We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& Z0 S e; K0 ~- a- O y& c N
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we5 g6 S. b% u/ Q; Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ' u! @ l7 y( B+ e6 ?# }& k7 L9 o/ W2 [8 x! _9 r4 K$ L/ k' ?* C
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,. ~3 } }; _2 Z3 e# v* W u7 d
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , |$ h2 u! `6 x- b$ H% sa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , m e, [7 Q3 x T' p, Dpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort' l$ }' d+ u: G' R4 t; [6 w
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / v+ C b: i' m4 z2 |% M9 y+ S9 X- dbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the % R6 r9 n5 H6 r: W6 j" }. D% Jlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , x, E2 X- W' t4 L, `+ ~/ D5 }2 {with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.+ N* }2 }; ?9 ~7 W: I) b6 C/ o7 C: B
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 2 Z1 D: |( v9 Y5 A- Mnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not - f- N: S" @; f2 Qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our2 P9 O2 ^3 n) @" q: e' M; r
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through/ T4 N' `, s2 y+ D2 {( Y: v
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.( R- R3 x( h* h) e
" G4 O" y7 ?4 O: f% ^ pThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 6 s" ~* }% x ]3 N8 vlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool( d0 q! n5 C! @. R1 K+ Q/ f
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top* `# V3 ^- I' {+ ~4 c
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the5 Q. r/ a7 N0 v( ~7 S. ]$ V" V
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 6 W! J3 s. O1 e" N/ |49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes. H; }( i1 B* h9 r; A9 O v: a
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with6 t- ]+ @3 z3 N% u1 g, e
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.4 t/ z2 \, c! n6 _4 Y% q
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are + \- o) o4 p" `5 E& |. K+ Mjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made7 {/ X" c0 Y1 q r# u
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 p8 I3 k6 A4 O1 a* d n' b) h& M
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having , g% Y8 \. |7 F2 R ea staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 K7 u( @1 m7 Zdaily 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' D Z2 f6 W; Q \
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 8 q% a, G ^# w1 G4 c( eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,9 M" m, g( l6 |( V7 ]6 D; g, o; I
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 2 z5 z# W- x2 f' ranswers to our pointed questions. ) z+ M. l! F9 `. \1 J, Z 7 n9 P& r4 s! h: D5 k0 [$ }* ZThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ G8 Y3 k5 h- c8 |4 b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: x, S* q2 Q' ]: n }, G
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 h/ G" \3 ?; Z; Y, i9 ~8 h0 p
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 7 `6 J; q, i- S, eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are : N# ^( u. i3 [5 ?( O8 gmedical schools.& t) {. n6 O0 y7 {0 y
6 k& S3 L: m5 S, zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& o- c }' f! x) s' b D
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants , G1 ]! x9 _; i# y" Mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 ^8 S. h9 }- E4 G9 |! J% i
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 C. K3 g# f+ V( t6 ?9 Y
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - _4 c6 h5 z# _4 sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There * w- r& C2 @ W) Q# z1 f& |- Sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and $ T0 F% g! L! s5 }" W9 Z. imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 }3 r, t) c Q% l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( b# R! D; g0 Z4 R5 E/ }7 Q X
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ! B# f& r2 z& D# L/ p5 `. X" t) T. \( d- Z7 P
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 4 d6 \, H; k+ T7 _0 xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# U8 V) r# U* T9 N, C8 e
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 e5 o+ i! p) e: j! H6 H7 y; g* w" chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% V' ~6 i. i4 T' @4 J0 u# q# o
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 [) E2 J+ J4 c p4 r' K3 E. ^1 {
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 R. I& ]- W% ?$ D0 R/ L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.4 ~6 v3 H+ A* _2 L, W- H T; W4 Y( ~" r
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 0 p$ k1 [$ {1 `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " e3 Z2 B8 I( Kcharge the fee defined by the state. 1 f" G' {0 Q: M/ L+ O! k2 | - ?$ O x, t. [# sThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! M( W; O- U9 W3 w) j E& p
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ u1 G2 e$ ]" m! e; I4 f6 |8 S8 x2 n! S4 \
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ) y& u" G) t2 T5 Z+ \. K3 struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. k+ J8 T& C( S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' }; R* q0 q8 V# {+ P5 L. e0 y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on H: n. _2 V: ^& K9 G- Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 6 z8 Y4 k! w6 p# t9 ~2 Hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people / @* M) J: E$ ?1 rtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch + ?) L' h/ X7 e: i' x4 Nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ ?, H/ Y7 {* u3 y9 a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' y6 b2 p. X* s4 K/ ]; Q; ^$ ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or $ l w- `7 H/ h( Xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, b& r/ Y U y3 @' l
are spaces.% I" B( U- o$ e8 g2 s! j) {
2 M- ]8 e( i5 U! e
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi & S: x( V! \ l) y% W- i& B! R% ]to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* q& u- U/ z2 M' `8 _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 _; y2 ~) L3 {+ l) _. l/ N O
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ [ j1 |( Q, `! M+ H' j. Y4 o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the y6 ]! y/ N G- @6 c& C+ z( B8 P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 8 t5 K# t6 d! z/ Q5 D) snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( U, m2 Z% d e- M8 H. w! W( {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& i! ]( [7 E1 R
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ! ]& K; J9 Y0 @9 G1 W* 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 beautiful. r$ _6 D) t: o4 b6 W' V
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all& V$ e e. y4 L. r
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very! ^4 _, k9 M+ q. _* d- {
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ; v' ?) d# h" L$ y$ frecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 P% S/ ^7 M: m9 p7 q* Dsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of2 X2 i8 }8 X1 |' i, c8 N* m
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms0 A6 d3 K, ^5 _+ M) M% k( r
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the9 x/ m- Q5 K& r' n* E( T
tourist area. 8 U, `5 d7 l% x8 b5 V' w ) Y/ t! M3 f" A" B% D7 | a; r' L: B, X+ {One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's7 P+ o& e% ~4 d: L! {9 m; e' p, ?
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).5 U. J/ L) h! D- v2 V3 y
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were+ Y' C8 t) D- E5 p8 e1 a7 c
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 W* v2 a- P% P8 w- ^less leader-religious. ; q9 T' G- Z8 a' Q" L9 t. o. a8 s) |9 M% U2 Y# P# R
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba * C) @1 Q/ w# n: w9 ^$ R0 h# agovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big, @$ w' ~4 a8 }
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. O- p, d9 Q9 u7 |+ H# s: e+ e
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* ?+ g# W/ t) _" I* @
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the+ W+ }+ |8 q1 m5 k
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not M( B9 ?0 V- l6 _the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 * @0 o/ I# S7 G" B7 xconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ! y! h' V7 u( a* ], }: ], cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ) p( A; I8 l$ G/ `5 r& m+ I(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we & d1 g4 _5 S# {probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the " G4 p: `+ s E5 g6 u# v2 d1 xreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 7 U0 {+ o, c7 k6 M2 J! S! D7 xAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local+ _- y) l7 a' |! Y( P
or visitors. & {) E2 P$ c, l6 ~/ |* e; {2 \- M" K! f
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
