We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 0 Q, U$ s' i" v+ Minteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 8 _: e$ X5 h' e/ n3 X) Pwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.* \, R! c, [0 t4 \+ @2 ^1 u& r! h
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 B" A4 i' o5 @* }' _# h9 Y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in. M1 Z% H6 z7 O7 V
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as" l' @* L v3 a! l( m z
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort % j B0 d4 P! o' gshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep% x' O# Z7 D& Y% g3 V' ^8 j
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 7 R K" |; W- {8 @5 Zlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,2 U: T X: J, K+ U* i7 F
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & @ o4 D% ]2 g- z( S& ^& [" G People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but7 ?) H2 e& E) C5 d2 P
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not" o8 O( f1 ?2 }" P9 G7 x
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our6 b: T& _* P$ X) r7 v
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ; B$ ^) I7 {! F N1 V5 Y$ g6 d+ wa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. " @! A' ^& Y, w( r; c3 `5 h& \" c 0 T6 W9 q/ y T. @9 wThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) r# Q: T# F+ ~2 w. j
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool# W0 q1 K R" V7 _0 K; o) u
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ e1 N8 H( M4 q
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the- u! L+ s2 _* e8 P6 l. d
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from8 l6 l4 x0 r% _* B+ Q/ c* W
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 y( L- i1 P# e9 @/ M, ^Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with" g- N% P" ]9 v, }% |* v/ G$ |
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada./ U6 t- d8 [1 v# s, |% t, b
2 C2 N/ n( @' W: N4 S! I8 jThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : g: B4 {& l2 `' }7 `9 b0 u" ]1 ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 9 ?! j9 x/ {, qfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba* U5 L8 }- f2 d5 V. ~
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having. \$ {! Q+ i0 W5 b3 h
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 7 _9 z( u& K$ I3 Q) s1 F; t- Ndaily 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, living7 R4 o4 S/ ~6 e% c ]" K3 K# U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went0 h+ ]* P9 t$ {3 Y' a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. U5 e2 u) x! A8 l
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give $ _% x: c+ k& f3 ~, `) G& N# Xanswers to our pointed questions.& W2 {7 {6 o( S: ?8 g: I/ K
+ p$ D1 [9 q' X' W, m' T+ u6 QThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 D% F9 v; r5 k: F- I+ J
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 m+ U0 r: ?, ?, h& h" e
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: \: q9 ]7 T& B( l- G: l
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 k( o! B$ _2 V; V9 T+ \( ]
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ) t" {4 Z8 N$ Jmedical schools.' m6 G% [* \0 O5 W" l1 I; t( e
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the Z6 F* m& Z3 G/ {9 }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ' u1 U( B& A2 s, @, s4 K/ t9 F2 }6 O! `to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years " |0 _, X& l2 a3 A6 q. b1 N( _assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 D: n Q4 B# b6 ]. T5 F* ?
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to * o& e4 _- w9 H0 Q9 Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! e6 D3 \% V* F9 r" S! @0 E) D0 h; c$ M
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and f5 n6 a( e. {( G9 p+ _: P a# omostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 1 p2 u3 b1 @' t$ bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some $ }: k- R! \: msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.. t5 F. K9 ?9 |5 S! t) n4 P
3 F( h1 q* R" r+ _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% o( f1 r; }5 V0 I9 O2 X
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / r4 N: P" p. P+ j0 Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 3 t! {& N& b. M y" ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good S( b, c1 b/ L. b! S* Z+ x
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby Q. |& `2 j/ q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high $ z8 ]. D+ H0 v6 S2 j# Q: j7 ddivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.0 Q$ m$ K- P' A v* Q- w; F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) H5 v" e ^& |0 c! x) L, k0 q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only }! _6 p; Q+ N# w
charge the fee defined by the state.2 M# i/ Z3 N5 N
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get; C2 {1 x8 w8 W8 x; c/ ?5 [) P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ; @) c( z! P1 F0 f7 C8 sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big , q0 E w, A1 q& d& etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel z, _3 f, E5 R% cseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% z( L: z: H. T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ q3 H2 o; w" ^5 P0 j1 x7 e2 u9 Z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if & G0 y: X0 L/ A, Uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ; Z8 E$ \( _2 i; l( Y8 H; itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch + O" h# U- ?8 k+ ^+ V' ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 7 _% e+ z% z; z, Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) v) K/ l! v$ H8 ]/ q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or / ^$ ] X8 i; \/ u/ _, p/ Mbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 D& K; R/ `& {5 v
are spaces. - e' r- J6 A1 P/ ], @- d4 @5 e- y9 j6 C# I
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi R% T1 K9 S3 R' p. w+ }4 { \to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. M4 O; |# q, n6 v! U% P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ ^0 u# a! k+ l: R+ J" d. Y) b0 E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; ^, X9 P" `) _9 j6 x6 i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 m/ w& V6 J) f5 O: X
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 @2 b( K5 H4 @9 h/ A. Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 O5 @5 n# i. a6 x, U
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; a# q/ X9 O4 `7 V9 S5 V% o5 Mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. % I9 N! l! j7 p0 Z: z# X 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; O! R( r6 M& v' s6 H
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ( p' C! L3 a7 V6 x3 B( p* }2 uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very0 a, @, g4 q# X- C8 L8 {. Q
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep. D, d* g6 A" m) m5 h
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 0 }2 `; J M; Zsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ Y- d, |, S- D
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 d7 Z1 e3 |5 W4 o4 G1 d9 I
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 V, P, }1 W/ [2 H6 |# otourist area. # R7 d3 f: x" c6 Y6 P: F. {2 o % Y, {. d0 [0 m' O% \$ TOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's+ O- r) l1 H, Q3 k& G
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).4 I: R% D; J4 J. ?4 _ F" y" K& H$ G
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were7 A* I: w2 [% j* R! M! Y3 z3 C' Z3 }: V
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps o) O; f# [) yless leader-religious. 5 Q" f- a9 c" ?5 t8 l# V 6 g( p& p! L; |, ^7 I) _3 ~( LAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 i- ]# E/ I- e+ Y& y. O$ b6 A: L
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ! R% o) f. a! ]black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US - V/ P) L8 Z' X8 |! {; ^/ Tembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). - ~: ]+ @* T" R% t! K8 W& ^6 W- d% L+ {" M1 o
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the % _4 G2 U/ O9 ?8 wparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not) ?2 y0 \& d# @ k" `, N
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ' B1 f- e) D" n+ J5 Sconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for' c1 |% _3 m" W( L
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars' L0 l! [% X/ H/ N |
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we9 E) a. ?1 N9 ~6 [
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the8 e' u, M" ^% l+ k8 J, ^: Q
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. - e- H7 [: R* n# PAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local j+ M/ Z1 l( [ jor visitors., ~& Q. L- H$ G3 W# j$ a) ^
- ?1 z" a7 |% `2 u
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
