We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very( `' K5 D' X' V; i. P$ z
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we% A: o/ ~8 }! K: A
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.3 N8 q0 i' O) B d4 ^
/ \) i. _1 Q( B% g' S+ _7 uIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,# v8 n m W; B5 C/ R$ B
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in& H( v( Z9 ~. U$ l" u C4 m
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as! ?% ^; p4 L* D
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 8 g. Y9 G" `+ V$ O2 Wshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep% F/ _ Q0 n4 { K4 z3 ^
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 ] T5 v. X5 x \" P% o( i
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 G$ Q7 B% Z6 [
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. " ]6 x& c2 u$ y- k People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but : O. |% w5 { y" `1 X, C5 Lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 V9 w8 J2 t8 A- I' ~5 ^+ ?" n8 a
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our0 c4 X; O; P: E0 j
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 2 i) l" y0 m4 T4 v0 K1 Aa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.7 E, P( T. G0 r7 J k
7 x! U- j0 ^, x1 a& T
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,7 |" O3 p1 N3 [* D3 @ b0 ?
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 9 V9 z9 N' ^3 B- V! u! W(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top # e& L) z$ c: [, w' F! |( Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the0 ~, W( z. @$ x: z: X+ N2 ~# v8 H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from% g- ~: L4 i/ L1 Q& U- D
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes; {. u5 U) b8 D) y7 }9 n
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with& i; L+ z- S' O
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 2 C9 v0 v' B) C- v2 a* X. p+ M2 o$ A, D( J) D' W$ S E
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are4 t- `# f/ i/ b; q3 s% d
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made % B; \$ ^' M( C/ J* o9 t; {$ ffor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 1 S& p& K/ u. t. b9 t2 O, S1 }, jtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having# L/ u+ B: e ^7 B' P- J) s
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 5 i: Q B: w# t- sdaily 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( X$ }( t( ~* c9 x" O# U+ Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 4 f2 C! E/ h4 w4 son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ( h* ~) L% j5 E) [5 ~5 ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 A; G& b( m/ ~- [5 A
answers to our pointed questions.$ k* j/ w$ Y: `
! q+ ^! j q! |& X
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 I; e# ^( o1 ~" {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 ~ U6 v2 T5 }7 j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 k+ \$ m# |. c% ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( b5 |, i0 c- x7 D- d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ K' K) H e$ O1 j
medical schools. ' }7 v$ O6 y# g % G. P8 R5 P; TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ] b- m1 P; `
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants . E# U# }. F6 [1 G8 t8 N: x# g" Mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ; {8 X; A3 e' J. `) f; rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba H7 T, p, e' W7 E9 ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 m; o, [ ?* m6 Q3 ^8 c+ i
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 r1 |8 P& q1 d- l( k) bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: P5 o; C, L/ X8 h5 c
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ t; S$ }" s; n
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some + _- B* \9 T( T& C5 D+ ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 2 J. B9 L, `$ z8 U6 e% R6 P 1 X9 o7 @0 ?$ r6 @$ \0 \5 {The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 j1 @ f) H( q! T( ~% W$ _
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* \ m, [( W& b5 Y1 @6 a. ^3 c- t* Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 G: s' z( B/ @/ L9 }! O
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 0 o8 X- z5 i1 ^) j, [thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ M/ z8 s, t0 d2 o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' T8 w2 a! x7 m, S. B- U6 ?) I9 r
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.- l% U* a/ I1 H# C+ R7 R) _7 d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 ?$ w7 H2 W! b' l
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only % t' `7 Y# v8 t6 p. `, |. b1 M6 qcharge the fee defined by the state. 8 l- j# p0 z$ d8 p/ M6 ~& t 7 e( T- { U" h' ]: i% FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# N" Q; T# t: a. ]% G* I+ X, y, u! w
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type - K6 u, W0 ~. ~: w4 Y n5 yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 7 `- f& ?& Q l' g8 {/ \" z' Z+ mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ; {' K. l ?( |, ^$ t. u% l# R) p) ~( Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the % O. f/ J/ ?1 k8 V# Z0 ^+ {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on : y4 t6 }' y$ Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if , g3 {# s4 \: T7 W4 p8 m/ cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) X3 S" ]! ?. D: a, I, ]# K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ) b9 h# y6 x/ R$ w$ q! ~' W( Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 R8 G& j4 }6 C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( K) [5 m5 _( ^" E8 ~7 }! ^! Y
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 6 X9 g" U% ?6 u) ~0 o$ `( O5 f6 T; ~4 Xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ W% H! t, v; L: n3 B# O9 ^
are spaces.) g* ?; |3 I: d
: N# Q4 z3 I0 j9 ^) u" jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi" S- B. @2 H& j% [, r
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 9 U3 C0 o6 n# q5 `, o1 b, ?5 @& Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 P( V1 i% {: O; ~: W! [/ c$ B8 W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. v( _ z1 X- V
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the + u0 F5 ? m5 G! V+ x4 Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few! w1 |$ p c$ n& z0 K/ _$ i. L ]
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of # { m' g0 [$ G2 xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, p( m l' [) X$ K5 y# c5 ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 R( o3 s6 C* q+ B
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 beautiful3 a" c( |0 x. {9 B
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' {3 {, O y) X" j$ |! }
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very9 H+ e( O) N& N, j0 L+ w
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep - _- w+ C) |2 m0 h8 Hrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ( ^6 O; G" W4 \1 X# i, Bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 f4 o" R% u F; l
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 k% [: R; i4 C+ [3 S" @: O) W
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 T" x' i% z( N+ x
tourist area. & A5 b5 s4 q: M& b# f/ S$ t2 i$ i# k " R4 Q( ] a& E4 V2 tOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 C6 G' o5 k! m1 Z9 D a
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).% q% y6 ^; y4 Y2 H7 j* Y
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 9 Q# w8 N) s; t, t& L- teverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 O3 q8 k1 R& y$ ?/ Cless leader-religious.! A& w: W& z1 e
: E! F4 F1 a$ I3 A( L3 D- q
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : e+ S: Z/ M5 N# ggovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 1 f; B2 m9 [: B2 @& G6 x9 R1 N4 kblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. J; p1 j O, q5 T6 j6 u
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ; _( t" z- `- a: \1 L 7 j$ w- Q7 n, G3 p5 _4 YWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the; Z2 E+ @( W4 H) ^
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 5 M7 G4 N; Q+ q# m8 lthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ( I* V. z2 O' i- j. x# Qconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ) ?1 v' J' U1 iforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars , X7 V. j" b' X: J0 C$ Y ^(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we5 Q, ?1 e2 D7 |; x& @* G$ L) d
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the* @6 |& f7 X+ k% X) }
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. ' W/ @, t# _( M z% t5 Z z( u+ _And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ' Y+ ^' W" E# Z e9 X4 Uor visitors.+ s- W$ {2 Y" q" A
, T7 T3 Q/ ?' i+ L f2 w
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
