We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very% u d& a' k" p: T7 C2 u! v5 }4 @
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we * i9 N, v e" ?, ]& Cwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 9 z( Y" n- K' j" `7 D/ Q ! f# a2 P) I4 g/ m7 |It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,' O5 a/ M) z: e
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in - G `5 u" P6 B+ p' s" b9 r2 p3 M/ ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 8 [& S F" b7 w+ _4 U0 C, ]: ^possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- t8 M# r* t$ D3 x. z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 9 i! C! b) c' i* A9 T6 \" vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the; W4 Q8 @6 h: O! X( z& _
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ @: c! [' k3 Q4 [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.1 m, P6 y; f" J
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but5 u, h8 z+ ?) u' O! f8 a1 n* @
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not1 s/ X0 a" C$ C6 m, F
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our( s7 ^5 r* u9 V8 A
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 E. d9 ]% ?6 ^ e% a
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards./ v+ _; }, [3 ^5 z- |3 d
% Z5 v; A! ?) T, AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ) d4 Y* c9 r' R2 _& Blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool # V- A, L% r( v V(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 4 w( ~6 C' N/ b/ P: C# Kof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 0 A2 Y1 ^% o3 }2 N# `# k; Ostars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from9 x; ]. q5 O- H
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes* f/ T! S* B2 C! z+ Y. T
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! l) X- s! y* t
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. # v: {: c! C$ z- F + P F& Q6 ~) F8 u j+ z% |' Q2 t/ M$ EThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are - c7 ]. n: p2 Z) ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made1 y7 t- e; Q Y* c3 w2 @
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' M y' Z) S( a1 B$ o$ o; R0 z# B: L
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having4 P" y8 V8 R8 H) E, d& t( [7 V: J
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ' n* _3 |4 g$ O' x' T( S+ ~4 K2 R0 Rdaily 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 / ~: F* N' D9 d* x& `9 A& ^" \# xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ F* n3 J$ j2 U. \ ~
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, + @0 @/ I# ~! F+ r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ u* j4 L1 R* {6 v# _
answers to our pointed questions. $ s6 D- U) F% `9 T9 e6 C * g) j# Q' ~! X! O0 F: ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, # y( q$ S" @$ U |$ b7 O- L; z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. W) J9 c, {6 D3 n6 E8 n
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / r3 j `. b4 \+ G* t0 {* d+ V$ mfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 c& v7 m8 I8 F0 J8 j- }7 C
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; \# ~+ ^! p1 o+ x2 Q+ d2 m
medical schools.3 \3 @" I7 K' F2 K4 [8 B
, ~7 s/ A, n' A
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the , I7 ~! w% K( z) b' V; Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 2 Q" U( I3 I$ Bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 7 Q5 P. {4 A0 \ Qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ; p. d' S1 i6 Y, m U3 h1 qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to & f+ d; n0 b Gover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There , |1 x: h7 d+ x) t$ @2 {2 h/ nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" Q; F7 _* d# t$ `/ [, o. w
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk - ~ t! g \8 |$ tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some ( g3 j, F' w8 {" ~3 n2 r1 G- v i) Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 X7 q, _5 d3 V; B0 z! s
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no . w) `3 i- P/ v, Bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 1 x+ G* K% T; s; F$ tsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 q+ N1 u1 J# K( X; }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good - t7 h# I" o; Z* }( ?6 c& B( @# xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ ]3 ^: \& j8 r x. t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high " y8 a5 T" Z5 d6 m1 Pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. & H$ j i) p9 |/ \: yDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 5 n% k( h+ @6 R) O: d. ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 t. @9 [4 }$ r0 V7 d
charge the fee defined by the state. 5 P1 w; U3 U) Y" t+ Y6 D" L/ l3 z
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get/ @/ O M- q9 F" z6 U5 t7 n
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* P1 O5 I) r2 r/ X# ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" ~$ I0 ]# r2 Q3 y; l$ e( J
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% g% ]$ V ?* }) Z4 {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ' p. T u, r a8 G0 Q8 z: Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& F9 o5 l+ c% o! w+ C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 J O& i ^( C `8 t" A8 O
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; K; H! y2 x$ j3 h
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 1 X$ Z. |1 D5 Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 u) H% O8 U4 v0 k0 m( F# V
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want : `4 U7 {3 W D; t' C/ x; Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) ^. \ g9 m C& ^' L8 Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ M5 f; j. e) P; N' M+ v% m
are spaces. ( I: v- E/ h1 C; \( b% \3 b5 r m
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 ]' d/ W/ I% H! T- @) I
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they& ~9 r5 R/ m9 m+ h: n6 o& m: V& k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the , D @' c- B* A8 O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different + k4 w9 m4 { [" x/ nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" P: \' k9 n1 M7 `/ m7 \
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few4 ?! f: E% {0 K- e0 p; c
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ) g0 Y* ^) J6 M5 C/ ]+ |% c2 kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it $ c) p$ v, x# c: B: F0 Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ u1 z+ N# }; c1 _" p2 P5 J
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 3 G. A; v0 ? L' R/ Z( X( T! Fspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 E& \6 {3 p/ y" x) R6 ~
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 2 ^9 Q Y2 p/ o8 [% Y8 Xlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep: V8 I2 C+ _8 g1 X. o9 U ^7 b
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day3 U# V, E: [ H6 {. j
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) S" i, o8 k, f5 o* h/ F
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ) Y# H( A; ~* e% X! Zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 T6 T( t/ a- p* D2 ^$ c3 l
tourist area.$ l4 N: N: f0 h0 f* q% O: E
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's9 i# t: p V# l1 T5 R6 a
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). - {- \2 g8 x' \% SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 9 F: {7 x4 b; n9 \8 yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 b/ R; z6 n( u& M6 H( O3 W
less leader-religious. |: y/ e6 W: _2 k9 P
6 [$ b9 x$ r% GAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba # Q9 O. L) G' h/ ~: g( P2 Kgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 1 O Z2 }1 g, b% I4 k4 Ublack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US! ]" a, ]4 I8 O8 L7 L
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 d& f9 x+ c) f7 k0 F9 _; p
* o5 Q* T3 j4 s5 RWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 7 @* \: y' v7 {! gparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 X( c% N \( S( ^
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 b" p: s1 ~" h- n4 S
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for . }2 R7 k! d3 Jforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ W6 ?' l0 d' W: I. S+ a9 @
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we- |2 `" F; L3 O2 l
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the# S* Q" S- c( e! S
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 2 t5 l) Y; C- r0 r' {! nAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local, E8 S5 q% C1 {8 n1 r, j r
or visitors. - J9 ?. b5 ]* [, M* T' X( q$ E p 7 M/ `1 c8 e* \3 `' o-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
