We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very+ s* v, Y+ P, a% p
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 6 E. v/ W5 C- S: D Y4 @& G# O/ fwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.: v7 {) ^1 r* V* J. V# u& v9 z7 e
+ T6 [ v& [9 ~! m1 Q' cIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, t# }' p6 C8 D6 L+ N
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in7 c- `4 B% \( Y2 K" o8 \/ M/ u
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 0 ?8 t5 }! R F- D% }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 l. C$ u" c Z# r
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ( ?1 X' d8 g. h2 D* C6 Kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the% _. R4 P7 W1 O1 O+ c3 k0 l
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,4 _5 C: o, E& j" J- k1 R3 W
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. $ K% z* ~- t9 I4 _ q" N9 ~1 T& [ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 6 E$ e$ D( J/ |; w' `6 g dnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 0 ? i& o/ t3 y# \7 ~- K1 A2 Oexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ( a, `: E# X+ Vflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 n$ o6 v4 t# X
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards./ |% R! g# [! }# b( {, z7 C* Q
: \% p* H0 M5 ]3 y# z+ J5 y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,$ L( J; T5 @6 X. d) f
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool / h5 e/ a( J u( \(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 2 E* d( ?. C. G- G* gof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 0 D: c" P0 @$ }( I$ Estars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from " W. k, \- L& o6 y, k4 I49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes& U. L; U( A% {* J
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with" z' L4 d: u" r3 T; g0 t
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ; _$ N2 k; n- s/ ~( h1 O$ V! x, w) _
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are4 C/ g# T3 d; K, x4 ^1 t m
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 8 w' i3 `" e/ W( y2 a! ^8 i% C! |5 \for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba9 [& Y) ~7 g9 \8 O/ b0 w+ I% x
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having% l- m6 Z/ E2 X1 z6 B' R! y; b+ }! d
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ' i6 A1 r2 V$ |9 r% q, t1 jdaily 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, living8 ?- ]+ q! T6 T
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. G" P! E- ]" y/ M( g+ L$ C
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, " J( Q F& C" r* w; h F"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , {9 Y' y: G: janswers to our pointed questions./ ~% b$ ~/ e+ v1 v
* z4 ]0 F5 e: T# TThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ! e/ W8 ]. L9 M% ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand . |& S' I2 T+ |+ Q' _3 gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is- G4 z3 N4 T8 Y8 K+ N! D
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 O8 _: ?7 X! A7 r
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: F7 s3 \0 }8 V0 s5 A$ f5 S9 @* i
medical schools. : ^; S- C# E7 e$ s 7 G" Q8 `9 z0 i/ Y9 w0 t4 G5 fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 6 z1 J" f8 y; \. B% l4 \6 w# Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% N. {. d8 c" T8 W& } D$ Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# r# b/ f! g3 V+ X) N i) v
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba & s0 A& |: g0 M4 G/ a# ris from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* r! n2 z" k D' @
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; m- v; M5 a# k7 X% Z" F
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, q1 ^$ S& J" P/ |1 v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 3 o# w Z8 N6 b xshortage which the government is addressing by converting some, X" H0 S2 y. p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( `$ P1 e0 S" v& z) R, ?
9 [1 X+ r; }5 t! V* N7 sThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ; G" o8 W( e f" `private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' ^$ ~3 v P7 {7 L; V7 o
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ) E) L1 }" W6 |6 f, |5 Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good4 m& ?. D7 n) g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 ~5 M% W9 B& P* ]: s9 n5 }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 Y" ~, ^5 X# M. B3 Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) w7 m: u4 o2 I/ ^, `( D3 M
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 C& k+ L0 P2 d6 x; v! L" ^2 I
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 2 K4 d' i1 ^# t, I/ Ncharge the fee defined by the state.6 v: |! }2 M; D: w6 j4 i& U
" R5 D0 @: q" p1 g: mThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 6 a6 B: g* M/ `0 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + G1 \! E* z- e9 V4 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & O3 h+ e! J- L* Ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel5 ]" ^# _( a/ h5 b. x2 p# s) ]- f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ C# h& k8 h& {+ o" ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 5 C2 R6 ]2 D8 V( l# vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 L2 q% ] L% l1 J7 {4 F# E- G- u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" |' b2 n. z- e# k9 H& ?) w& ~5 A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch q3 g. _$ u) g8 j) M0 q7 n# N
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 2 u* }2 i, B1 Ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; u: _ {& B/ j" n0 s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* H5 C E/ h0 w; o8 ?7 d1 F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there & V4 D0 i f7 s, G/ _! o4 Zare spaces. / T, f, ]8 C- y4 Q, Z0 G3 i$ m8 R1 q0 s, r2 c
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' O, t+ O! v1 b6 ^5 r) V1 _3 Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they / V+ Q7 U7 r/ |+ O1 [+ P" D$ Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 o3 K; l. P7 |$ J) }+ k8 h U
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 0 a9 p. z: ^' a7 _6 V4 Oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 9 y Q" T$ y4 Bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 m6 z( B7 U2 A- @
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ s; P- ^* g4 [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; |9 I V9 ]2 M. xis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 o" m2 P h' R" W* J! ?; Q6 T
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 , t4 e+ f) }# v% S1 h5 v* w8 Ispots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all( k/ h7 v" ]% D$ _& @
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very; D5 z" U+ Y H0 ^
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ! x/ I0 u1 z7 C2 V! `3 Mrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 9 B! W' U* e6 z E, t2 jsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of- f7 m5 S+ x1 i& G. L
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms % W6 X0 H* d$ Whave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the $ P3 H6 p" b; L0 u' Ntourist area. ; U9 s) q9 a" X T x : z: i+ r* m) b* I, u1 pOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 h- h8 v, S* `8 ?! D% k
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).' j) K9 A( y1 Z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 6 u$ u2 \* q4 {8 _7 z( J; ueverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * F: r# H+ ]! Yless leader-religious. # _2 ~1 g u* ?. j% L# x8 C 2 \4 |; g+ L# f1 w5 z+ p- RAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba + g, k( e9 e. B! f) Ngovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big , j9 p s! T6 C7 Jblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US& |5 l( t" @" R
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' B+ \9 D p0 m& O' l4 B& f
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ n0 c$ A7 g& F
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / g' r3 j" K4 ithe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) `1 X& n( k' Z4 g) A
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for4 d+ b: Z6 V& K/ N
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars. e% @! G) C* a$ [$ e* \
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we % w/ }$ v6 Z/ ]! i$ i {4 Kprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ) t* u# ~: k- p4 lreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 7 K* v8 Q* b1 l! \And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local3 C" b% Z+ W# C u5 ?
or visitors.4 w) ~' B! T3 D) b
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
