We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ) e2 {; L9 _6 Y! iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- U% m5 n. R5 x/ R" i; n
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; V/ t2 X6 K, y) R
- f+ Z5 }& v" ]' aIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, * N% y' g9 ]3 n: ]5 `30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 2 O% V% v3 z" r9 s3 ya very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 n1 R8 t9 N) {- T
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort7 w( d: e3 ^; V: S1 ?) m7 R
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 I, m3 t9 t7 u; U
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the : o5 ]; X" ~; B8 C6 X5 T2 Ulobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, H8 P8 E6 k; Y' ` ?$ e
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. # V2 E. {/ x6 N# _ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 {) t2 e" d: Z3 L$ G0 C, H. }: F! T: enames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not : n9 v* m; f8 t4 l$ A2 ~0 Hexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our9 ]8 G% J7 |7 o1 r$ S6 B/ c
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through & P; n$ R. T& F. }' c. v7 J. ]a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 5 |2 o3 E" ^8 I$ P6 V6 E & v3 O" S- n$ k, S- pThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, , Z$ r3 s3 P) Qlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 8 V7 F4 a) n0 k e" m. Q(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' L7 z7 i* Z0 Z9 I E V2 d
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . f9 I5 w. B( x6 O0 lstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from K' r. B& [1 I$ k
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 h, p# }! `( X+ M' v' p( L2 N
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 8 C! _$ E8 K) c4 B9 P0 q" Lfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada." x0 ?6 ~! f4 G5 ^) q
: U# _$ B- G" _- n. _The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : ^) G9 L' b' a! P! ?$ {( B5 gjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! X2 i! p3 v) |4 Z0 L6 k
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ w9 Y& R9 A. I8 z# X0 B
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having6 d) B C9 [3 D* b- [: r% x+ J* i6 z
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China, E* i m; H" @! D* H5 x
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 $ u0 T6 {9 Z* c- q" tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 \9 l; ~7 g9 u* x5 Q; A, d# P1 A
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 9 Z7 j3 Y; r5 w& |2 g9 g G8 x"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) q% O; G' T" z
answers to our pointed questions. + a5 f- G+ q3 q6 m2 T. e7 Q- f 0 t$ Z2 B; E1 \: N5 l5 eThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! J3 A- n b. @7 z2 M% X! {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: s& L: Q7 Q) j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 H4 Z! D8 I1 D" G: Z
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams " d3 S7 ^) l/ J0 G# \to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 3 _1 K1 M. `6 Y# d; I" nmedical schools. 5 l! N* A: O1 K# x+ c6 [8 \+ \/ g6 f" c" r
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the . O W( f. M' K/ y; @government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* q. C) X6 ~: \
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* E8 H0 }7 @( r8 l k! D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba + J J( {% A) _1 U3 u: Ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ; E: ]4 {$ P0 \4 Q2 d+ Y/ x4 s3 Oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. { s z) r& u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ( ?" y/ N* }% E! q' r3 z. lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk * N8 u- a) Y; i0 A' Lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some' l7 b6 `+ E* j( q7 J0 _4 @, F0 l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. * o5 l' ~! _4 C7 A6 i8 y2 D4 i i# L$ a/ H( F9 w; u2 f4 ?* g! S6 p
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 ^9 z i" I) \. j- @6 g0 t9 c, K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and" E: h9 Z# W) ~+ D% h; d' L
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people . [4 C# R1 }+ |$ lhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 @9 R) s" K; M! [$ X: |; v: J
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( [ `! j; p+ H7 w: H
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. k# q( r6 S P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. & C' ^! r% m' ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- R4 M; u& K: u4 E% W. u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ! P, S0 z9 p0 d; k& F3 a jcharge the fee defined by the state.! i( K7 n1 G9 e
: G) G1 r& [6 v3 W; IThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 e& B$ o& E- r* _. d$ R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + B u, z! n# ]# Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# n' y) M0 [3 I8 {5 C: _
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- E6 ^+ B( u: A4 b, C: z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 0 S2 v5 e: h+ d9 Gworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ; o/ w) y, z4 p4 ~. T, lschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if * G, @# k: d* f4 uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: b. N+ Y) ^* _/ z; r
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 3 o) N' f; C6 t9 n% Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that . V. F3 K" z7 r2 ypeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 U4 `* |* n/ t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 `3 ?$ M6 Y2 t+ a) H5 h
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # @# R1 a: J2 `6 ^3 b# Y0 F9 rare spaces.$ R6 z7 j. c" H* a$ \
) Q3 D+ d Q# M) IThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 Q6 w+ V, q* I) U: i- `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- i4 `) O* Z# C- l* g- r+ U- H1 \0 L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ( Q8 s/ k7 X5 q7 o: K6 k, m# w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different |4 f* _' t) Q! E2 d1 Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) I3 @+ J% Y( J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 ~. K! ~; w2 L5 a9 S* |% Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ( L$ X& n7 d8 L/ X; f( }car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 V6 ~( Q: d7 t: [/ Q h! S7 ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! u6 Y1 K! c, b, Y2 p
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 & _. f( S0 V K3 J2 J: F( |' k0 |spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all / o% f! N- ~3 d: b2 jthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very, S/ j; i- o$ J& N9 N
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep & ~0 Y6 u9 T9 T& X$ i1 s9 Nrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 7 p5 y) ^$ {- f% T* J9 Psupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 2 d) v4 H; u! s/ A( U- G9 [( }- b& gthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms - C; ?6 T" B, F/ A, [+ s" Ihave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the5 T, Y; ?3 |* \/ n* y
tourist area. 0 ~+ \. u$ _9 @$ p 0 ]- `3 T1 w: Y9 f5 F: d0 e4 OOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's s- k9 D+ o) c* P# v- @pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ) D0 F5 p+ P# f n$ R( vCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 6 U5 Y! R) s# N3 j* qeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 6 a7 B& ?8 L4 n8 d$ S
less leader-religious.' `( r& X, _2 z: I6 ]; m
( _0 y7 y6 v P2 a' L2 rAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba! y0 \( t) m9 b8 r& q& i
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big " V5 I" r1 e* T Zblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US- }; K# ~! V) Y8 {
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). * k9 W1 g0 P( K O& ^* s7 E $ m$ U& e: E# FWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the8 X( ]; n# Y8 F W' X
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ) E6 T$ Z. j% F, r* p1 Ythe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1- [1 |* l( r: \4 {+ r
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for % N( f/ H, I/ E \. ]! o( c$ xforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars! u5 b5 D+ E( S4 k. v
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we " L+ v- V8 D9 s% qprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% g/ E. T- g: A3 K3 R! E3 ?, R* W
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 7 d2 [) |' p: ?' l3 NAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 0 V8 u0 g) W4 por visitors.+ S/ u$ x' {0 v
1 w g" M) h) n% p3 U$ V- |0 q( m-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
