We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very- X! i6 E. j+ U4 B
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we + H- _+ q! I. ?) K9 y$ r" Z8 Uwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.5 j2 N6 F' ] K8 N
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ) `! Y$ c2 [3 j& F+ v9 y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in6 i% i0 q, N! {% V
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / `7 h1 U$ ^0 D, a9 g& u. Opossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 7 d4 s- f, K* J3 k8 G2 Oshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ! j% ]1 J; f4 @6 s) Qbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the + N" H D* c+ e! V- elobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,0 F/ \. k% v# M7 Z
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. : q# m# d0 R0 k" g; r$ T People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but / t/ t- ?9 Z* Y+ O! u, l: Vnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not $ [7 g5 h% `! u6 E Xexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our& c' O, V& ]2 ^3 U
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through # `1 Q; L9 N* T0 [0 Q. {( v+ u% La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.6 w9 q! u( j& `: e8 J
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) s5 V0 T) {' i' I6 _: D! B# c
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ! S1 Q |) F1 C6 T2 Q(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 0 J& {/ K6 m. w* }. Q/ Lof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the " g1 I$ g( W2 [8 b% `stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from6 t1 R3 X5 o) d9 T/ z
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes" D% I' `9 h; ^$ K7 Y- o6 r
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with# b5 ?7 { D! L/ l: m
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 2 [4 j& V2 L" C' h* ] 6 v$ q* H3 |% _0 ZThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are " x0 r. f- J4 n0 _just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made , M6 p* {/ |, }+ ^for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 G( _, g2 C0 P
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ' l. M4 u. `0 Z5 ma staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 1 B( S3 ~+ X' m& U! d& u2 m% G( ldaily 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 $ C0 {0 n7 T; mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- \4 p9 q. T' X, K) ^! a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ \/ }6 ^* p2 u$ R0 ?1 K
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 4 j7 \1 l6 q8 {* }# N: g3 s1 ?: |3 eanswers to our pointed questions. F; d. e J( W- }% s7 E" Z
2 P. R$ O N( R ^$ `, b$ g2 u3 Z' iThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 @& Y# p1 I( w, E2 B% l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ! @: }3 P6 i) r4 G0 Jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& H, k3 J9 h5 G8 d3 S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" `, k4 B; e" j W
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ; h2 {% D% r4 A, X7 Mmedical schools., N, k' M5 l) g& d7 g
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 J! j1 r' U" @* m9 b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ f6 U: H! o( c
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years7 V+ l4 P( M2 u/ F# j0 F- Y7 [+ M# Q3 B
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 o" g( P1 J4 r5 `" }
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, p6 H/ @9 p, ~- I+ ^
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There : q8 u1 B/ l, y' nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ Q) \4 a- b" w* ]$ g! `
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 U+ \2 t) `5 D1 ^% {6 g& [. \4 p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: S" v; y- d9 x3 u* R3 ^9 n
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: |+ M8 x! {3 D
( I7 `" r6 g2 pThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 1 [+ T6 W% ~8 X: Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& H! M6 K2 `3 ]3 C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people $ K' w* n' n& X& Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ; F7 W) ~$ s: ^- a/ ]# Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 m. x; S; b z% x: u6 r' n6 i/ {
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high : J* U! x5 {4 L$ O* U6 Hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. G5 x+ w6 k" ]9 {% d# d9 m, N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 i4 t; k0 b! I$ @. C& K, v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + V7 Q4 K. n" i5 w' H( C6 Ucharge the fee defined by the state. 6 o$ s6 I* L: M2 y: F& c) \8 s9 O* O6 H" P( i) h+ \# P
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get8 |) C) r: \- }, g1 o
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 J* I7 U8 B7 _+ V- O9 @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big , i3 _4 d7 m: htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ) R5 W: t% S/ F* n' Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the * C+ C+ j/ {1 Q( |working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 j/ ~7 a- l, W5 E9 w8 a* q/ tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ( m9 }1 F, X6 _4 N( Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ' `6 U; w/ h- Q9 M2 Ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ' k, ]: B0 _# u9 Nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 9 |" C" r: L2 C( e" j$ xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want - T4 a. i" A p2 V; P4 i; Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 |" m! x- E6 S+ g& O2 i& m# m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ( R! M N; G5 F" N& Iare spaces. * t0 z: n' }) ^6 A) U C# L. U7 t$ t9 _8 \5 T+ e3 e" |3 f, |
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi # `; K/ W6 T; D. \; {9 `9 |9 nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they . x) g- M4 i" O( p6 Kown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# A! R: Z/ [/ M; T& v" N; J R. G
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different , Q* ^5 v- _3 n xparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 8 I9 ^9 v9 L5 `best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few / Q X% b5 {+ d! i6 [9 ^nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 @& E* _( h4 g" g h
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it , B H, \! B0 T2 R" k# T7 Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ f3 A/ r1 i1 ?7 [/ w: G }
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 2 L3 X+ P- L% u" L1 T* ~spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all : y% F$ B1 p; I1 C n8 H& Zthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very/ N. Y* M0 {! }( _/ W, k
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ; ]. Y+ S+ u- o' @0 rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- c% U3 b) I/ |& h) d ?) c- |
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of4 d. P8 H# F4 F; I: S7 i2 }1 i" Y
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms m- @' f4 z9 ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the R/ ^! v0 c2 a2 ptourist area.: y* I- z* V5 f y: X$ \5 j
, ~ j' t6 j4 a; N3 `( MOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's) B6 O5 W5 K) T* J
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).9 d. A+ Y. O& y' S! @, P( ^) n- Q) |
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ! z+ J+ ? M" S4 g* reverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , A+ J) j+ k$ x( m
less leader-religious.& ~, N. d& E% ^* C
) k) G! o D& C1 n7 x' w' e- CAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba - O, A% K* g' {& o9 |government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big : w8 i3 W6 ]2 e( K8 ublack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 1 {/ E( p" c9 |/ G- i- }2 b5 ^- X% a; zembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)." N6 @3 R) A. w6 |! c
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ; Y/ G, C3 ]. q1 A" lparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not7 z- j5 x, |8 v1 u! v; P$ ^6 U
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 $ V; _4 Q4 ] j8 Q( I+ f4 Z" cconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 D |7 f6 l W4 Z0 o3 @4 i
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars: G3 g: }/ F' r' W
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we / s0 @8 ~8 u+ a w2 B6 I. ]3 uprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the k$ G8 g/ T# L @* `real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.# X" W" Z) H8 x& U
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ! R" o% E; X: Y7 w6 J" D* u7 \. Ror visitors. 0 Z$ W) G. N2 O0 n5 b( t+ X4 ? + f& }8 S1 f7 o# A9 ~4 @* i6 _-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
