We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& ]+ Q5 Y. I- A6 @) D
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we / _: S; g0 m/ o- mwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; f; L* h+ i. d7 G
9 ~$ H, T3 Q8 w! }3 {- Y5 _
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ; c2 ?5 e1 Y# t3 y* g+ x( X$ ~30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in( v9 \5 k: }6 Y6 o7 F: g6 Y3 C; ]6 `
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as- c$ W( h7 f; {1 J" I6 i/ C
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort# \; B/ v; G' k
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep% p- _5 M, L- t( x9 i6 X& C
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 p3 {& C- e M- F- _3 j, y7 C+ E' v
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,8 P+ h7 I4 h- m* h
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 H, Y. k9 J; e( I) Y
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but; a9 w; ?$ f8 o( [( F
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not! Y& `6 ~; |" ]$ i. j. W% L# E
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our : m7 I3 U. S1 ?+ |! J" N/ tflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through" B9 I. u1 f3 }$ u/ N
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.5 J- h, j- C+ [% a
1 d/ W, [6 O9 E4 L* qThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ( b- D! }2 ?/ K. c' Flow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool. O1 U' S0 r" t' y6 A& @# g
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top) ~5 _5 N! j- E3 i& z/ d
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, G9 J+ {+ X, `4 S. e
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from8 ]; ?2 Y! c! G# G
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes2 M Y! H3 ]1 P" r! }7 x
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with " P! J2 N3 G& K u* Qfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.0 k f% M3 ?7 M% U! ?8 K x
! R* L- f2 c" P. z7 o( Q. M2 j! `
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are! k; j9 m1 j0 h
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made # K6 j1 @& r! _for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' s% T: O+ k5 N4 h& F
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 u( D2 z: _* j( h: Xa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 7 g# W3 S7 P1 h7 ~$ Zdaily 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( j. f5 F$ h9 n% d; F a2 W
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& C; f- u" y$ M+ \% H1 ?0 d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; R9 S- m8 |/ u- N% O: E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give " {: O* B. o4 M+ K! Aanswers to our pointed questions.( D: Z( y- T( V5 }: E" `% K
- c2 j) w8 v; b$ e* s+ @1 m$ c2 }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, , ~% L! }( `7 c' O5 F! y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: B/ x6 ~9 H4 e
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is8 F& H' V I3 W$ y# j7 Y: C; P
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams / a& a' X8 }0 Z4 D! ^& Fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 g# ^0 N0 W1 ^: g6 L1 E# [) R" M3 ^
medical schools. + f: u8 N3 i7 v5 r & |4 c3 w' W8 R6 c. D+ l; `5 sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 U6 u% h2 Q- s+ v2 f" O) `
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" n2 n/ q* X4 l' e7 F5 K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - a3 e4 t: T9 Z% `6 _assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% E% B) R% r2 I! i! s; Y, k
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 G. ]- T( J. R' t- ~4 s+ K+ D
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( M4 S: A6 L3 C" q) J
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) `4 m* n ?" V1 ^/ L
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' d* L# G, w7 Y) a* W$ y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some, K8 I, t3 I- m& ]1 ^% O9 a4 W
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 O: k3 d' f' `8 x$ C. D& ^
4 x+ F/ \) T* Q( U3 ?
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 h* l5 C" k" t7 T% W
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 2 Q$ t) o# | _5 E Fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 5 z" W/ {7 Q6 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 K4 r; c' K9 E9 i6 o5 ]
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 H- G) t& v% {' }! e% H6 s; Q5 b, F
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& n% ?9 D; f8 t2 M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# T) ^# b. H, V2 j
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 ?4 v& `: m4 c% v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ( j6 D& k2 n4 \. i: s( a2 ?charge the fee defined by the state. }- O1 N" r. \" ^, [ ! V- A$ N" w! K! @5 Y- ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 e6 c% s4 }8 m! w! Z P
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + q2 q( I: w( @7 y. \$ mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ V4 d. s& A6 i( [
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel # S+ m! e4 }3 o2 f3 h4 }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 3 Z* Y/ E* o+ ^: _$ k$ uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 S1 t s# n2 C! ]schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 G; z0 G! {3 {+ K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 3 ?# W. ?( n- C8 x% ^: E: utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ( T& S `1 Q: G9 K; lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ w" t; u5 X: d
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 4 ?% p0 `" s) ~! Yto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 v: H/ m) A! p- d E! n, U1 j) o% k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) ^' O3 Y4 A7 P; d
are spaces.! t; N. a) P6 H' V$ r% Z
: R" H8 b+ f' g) F
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, f' k% {& \# e# {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they " D* F; ?7 q( j* |- d" ?! L7 |" wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the " W [# D# P+ \40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# m: }& H, P% o+ C+ N8 i$ z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 V) Q1 n1 u; n
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - y2 \; e- X" Z3 X: w5 Enice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 8 y5 ~8 Z9 q5 D' Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( h8 q) t! Z' h, f/ ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., [ n* i4 w# _3 c( x2 H
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" j( }! e3 b1 l
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all& N& h3 U6 w; @: |
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very # p9 H. Y+ C4 `. a& Hlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # z& U, w7 E* m" y5 Precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day . q: U8 D! F1 _, }& R ssupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 z9 Y& M8 Y7 C4 L
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms . y* y) y: r: k/ K3 Bhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ! `7 T, `+ N, A9 i$ Ntourist area.* H9 k# c2 j& b4 \
6 a: w% l H( q0 s6 UOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's - H) P+ x1 @+ F- A5 Q+ dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). : C7 K4 E* d% ]) _- zCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 N; F# B' z7 ^ e. E5 A
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # F& j3 g2 c o' b0 M) S. \less leader-religious. 7 z9 z8 O% J- @4 f+ f + q6 O& S3 V+ x6 JAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ( z' |0 ^* ?8 N/ d! c0 Q* kgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big " b2 X& n. G$ nblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US7 L. q& {, P' ?7 h; t
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 8 Z! I$ b: i1 D/ l& l . {0 _+ ?. L2 E, d$ g$ ? z" rWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 6 I6 w# F; {2 i4 ]& rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not + }! s( U: ^$ h. A* fthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ x6 i. r6 j' M3 P1 q, Z: u
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for5 s+ b+ M3 g7 ~" S, F2 y
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars8 K/ o7 B/ M7 J% B/ ?0 x6 F9 f
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 m, |3 H* R. @7 {) n( \$ P
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the . Q$ y z' Z! F7 R' G5 kreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.# O/ _& Z- G( T {3 N
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ' ^7 P( ~8 A4 n3 A9 Mor visitors. f: S3 m& x% C) [9 ?
0 F: Z! }8 r H; g. E
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 ' g. @& Z z3 u s# X# }- ]
