We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very( I. R" R) N1 E2 G" f. J
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we , V+ e: ?+ f7 X7 O C! C3 ]' m1 _/ ~6 owanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.- R3 I/ ~+ Z. l" P! u8 h* D) }7 K
$ \ q" X* U& X& Y2 z$ ~$ R; OIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,4 q& [. U4 d4 h) M2 P' S( R
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , i5 s& v0 Z3 m/ Na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as9 H( K: _: c8 n- e. H
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort$ \+ O/ E7 k: D' X9 j$ l2 H
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep " B* C: N; G" w- ebetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 m/ H. e0 D+ |' ]
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 6 m0 `' I; |6 l7 i4 Qwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.7 V# B8 }1 t }, O( U5 R% d% L
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but$ l2 R$ Z" C3 R, B
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not' x7 w# n7 w& g6 G: R9 M
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 1 s! k; q) a2 f9 ?& Z& @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through' p" r* H( S. @. \0 Y; k
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 8 {) z9 e9 s5 v2 w$ A7 n8 \$ { ) _# e" k: u V) t: x4 EThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 8 A' V" K8 M- _5 ^+ \* T1 {" qlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool e& v# X, Y5 N o(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top " H$ g7 _9 k) Oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the + d1 @. I# K5 Q$ j0 e0 |stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 0 d" C# W: K9 ]49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 ` m2 j/ A! H. o
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 6 H' k, t1 C. |0 p& A" Afingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. f. ]4 V* {. R, Z) a9 {2 B4 C$ F6 N: r, E* p
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are0 ~/ o: `% G9 J! N
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made7 t0 c& A/ F: w; \
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba9 {) }# X, P$ S
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having4 w3 T. ^1 R! n( @ j
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China & `! k" V) P4 S. Q5 V' h/ 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, living/ J4 \* a. ?. w. a, ^) S& C
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went0 {9 P! L" [% q" }- \" v
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# ~! D9 O; ^: @/ O
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give % S7 I; F2 [& N& I$ e2 j+ @answers to our pointed questions.9 V2 t8 c$ P$ e, w2 ~8 c
/ ]2 t# v7 I2 F- V4 [, IThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, , J* t0 Z0 F. r6 d45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 0 c* q& Y: e' K- v8 E% U# ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" c/ M7 @7 K, H% `1 b8 m5 J
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams # Y5 h; Y/ f% Mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 7 n+ {- g0 T- X; a# tmedical schools. % y: l- ~% K& n/ { ]% N 1 V W, m+ r/ ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# q+ D( y7 A- ?) M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% \4 [+ `4 d; f3 { \7 `
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ y4 ^1 X1 |4 e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba$ i' D& |1 r. `& @: H u0 o
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to / \" A2 r! D% l6 [over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There . `- ~9 m2 p6 [9 o& sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 0 O- q9 W! L2 w/ F, rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 8 l; W" ^/ V9 f8 O; zshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 3 P2 l* e4 U9 S& x( O2 J+ x/ Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 7 e% a k4 B% W1 y2 Y9 [ 5 j4 Q' G; Z( G+ B# |The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no * f6 P1 I" \" W# y- J7 Sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and " M2 G ^- w7 z' [" S8 Tsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: c6 k' W' }, {; G
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 }3 Q6 E* e/ W4 S: q5 u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby " I$ C' n; J) I: o/ b4 Q; t" hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) T" D* Z/ j/ z4 V) c* D. ~# W, @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 4 s/ s' A3 D1 j9 {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 K3 l0 J/ N- v# Y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only+ v3 U' x7 H9 }9 G
charge the fee defined by the state. ' k' g; |2 X7 i; s' P; A# s+ o" ~& t
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get* f- V/ ~; T% o- n8 f
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( @/ V& ]4 O3 @ I1 K" G. ^% M9 E3 L
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ @ P0 ^ W! @% A( k( O. q/ g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel , |( V$ }- u. I1 ?/ ]. Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, a1 g( M/ `( @7 Z( g: {- m5 O
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 8 p) Q1 Q( N7 O$ I5 K/ Q) ~schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 L8 N# o5 O% ?( _( u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ?7 X Z. u5 ~5 d2 q! b: vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- @& J" o; k* p+ L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 }; ^( }* p+ B2 g2 F) O- i ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 8 ~* [$ p. p) M6 `- p* Kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- j( k& L. T! L6 }
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 5 P$ a& X! X9 u: a2 T* Iare spaces. ; P2 Q! U4 A x5 V$ e' q) T4 l" n" j: t# r
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 2 D$ ]3 @; ?8 n" Uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" o4 b7 B) {4 U* e9 x+ Z3 `" l6 W- j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ' A' `" X' M0 U! M40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 6 F& x8 ^5 M. _! x. ~/ \parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ ^3 ~0 ~5 u: [3 H* J: O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( I. Y" Z1 V( @
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ! U1 o+ ~; U$ [$ Icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ) v6 C, V6 r$ ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ e: e' C/ L9 ~8 L- [, z4 y: 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 + v1 u9 D+ p5 {' ]( F: m/ o7 Zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all $ i$ C3 F; y* L. A4 Kthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very3 G. n" P! j! k: K/ b. i
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep. a. M" X+ e7 {% @
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day3 O( [8 `1 r* g0 { y6 ~' F
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ' z$ X- Z( T% Y1 L$ Zthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms% d1 ~3 g* \+ p0 t" P: Z: q1 R
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 X$ Y6 Y4 e4 R7 _' {2 \
tourist area. 1 l) O) B" J5 J% J. g & ~# ^1 {5 P! |6 j- JOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's - A6 _' Y! H) b& r0 Fpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). * z) H. A5 M: ^2 N9 q& U2 SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were N& M- `2 A! ^+ b# x5 d' Veverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps g6 e* N7 ~% ^- O" I
less leader-religious. 9 c& }. y2 d% }1 d9 k0 V' l6 s , d1 ^ W) N+ B& p* sAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba , Z. B4 j( ?$ l- ^* E4 e6 A) Ngovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big% x0 u( T# G4 e; ]$ x1 t3 m
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US0 b+ ] M3 R2 l% s' X5 r2 ]: M
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). % {! o! |1 ~* k6 ~! f- {& \ , H0 w& S$ \$ _We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the: s4 B9 D2 h3 F6 r6 c9 K' U
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not " ^" x5 C4 @& K7 sthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 , K# J% Z/ o; V6 k+ `convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ' o( V3 o, J5 ~foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars. W8 I$ W/ A+ b: C. Y5 w! W/ D
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we $ ~9 J& L5 N+ S! g9 I! U( A9 H, sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the / \; U% l, O0 s8 [2 qreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.9 P0 j6 {; k! _
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( n' q: R. o: p7 A/ Gor visitors.6 K C3 v; M3 s0 a! {
0 }% a6 z2 g# {
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
