ ?
8 ]5 z& A% t: z# oThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 7 I. o1 S T& H1 `: f- H3 Blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ e- i8 q5 U1 L' }
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top# |; ~% Y, }) b' i/ I
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the0 G1 I- s5 X9 ]. ~& o
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 f+ z( m/ f' U* U' G
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes! D3 h, `0 K/ ~0 D9 }7 r7 w2 c2 \. g
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with* w5 r9 l% M" i8 b0 ]
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 7 l1 k! X J" q8 N 2 I: B$ N2 w; r' x$ @ |) mThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are* q, C$ `" M7 c
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ; ^& M4 I, u. E! {: o4 N5 X" D! [for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! ~7 j6 M5 \+ U: i ]7 {tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having# Y; n' f# p( U9 W+ k
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 8 r! t% J, p- L2 D; 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 : r) j0 u0 I9 L8 b; J- k: ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went : F0 R9 E5 ?8 a7 u7 U0 s3 C Von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, / f" J, j8 ~/ i" ?$ G7 u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 Y+ I+ s8 d) ^$ ~
answers to our pointed questions./ ]: @/ S* e3 `9 D. S, O
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 1 H3 l2 E) ^4 ?: R1 n8 |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ! E3 ]5 C8 M7 q+ [out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 3 `. {: `" n/ d# h a; v6 K' _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 R+ J) d) q7 r$ S4 L: ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are F% J7 p7 R8 C9 R0 Q8 R( C" c
medical schools.( O" ^6 R5 K7 e8 b$ f6 ?
$ {# F( T" V& I
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the & i! V5 g2 K, G- j. q; lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; T" h% |9 j6 ]. X6 L% X
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' o& `% Z+ Z, d" N, D" r
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba - O* y8 t6 G3 i7 w1 y; d& P- lis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to : a3 M3 D# b- {. w8 | |- ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 3 i. V+ m7 {! |$ q! a% T- Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 Q) B, n" p0 ?. S. T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk i. `3 b1 h1 k: M# A$ O" \shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 3 W1 p5 u$ z/ {4 tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 }& J5 J$ u: b4 h( S! Q
4 q" x/ w: u# P) y2 RThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 7 H* H# `4 M! D: S( c) Pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( R4 r0 T' P2 X! b% J( a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% Q& ]0 G# y: X2 m" Y' c. U2 D
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ) P- y3 d; p( h" D; C9 Tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby & ] ~' ~1 w: ~0 I/ @% I7 bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 _ A: I$ r$ o/ f2 R) R$ C
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. $ B5 \6 C7 W5 [2 ]3 @8 ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) q2 d( `" n5 m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. m4 S; B6 F9 J0 D
charge the fee defined by the state. * r+ N2 O0 L0 a; G, F$ F7 c2 h) V! `* M+ O
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get . p, L9 z6 R8 ], a) s" k+ don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ; e0 ^4 q5 s: j- L- ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 3 F: Y( s& \# I/ |/ Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ }9 s$ i/ s( w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the # ~ a r7 V2 t9 w, iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on " v6 s Q a; v/ a" ~& \3 Z$ E/ Xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 j% }7 j! ^8 y( D5 a& W
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* A# R. N$ a- i9 O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch , @' Z l x& A. Q" T! X4 F2 ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 f$ l, F+ u& j: y) o. G+ q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ H' y* |+ M- e3 q7 E2 u, f# W6 T
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" m' `1 H$ W, P+ V% T
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 D6 v4 y! e. C: ?
are spaces. 6 ?/ }& @' O9 e5 r+ V% ? 9 q" k% b) p7 M: i: c3 aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 |! E; h, s7 s; \8 Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! p# E& U! j+ v) S1 c
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the / \2 o9 D4 H# `3 {4 Q" K40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 3 _( `( U4 d( f7 vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the " c' ^7 s7 W: V" ]best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few t# U" |, E( _+ m0 snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 1 l6 u F( ?% f+ O U6 scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 R' y' g9 o) K5 c- M& S
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: L( z- F5 h' s! m3 w0 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 ( W! q: H- s2 _) f: B/ \spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all3 ~, o* y% F2 ~, i) V2 y8 c, s
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very8 I; ^& k" A9 K# \9 V
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 6 @8 q/ r+ M/ H) y$ vrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- I3 o/ m; d! D
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 3 W3 O z: C/ V- A( @: i) P- Rthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms; L! t1 @, a; o: t0 t$ m5 s5 @; r
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the% a5 f- Z6 n2 P8 w% _
tourist area. ! h, l; [2 c3 B# s+ _. S3 d: i. W. ~ i. F4 X# o& U3 A
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's' J8 c0 o( `0 N) |& _- v# p( D
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 J6 P" D) g" \& ?: M
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were5 A% S- o: _2 _; k
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 k3 N& Z; ~% S. A# R& iless leader-religious. ; B/ S& a- ?% j, t1 @: l& M% [+ R/ {: S% e
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba! \' a+ M) z. J4 v5 l
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 3 r) W2 [% N. r+ O6 y Yblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US & J8 Q ?, l4 q6 f& h, @, i1 nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)." e, z7 O4 Z: V( a4 i: z
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ) F& r# u* C1 P( g; tparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not : M% _8 E8 {% b$ Z6 Z2 z! G0 v( B% c, Lthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1+ q S2 D# I& K8 F0 p- t4 z& m
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 7 U6 H4 o# t: }' k3 c8 Eforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars1 q' ]! F$ C7 G+ m9 }" o
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 8 ?, @! H; j; [2 D( @& b% mprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the * _9 I2 R* u, f; j, Greal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. # x1 V$ s4 Y+ ^2 hAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; F* a" B g- G+ O, `, W: G
or visitors.+ _6 L6 J1 R+ z; E" s& b8 r V) t
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
