We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very$ X1 O, E5 N" f2 G
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we+ J( q! w! R$ z( T9 p# H, X3 O" p
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.% T2 O% H+ t% R3 |7 {1 _3 y
! Q Y1 l# J6 K% x+ I( yIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,; H& b& q/ Z$ k9 F0 c a
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in+ o, B) l) q, D
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as+ P# |! Y, h9 [6 R6 a, s
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort" f' p# ]: e; g4 B; R# T0 n: T) C6 z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep4 D3 a/ _8 u |/ L$ m i
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the % ^7 ?) t6 m6 m3 U: |7 nlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,7 S* a! m, W% t3 m& K4 Z* Y: k
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.5 [- X5 A6 |# g
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but% Q7 M6 b8 a; q/ E" J% x v
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( p9 ?+ t1 D" M w& \
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our7 `' }6 ^+ j2 V" H' N4 i
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through& R6 ]3 h2 k% u
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. / R( U6 H1 ~% h$ b4 f- `+ j: g% F7 v( w6 Y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ G) Y! V4 O8 Ulow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool, S- j8 ?, a6 m1 G- ?
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ w9 D/ G1 d" O) S* A; E( W8 f
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the2 O3 `6 ^; o7 i
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from2 W5 h1 Q! T! |9 R
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes . C. ?# F1 ^7 LCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with , }; E. ?; D) v5 }fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., a3 i6 ]& B4 V" w) a0 \( O6 C3 K- i
8 r% y+ d- V) P& [% uThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 3 E4 F. b/ p3 I5 I. w. G5 v' H; Wjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 N! N2 S4 @/ t8 t6 _9 T4 n# Ufor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! I4 q$ z0 J+ [, h* i1 ftourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having5 m# O1 S* `: R- U R
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China8 g7 `# O7 M; q
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! z( a! }9 X: [
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 W6 n( G3 S, L5 w& o: s5 R
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, - E. \% R& }4 Y; J5 z; k6 X$ u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , D4 g! { d9 n/ k6 K. @- canswers to our pointed questions. 5 e' N; h& a( i( ]9 C! J8 r9 h 5 z$ C+ l4 h3 j( HThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ G, C w. h4 n8 d3 z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 \ s a9 W8 b0 W* `4 \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 P) V, p1 E! O5 l$ r# M! f8 }2 x
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams8 \& L f) V; {) b
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# b( t4 P& I! k! G8 K4 `
medical schools.& E& m& e* h) k, l* @
$ t6 m& q* A8 \
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the - Z0 ^7 }5 o; W" m- {7 f8 Cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants & }5 T8 B) R8 e6 O/ o3 Y4 Ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 N0 j1 [) A- V: B3 s
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 E+ M& L& y2 c: H9 ~
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 2 j4 {# k; h" b" u9 N5 S) rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There $ X4 D! x; r2 N5 X0 jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . ~8 h0 ^! Q" E( M/ bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ! c* ^. P2 k) s- |# Kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 N& H }) e" W3 F
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 8 L- H! t3 G! c( p3 T3 {3 N: ?# \+ l& Q" j7 {! E2 F
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 9 e; Z9 c) m+ A2 A9 y" }6 D! N! q* ^3 rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* S( p2 ?3 [8 n9 D/ F9 K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! _5 e0 B) l8 F) k
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; [1 ?3 E. K- ^! U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 l; F' K: B; }/ H1 q) d
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high & v9 D% h, g& j" {8 X, ~) Jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 s: z5 p' `9 i2 i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& L9 r+ r6 H& ~/ k8 p5 w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% F+ z. f. ?/ Q2 o0 n2 W0 l
charge the fee defined by the state. ' U3 W9 H; Q4 h$ T, o- U- p2 h$ a# B0 W
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get; C) H# B- L2 Z$ ?: C/ W
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 q- q- i0 _9 t# c
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 G9 h5 z/ I4 M6 N1 l/ C
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel / X( \/ t- K& E% |5 aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the / r, F) ^1 ]7 U5 ^) _3 Kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on " O8 C4 m2 @1 L ]8 q2 p( Cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ! n# l2 n3 X: {1 Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 4 x* w. g6 |3 c5 P4 b) Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- D! Q( Y+ ?( ^, A( _3 ]& G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ' j. F6 A" W" Q9 x. zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ) b* z1 C7 I. b: ?" Vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or - D" E2 ?1 T# N" @4 i7 lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there . }, A/ d7 {) g6 _are spaces.) K% o J7 e7 ^! c
* k; z+ d, |" q0 f3 b3 r% i
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi % u+ Y$ M2 A2 d7 Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 8 ?2 S9 k3 H! W# s* M5 `own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 u0 {0 F- @& K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different w) f; h+ }0 e6 Z) Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" f, r H5 Q! u1 m; E. U
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 D: z) O/ v* q1 K7 X. ~* V
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* K# ]) _# ~1 A) f2 y3 ~1 P. s4 Z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) D+ r0 e, }0 r$ P% c# Q9 ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& J; m) ~, w/ u! e% l! \
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( |6 Z- D* t- _1 z. L7 A# j
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: v5 `- ?8 n/ f5 |
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very- h! [& s) r6 d* [0 ^. S
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) e! u$ u! s" \. U
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day1 G9 H- b) l& n* m# X
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of0 r0 c& f7 }6 _8 s
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 2 c6 U' G& b! T; ?3 D# thave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the& n. z/ o0 `5 y* c8 v, d1 L
tourist area. % C" _3 E- d6 ?( e% [& v0 O2 a/ ]) @
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; D* m9 ~: r8 O( A2 h4 Upictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).* f# F8 L* X2 v' T
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were, O- v& {, v+ }
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : p1 v( ~5 O& j% Y; g! H: P2 P& Pless leader-religious. 3 k2 o8 M( j; ^! L, c! v" ^+ R j. E5 n* n* bAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba3 C" U ]( E3 ?, }* f
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 1 {8 i- e6 r4 K, f4 A) K9 ablack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US7 u ]) H5 ~& i- `( G. E
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* W2 }4 r' f5 r8 l6 I
3 A' F+ Z$ L+ n2 U% n& j3 y
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the4 k+ f+ A8 T+ {& u, X+ K
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not , U% n8 b) o( Z7 \7 V- [+ }4 y' b+ cthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1. p; r3 q# v u- f& [, }
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for& `. l1 r* W0 [
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars+ q% c) x: a$ T7 j% O2 m! V9 D
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 7 o6 D1 W$ L4 T4 m3 k# Aprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 6 U; m) V+ J( n+ m0 e' A0 Lreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 ~2 i3 I" f+ x1 m+ R: q+ Y* \% H
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! E5 o7 n! E" d+ Z) G
or visitors./ V5 [+ I, D1 ?+ X8 q
$ @3 ?& h q9 d# I
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
