We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 S' L" r( X* a! v- A0 F- f, Ointeresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 8 I, ? `% c" G: ywanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.* y% ^5 ^& f0 H# q
" W- J8 Y- v: D* ?6 t4 yIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,! R( Q) y. l ~6 }
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in / K$ d) |# ~2 ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ; V; ~, K* X, Z' d: `* }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort" e3 \" b) h: \* y
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 0 C X; D9 ?* F! M4 F# ]between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the- K6 T; k4 u; [1 G$ q
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ; |8 J1 l- C; T8 W$ lwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.# [6 u6 j# y# t |- r
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 0 S* P* L. r4 Q9 S2 S: N1 Mnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not' k$ `( R3 ^7 A0 N( k. a$ Q2 Z
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our " _ K; h- E% @- E4 _flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through , L4 r% M7 x6 ~9 v; m( ^: D/ Y6 V( aa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* U; n, a' N4 s+ A! k+ w! e7 |
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ O$ g; q3 }' K7 j5 {low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool+ t# h: z" H0 S( E
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top6 r+ z+ J5 w) b" K6 H0 l
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 9 O# G" E2 y. C7 l& v3 fstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , K/ Z# I E+ ]2 F49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes% ?! P% A6 P" r! ^
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with " V/ _7 k8 I) h; M- ifingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.% n1 g; |% r+ Z
: H3 c# g+ e- x& ], MThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are1 W) N i5 P/ r7 P r
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 E( l- }/ x. Z# g6 @8 Jfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba " [4 l, p0 S t& A' Y9 ?tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / |1 ^% `, i7 o! f% B7 U/ Ca staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ( W- V- T! w7 Mdaily 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, living4 ~3 d- e+ T% ^8 c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went - `* l1 [0 ?& t2 d' Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 y" a. x1 z0 {
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ! T5 M7 N9 ]: y8 n4 sanswers to our pointed questions. 4 g& V6 X% w" \5 o8 d$ T $ b5 P* F" G0 c( P g% N vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' x" A2 D! W2 D5 k- A% S3 R: I7 M- t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 ~- {) K2 \3 v' W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 5 v5 Y2 D" x' Y0 T+ S9 x' j1 Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 Q5 z8 u9 W, w7 G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are, |$ x0 K4 s1 ^- c* ~- q! s
medical schools. ; q/ B8 K3 }2 k9 Y% d# E $ d z0 T1 G4 c! f- UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 o# m/ _0 c. D! J
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ' _, p5 _% K1 ]0 Y6 mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ; Y/ S8 ?& B6 S* d7 e3 f5 kassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 6 [3 s" N; S5 g1 q" Q% u/ e" }is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ A% P( U L- b: z0 A7 `
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- h9 f. l5 ^/ O# }9 N- w) l' v
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! K2 L4 n" u2 Q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ) R0 M, V, _0 y: Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 7 p) P8 _5 b/ G2 V6 W6 [. y4 |5 nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. p9 o' C$ V/ G3 c j- L: A
9 @4 J' Q1 F, C5 m' e
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no / ]! Z% d% d1 \: ?' u/ Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / o- X- S6 @1 r6 o8 j9 Usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 S8 Z6 Y+ _, Q5 c2 R. z, x: d7 k- \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; u5 D a w1 K& W7 K
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby # B+ A W. j: t, T0 E5 rsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 H: N4 U. H' j$ \divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 8 |- w B. {0 ]+ R* @( J+ wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When6 w1 k* I; P9 J: ?/ J; ~
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 g) e& I* ~ U- F& v- Q
charge the fee defined by the state. 4 G. U+ f; F9 l6 A7 N ) K3 C, e: U' f7 V* _( bThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ( ~" l5 c0 ^ w0 gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 J5 v: w( Q( {. R/ T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & d- }2 u) T3 b5 ]' L3 ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 8 [7 L2 D1 L. @! d& D; qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 1 ^ _# x. f( _- q# P! qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, h; h2 Q% ^, R7 c" N' @
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 4 Y! j* F' c/ T) @* j tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people & Q; Y: L9 r$ {2 ~0 Xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 2 L' z4 ]1 c7 a" {$ Thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ t Z* J# F* d4 Z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 2 c, Q% x/ j; {" F! bto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ' w1 t1 ~8 |* i* }# Q x* cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% r. v8 Q& }3 J
are spaces.. @" z8 c# K* A3 m
" r- e; U3 A" s4 d4 r- K, D: H; }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ; m4 B! ~/ v0 }" r4 U* ^4 M8 V# rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 W( q2 F3 g0 [. m8 S. K
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" u* A h+ n' W* ^" @ s# R5 n
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different " N1 d& d0 D* a7 I0 H# Sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 T1 \- p, v/ r: f; B4 q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few $ |* p- I* T: H! tnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ _# P8 i! Q1 l% R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' O0 O) P I4 \8 U8 _# g
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 7 ?4 a( ~: L2 m1 n" m# { 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 & D; Q0 N& G. I4 b& {; {3 `" Pspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: T+ _/ X& Z0 N+ n S9 F
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very $ a% s5 b) `6 A/ S' Q' Ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # N+ O; s& `% Xrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 3 @' p% o* r3 R5 O1 X& }0 Tsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of7 r" G6 y# I6 M! ` T1 L6 G
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms" C" [" d9 i6 y
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' _4 h, [. r, b6 j( d- h8 C; M
tourist area." S% e" n7 | @" p7 E; n: ~
U$ I1 `8 c0 `0 mOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ) i3 n7 _0 o9 zpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). & r# J. _* x4 \* E8 t$ ?6 SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ; C: \* n5 I4 T% M0 e; Ieverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps - T" J& K6 P' `
less leader-religious. 3 Q) M8 c( J2 D' ~! ]4 ?! n6 ]* j5 z% p8 l) \) ^% P: t b
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 9 z. \3 f! [ _4 z% Ygovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* E% r6 q$ d/ O* O, Q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US4 P- D9 W+ d8 C/ J [
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 6 W& z+ }3 Q ^8 y 5 j( D! v5 L6 f& ^9 ~We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ I# K. s5 e( z" E
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 v3 O$ P _/ [) g$ n2 r
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $18 W( H6 U o4 m5 S1 v/ @2 O
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 6 T3 F* x; c: N5 X0 W" lforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars " O# _0 J* V/ c6 ?9 g- }3 l(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we Y& ]5 x# u7 m
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the( z" \: V S; D2 s8 M, B) G3 V; D
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 4 o; Y7 [( @# X: R6 f5 \0 N1 `And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local/ g, w* O7 N' d3 t; a0 B
or visitors. : A- j$ l) f# Q, k( w ' d: ]3 B) n& C5 r/ H/ S-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
