We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very. n/ v a& f; |- v- q) d2 t" R
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 1 S' m9 z! K, w! M% u6 r, wwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. + t7 v7 H+ [7 w8 c5 u: } ( b! B- x Z0 N" ?. Q8 {0 T. _It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,; K. a) Q( N( z$ y. p
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in4 a7 |+ l# {$ `
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , {& B" v) e$ j. m- qpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort t% {' b* s, T% h4 X# Eshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep & X1 L) r! v% y& h! C! ]4 c% w% Abetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the . D* M! S2 m+ R( Hlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,9 n, E5 _: m3 s* z
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 1 ~1 Z7 J( ~) c/ u# C People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. W0 L: ]$ a! W& F" k* [
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 3 O1 H H7 \$ b( C ]9 Jexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our* u& i k3 M6 Y, e- Z2 b. z
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 t% Q8 \; [$ {/ g" C
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. / G" p( h6 n1 @) E# r: r% ? & ^* Q# G9 k8 g/ cThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ Y# ~2 }. Y+ `0 V: F0 F; n6 S4 o1 olow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 9 N: Y' B4 p3 {8 E- f6 Y) C8 N% A% V(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 9 H0 S% Y9 Y" ~( R( D5 u$ Oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the / R) S! G1 J8 bstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from1 ?- f2 Q; p p9 @2 _( i) x
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes& X4 j6 J- Z2 F5 r* B. C
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with $ Z2 k7 z2 `( G/ Q% Wfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. & ~) j# [% z4 Y6 q& k0 b+ o7 ^ e% C0 U7 K# z+ _! W
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 7 m0 _% L$ ]6 ^$ r- pjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made+ y% k M6 {+ b$ R
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 2 j& K. K6 O* }: D& [tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having/ b) }' ]- U: M* K
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China1 t0 h& H+ {9 G! i, T- |; U2 @! Z
daily 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 5 S& Q$ q, d( S* {0 N mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 T$ u7 ]" O5 D; Q% e: q1 l
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ; A% S- C N; w' G+ |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give - Y5 Y6 Z$ v" K! C1 danswers to our pointed questions. - X6 C+ W( N3 d D) m 6 l: o+ O6 Y- OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 4 v- |7 K0 K n& z3 P; a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 2 f; Q7 r3 Z8 K; c; Iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / M& b% ?3 `5 c; E1 O9 N: T0 |: Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 ?; Z! t: n) k: M1 n& p7 {
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ! [1 b! I& e# Q2 kmedical schools. + O% x, r6 r; ^9 @ + z' f$ a8 i8 I6 U" [; REvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 4 {3 s) x8 Y1 E5 Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ! t# w4 R+ v' wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years : @3 k0 I6 `' m) v* S$ K4 t/ Jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 7 C, j* v" z. Z, `* u0 H# ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to + i8 {' d* f( I# v% n; ^- `over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There - E$ X+ ~/ e e- u% ]3 A, Jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and; _8 g2 d& S+ R. f/ D
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk : k/ }4 F$ t( `( N; {$ e6 Q) yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 0 }% K5 O" {: h% `% [6 Y8 p, [3 qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 5 j& x. f+ }5 z/ F ' @: B' K0 ]& L% y. U8 a1 VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ]5 }( [+ |6 z. P1 ^
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) g. q1 r+ V( O+ T. x
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 6 q) O7 {4 H! Z6 v. vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 o: G! m o2 y1 L) M2 d& z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 a* P# u3 N+ V7 l0 z, z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high " l7 c0 ?+ }- `+ pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 z. ^7 n: Y8 ]) m% nDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& v# t5 {, i2 `& U) B: i4 L4 x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " j' p9 K0 q6 T$ H* Q3 Q4 _5 fcharge the fee defined by the state. 3 W3 B( u- L: O3 S p1 l, B 0 w, L* R! Z: g5 HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 1 \3 Q b) V: c# z' L {on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 b: G! G2 l6 H. \3 V0 y- Z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: o! \/ ?9 k, P, ]2 w! ~
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel6 e- b; e5 X! }; @. d. Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% f% Z: d0 ~# ]. o/ V" H( X8 K2 \$ s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on % X+ Q5 F2 S9 Y' e: w S( Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if " l8 a, n" _# t$ N4 D; m& |you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! q" J Y* W$ ]$ J
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! T: B" E7 V3 v! ]+ C: H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ K2 m, Z2 f! n: y2 T$ D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 6 v+ q/ x% c9 Bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) Q' i+ F6 B( |/ V( G# G. Jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 0 j3 @5 c- E$ T: lare spaces. * [$ Y" U- i+ k0 h/ V ' R7 B1 H5 ]3 W2 D# KThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi + W9 ?9 n2 W S8 ^3 S, }0 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they , k5 r7 y7 J' `1 P: r' `5 R2 iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' h2 w4 t6 w; B3 b; V; x2 w
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* K, H0 [1 L$ _4 z- J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! S4 V+ S$ G- z5 t
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' T. c/ a$ i; Z6 Y' t2 O8 \$ @- E2 H
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of - I! g+ [2 l4 {; b' N/ `8 q, Lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 W! J* W! R* E" ^$ g
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 o' N# E9 R1 {! u" Z
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 + b# g7 x/ M) I5 ^4 Q7 k3 [spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all( y. ^* ]1 | e& r# }
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very" U2 e5 V, v! A! W% X
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep " k2 D6 j4 j1 k; drecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day / n3 j! K1 @& e. L& msupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of . w, I6 ]9 T4 v* J1 D# @ p5 Vthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms; Z" M% L1 \. d/ l
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ' q4 d! ^- l# g- W3 p- M! A, |3 Stourist area. , I! m( A7 `3 \9 N; s0 S1 F ^6 W4 g& h 3 j9 U* X" a% r, N/ K! LOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's # @" ?4 {+ d6 p3 T9 [pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). & J: t1 G7 J2 H2 Q+ ], B8 sCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 6 n( p. G. W$ ~! u* Z+ Y8 w' Q/ Aeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 0 P% V1 F" f) Q! Aless leader-religious.5 q2 H( e3 c: K0 k* Y! O+ M
6 X) A* o9 o; N; L- O0 |; \About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba- _: ?2 ~, A$ M. g5 s
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big / u% N$ Q3 \4 Qblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US% s, H7 c; g) ?4 F, H4 \$ p1 F9 M8 k* J
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). " d8 V( h* L4 F% V. a' i; r4 c- ?8 v0 V' D2 m
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the& r L- B, A5 b) [
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not $ U6 D# Z* A0 q8 ~the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $13 q5 x$ `7 W8 i$ u$ f
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 2 n# S: U' ^# Mforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars0 x# @7 F( X* t6 M ~
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we; `2 M4 E% m, w
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the8 @+ d0 Y1 r H8 ^
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.& S; A& D! D; v5 O
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 7 A) B2 g. p* z; k# f6 ?or visitors.! z) N2 g; t! P: x) f+ B% |
& j; ?8 w, c1 m. a
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
