We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & ^8 s% G1 S! ^interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we S& s$ R( Z! }/ |
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 5 v' Q1 v; K& Q) E/ U* g T& H% \( ] ( n9 c R8 h# I* f" ?* J& k/ mIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 2 R- k7 ~, P; D5 v& E30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , k" r1 n+ X; W: ua very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as; H& `. L" s: y+ A9 k E: J' _
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort + t ^7 u3 b' `! M7 fshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep " ]3 y* K+ h4 h( xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the/ S* F5 f: G' k) A
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,* u$ }' ]( L8 J3 `* f6 E
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. : ^8 K& N2 }8 @! H4 b& o People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 Q* H' i! s( xnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not % i j+ C4 J) o& Q9 ^. h. dexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our - g, l& r: R* V( E L( a+ r& _% p& |flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through * O) s J1 M# F6 za roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 4 n% C, G$ Y2 | ' u: V+ H: F& W& pThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,/ B4 }* N6 b$ G, |: S6 t9 i0 C
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool' u+ q( O! f% U% a# s8 j* }
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top , I) q+ L! z) zof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the - J9 S6 U6 _+ k" y/ w& ]2 lstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from2 `% ?: s |0 f! A
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes6 l+ c3 e$ e- @% ^5 R+ ^& y
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with % J1 p, Y& X: [- b" J& Q0 V2 x" ^fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.$ G# X2 [6 S* x: K
2 c! I, v9 G2 Q" g: P2 iThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are/ Z2 v" N1 X, s8 ~* s, h( D
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 n. t. {2 U3 Afor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( B+ X6 J& y! S$ i' |- O: K( i
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having4 E2 L: e$ j* `5 l: W" M; v
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China9 H2 h ?& a; v- ]! ?: I; ]5 u
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. J6 f; ^5 ]2 {. @+ G1 c4 M4 [/ ]
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 6 n& f* s! R; G9 a" e, V) ]+ Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 ~. M! F9 U4 a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ l) a& @5 l' o4 q, Q: C
answers to our pointed questions. 9 I0 ~) p% R5 U0 a3 {! D/ P# g ! U5 o$ K0 F5 P! d0 ~% WThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ' `3 i, q2 u3 F( J: |+ ^* l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand , W8 t$ Q( L- @! v7 b' V, Rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# O* F& X3 E( Z; U, M
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 0 f( J1 W Z) Wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ {5 ?( p5 o2 e- e: o6 }) w
medical schools. , N6 C2 j8 U6 n9 C- C4 W4 C 4 j5 v4 ]$ V* e% G# c! J/ pEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 8 h `1 A& D1 s& O( Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( R3 e" N8 _4 T9 `* f# @
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years : ~9 H* _ E8 F: v0 C* u5 bassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) T q3 ]! T3 j' |* `5 L, y8 Z" i( @
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ o4 ~ b/ y( q) n& D7 C
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( n( F9 X6 g7 W f+ K$ Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 8 Y' B- o/ m' W* u+ t4 ~mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ; Y7 d* ~) T5 r; I) p, pshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 \; {+ k( \ Q; \3 z8 t4 {
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 U+ {5 b6 f7 h3 u+ L6 _9 C. ?
+ Q7 ?3 m: {7 A- VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 2 y: j6 U; Z0 z, t7 @3 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 3 ^7 Q) ? N' ~6 vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* e* _, Q3 l0 o. @; p4 t
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* {0 e; O/ B( q: z% N( X; i
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 t1 s+ c5 }& h' H
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ z" v! Z2 T3 F/ v) a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( r# c' L' {( F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. G6 O1 V+ H4 X; A% `7 j( [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ b$ n. C$ [- L7 L% W2 }4 C
charge the fee defined by the state. : A. i1 {0 y! p1 W+ O% A4 K& F# L5 I & Z; G: E4 g5 t HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 u/ v! T/ Z z+ v+ I8 K7 Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + }# V7 [" v$ U- ?! B+ g+ jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* J% {! J. p5 M+ v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel $ Q2 k0 x( L& K$ u* j2 hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# X5 z3 |# ^( O. ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 6 _+ L8 N# C& A+ O8 m/ c& Ischedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if O A% n4 d" y1 t% a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 _0 t9 T, i( d) {2 J- Z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 1 ?. J5 A: o+ ?4 X. [9 z9 l, ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that $ f! Y# k7 l; o+ a1 ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( `1 F0 T0 ]6 Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or * R7 Z6 u# ^: Hbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* g' P v! O- w( l# P! W( w
are spaces. 8 E, T# D8 ]: H3 \; \! L$ c+ X% w* a- S! _
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ! m. Y9 x, x; v$ zto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) j# P- } r7 B- o* w
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the n) Y" M$ D/ I7 Q) p K40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% b9 J( N! F% X8 X1 L0 ]: k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 7 z/ _: Q: {% A7 D1 i2 Gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 1 V2 h8 s: O0 W. S( q0 w2 nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; F: q( h! \" y! Q. {4 \- `5 b
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it $ }1 m+ m) T( kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. * U0 w7 ?8 u2 h. a1 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 beautiful4 O/ v4 L- w% m: j( w
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all $ {8 U% Z: m0 B2 Q9 b; Y- t# F. pthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ! u0 ?( A% b, Q/ m e& e' @limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 1 R1 @& o# `/ W' x' lrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day7 e8 H/ s' k7 c! s# v# x0 X3 v
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of0 V$ o& g+ n4 J' x7 C3 F1 C; Z; o. G1 h7 ?
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms( d% x$ `' y2 y4 p
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the " v6 W) f- h9 ]: q5 D' Ytourist area. 1 ?# w& V2 e; m9 ~/ i; h + V* k x. [2 lOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's l8 N+ o3 r c% Upictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ( L% ?4 Z- T1 o/ N( k0 |8 TCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 H4 E3 _3 P$ _) f
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + d, c0 @) H+ c7 Q4 V- }less leader-religious. 3 L: f4 e7 F6 w; G: }( h$ f9 ]3 L7 \
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba$ u! N3 F: [" d1 e: M
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big - M' Z8 ~4 h) ?! u; Q+ T9 G; Rblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US0 \9 m* C. Z3 A/ n, A9 u" g- g
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)., u* v# y( o& R2 y
. E. B' S! E5 j' E* _
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the6 C# N( {6 {1 L0 G% y7 x2 T2 a7 O
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not/ S' s1 M! e7 E( J8 b: O
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 U. W2 p. d2 b, G4 Z
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ' N7 l) h& U3 S& dforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 5 N1 K8 ^% S+ w: u7 }% L, p(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 u* K. q0 W5 G: r
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 2 a$ a; B# K( v- S' t8 w9 Preal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.8 v* p& m2 Y3 B
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local. a I' X# q. B# P& ~& V
or visitors.* p& _. G$ _( n; y
6 {. d0 W n2 b0 u) m-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
