We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very9 [2 f' Y! }; o! b4 K4 g! e2 ]
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we % U- G2 I! j* E7 ?2 ^wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. & _0 e2 u' f5 l# e & n. d1 q0 T( o s; WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % O$ s% _2 L7 p K4 b30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' l5 Q7 M* a1 H0 ba very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as7 I" e* w! T! d
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort \3 i8 w9 a9 \show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 9 R% n4 @9 |8 s* Ubetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the . i# }$ b! k7 c' |. V/ Z" slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 E, b; l9 W: a7 [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.3 { a6 Q1 X U% h: D8 k% I
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but , d. C) f1 ]1 }) J; c) tnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not . _- p+ `$ E8 N2 R# ^0 U0 Iexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our & f+ W2 q# \7 Z" M! ~) cflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through/ B" \8 @+ F+ }' b
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.# y) C- Z- n# ^4 n+ D' X
7 X6 n- v( y/ i" R, z) P9 yThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 8 E0 I( N9 G1 Q% nlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 1 r7 l* G7 n ~6 @$ s(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top2 i$ a! s: { L$ S4 x& Z8 J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the- X6 _ Y7 K" I2 n1 a$ y5 b0 C
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from- Y6 G& N2 e! a4 R: B
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes2 g6 o6 L! S6 B$ F
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with, \6 i* I* Y2 F6 R
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.- L8 o5 e c' X# H) w7 x
. F- S, Y: y0 \8 o0 D9 l# UThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are2 Y7 i# ]$ a. r% E2 `2 J: F) r
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 0 V' m1 g6 R( F; ^; Wfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba% C3 P, E3 k, w+ t
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & ?/ D- A8 L, j0 o$ {a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 4 G) o9 O. C) A8 p, Ydaily 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, living6 [; V% p) u2 E- R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& h0 B" g7 T; f7 e8 g" I# g! Y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, P1 w% C! a. U+ |9 s" X"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 0 y0 b2 N$ R0 zanswers to our pointed questions.& D1 o4 B1 y3 |$ T6 Y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, - O6 m7 C/ L1 Q2 m+ J8 u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand6 n$ u- ?" |3 r l; I% l" H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is # ?' V# V; @3 c8 v7 C7 Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 `5 `& O$ I8 t- Y) ~& j d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" s3 L1 Y$ t" c! T- V( W
medical schools. 1 _5 Y4 q. G3 e' ]; v- G$ c( F5 j6 X1 G" h
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( F; |; s( a- W4 h9 x- j7 R
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants }3 s' B. n, h: H) }5 V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years3 t' v' } U# o1 q8 [ A7 T
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba & P: I8 ^6 d' R- Y/ c& c! D( ?is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 Q- D) V M" F2 B- Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) l6 U3 w, u4 M! X. ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ' w3 H) L3 I i! Y! I3 M* dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' I; j3 Q) f1 W! c% N4 d" b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 N9 G4 v% H7 ]$ u" W- K$ z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.6 H# Y1 ?4 G( d x, \( V- o. d } f
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 A5 k4 s; S, R0 _2 Q) A: b
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and + E) p( F( P8 ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( d) c# I }' r
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& b3 D9 l. X3 P) t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby $ f8 @6 | g: @ d5 vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 q- w# B; ?9 I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. Y2 Y* p" r) A; V
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 \; P. D5 J+ r: m& J" J
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ) S& A9 P" D) zcharge the fee defined by the state. g! `6 F; O p5 p" [% W 4 d, W+ @6 [/ L( b9 f8 j0 h& {9 HThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 8 e0 a, J, j) U) F5 a# won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 g% B' z9 m; S) N) v
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ r; ]9 E( D6 O7 B: {
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel * O; }. n1 e/ q- i4 cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 f% s: s3 A: e8 S7 h' V
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on # d+ P) N- s7 I; R, y9 Oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - P/ Z q3 s7 v+ l, @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 x, z2 ^! p4 ]1 m. `4 a
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ; l* L' P; H: E; r4 g, lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that " y9 V; r5 N P. ?people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 3 J! } f. H& Tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or * l* \9 V0 S% Cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. Y5 |" y4 ]: ^- g! N t1 N; }3 x
are spaces. , M5 R" v8 c/ S) V0 s % f( e# l0 B, }3 B( X9 oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; l+ R7 @" l o/ c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they p8 P: D- v8 {own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 X, ]" e$ v' }: {3 z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ! c3 H4 _% D0 F) p3 j: }/ W4 bparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the & U0 }5 S, S9 ^; hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 N) y+ |. k8 n9 c
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 x; ?: v# F/ Y/ s/ D
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it * k$ j0 t8 m' f) wis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 [3 l) Z* X+ _& T* x6 `6 {
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* d1 u% c5 ~. U) E
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all0 k# Y8 }3 B3 X& e
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very& v& d; P$ I9 w' @% V7 k
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ! z) T, f' |! u4 k" n' drecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day0 s% H0 }* w }7 E+ ?8 J- _, h [& ]
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of % y8 N7 ?4 f' Tthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms & @2 E+ f b }; R" v- Fhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 Z( S' Z' m" s" Ktourist area. , H# G6 }: \; r, Q7 @ ( D7 T0 [; b% S9 X1 {8 h7 qOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 H j+ X: Y) X( k; S! v$ K
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ; a$ k1 i# V5 Y' q! Y, ^Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 j5 `) ~9 b9 Z* m; o
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 s9 ^3 q9 ~9 i4 j& M
less leader-religious.; X8 ?+ n9 W9 \: G6 ^! v
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, w! o( H, [' X
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big : U7 b) f% O& q! g% Hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US/ g5 z; t& U; A6 \9 J8 a
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).( f. i9 W: z s2 G% |% H- N% b5 P! Q
' S% d. P* Q' j9 yWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the & f. l+ H* ?+ Q5 K! p5 Bparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not D5 y6 I0 R% t. B; i3 ^the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $13 x( @# D8 R& }0 z
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for " S& c( ~: `( X4 q* R( Qforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ n' y* l6 d! j
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! X: _- o$ F& l8 Z( y& rprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the $ e1 }* E& q8 B2 W, w( l7 Yreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 b, I9 `( ]1 c, d$ E
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local + g0 y: t4 x( c- sor visitors.- b- _: {( H; k" h5 E6 x. g
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
