We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very - G0 z. E4 p8 D# Binteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we/ {, L3 D$ O" k: \) X/ x
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. , b; F0 x; B5 ]! P$ y4 X* u+ y: T7 s* |6 }2 k5 j, u9 L
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, $ o7 b& R* W( o& O3 O; M3 s6 Q) \30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in: q0 m. U6 _" h. |( g! s$ L
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as7 ^% A- @0 ]- E' y1 v
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort6 W+ |) c# s& A/ i: s9 e0 z% Y3 M
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 6 p( O1 H0 w. v, Q- W0 N6 ?between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the* P( f! x9 y5 ]+ w" w
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,9 l3 o. q$ G) Q% Q) C# c: f
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; ?0 v; K$ X; I- G" {+ i
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 ~8 F; \+ X9 [1 l0 A, ], s, t9 A
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not- z3 E) q& ~- f
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our! Y! H( J, o) B3 h) R
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through* X8 G% @# ^( ]. P
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards./ B2 R- f \1 _( R) ^& V
* G4 M0 Q% }. r1 X
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 N% g& J6 K+ s7 Z( }4 {low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ K1 A* p/ _6 N4 B
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ d: x8 t8 T$ _3 B1 K3 R
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ M! E+ j) k+ `- Tstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from c3 U" X, Z# z
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes k. D o" a$ h" E9 ^4 |! V1 c) bCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with3 L9 A$ W0 @5 _4 q* n
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.8 b. x0 {6 d8 u8 ]
- Q9 c8 W- |/ z: @
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : _4 i) x, u4 ejust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made % C2 a! q3 E7 a4 gfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 0 c- A' D& u1 w8 z- Q' h: jtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & b+ t1 S/ s: F0 I) Z% H6 V; T' ba staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China: Z4 q' {/ Z8 v4 V9 d( h, r
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, living0 c2 d' @' Y. o: U8 R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went . |& s* |+ l; x3 ^2 A( Zon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, # ~1 B$ g8 N) D3 O8 j- d Q: P! q$ o! Z' x8 M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 E2 N! N* `' T" E( `
answers to our pointed questions. ; v# _! M! \ q7 H2 \* I+ c# F6 N( }4 g- ?& b
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 Q* l n T+ U; ^6 ^6 r2 e, F
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 ], W% W% n. u/ c
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is : A9 @1 l! Y* ^0 U( Nfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: {2 O7 v) H; W) r* P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ! n, Z* S& U7 U$ O4 b! G( Kmedical schools. 1 |( _, \1 {. D" f# X . S# `& g5 n; r ]1 Z5 `6 H" oEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the " x! T" \: V0 _+ B0 n. t2 Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants % ]' v0 @1 @. d( q4 qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ A5 T3 ^7 g8 J2 y) r. E3 j
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 4 y7 n J& {8 z# F# t8 ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) Q8 ~3 f8 o7 R% b8 _" ~
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% N! C) t( s8 n# r$ G" w+ I, g6 V) q o
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# k' J+ _4 {* u& M1 N" I
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 9 ^) k, Z( v/ R; _shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% X8 i2 ^* A" N% a5 M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 7 Q1 H2 G% d7 Z* e3 i8 `8 g & {9 V+ g! N7 G4 |3 o4 l. eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% i. ~1 p6 r; ]% Y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' V% D+ r( h% w7 T3 a* t% W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people H( I8 \/ W, b5 L
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good) q" |6 G* `0 f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 6 N8 Z; K) \( K! o, p- msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high $ y) W( B3 F7 G& {# _divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 s& H* d" o, M& |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) d; M. ]! ^" ^0 p
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; D7 L. o! a S
charge the fee defined by the state. 0 G6 J. [1 ~- l: Y0 _/ X2 p0 H- H 8 \4 X7 X7 h! wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get , [" f3 K' l8 X5 F) [4 M( D Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ F$ M; K. L2 U/ b0 Q" s5 [) V
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; i2 L9 w3 l% Y" h0 i8 Z/ e) w
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 m, ^6 C9 N2 f; s/ A( e k
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 q" O+ B: E( k% o' I: a
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" s* [' i, U2 T/ \) X9 ]6 \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ a/ y" T, ^9 w* R8 h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people % R! E! r+ ~$ N! b% g z& Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ( N1 S" ?* Y- b/ Nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 5 x4 h1 c5 C+ F- r) U* c! w7 npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' W/ x! \! m5 w% g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) Q( Z3 m9 ~+ B* W- F; I3 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ) i' P- a' O2 e; b8 U. qare spaces. O8 T) o9 {, }0 p: f9 W. [8 q: X
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ) Y' R* A6 |$ w- c1 o3 G, [to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they , o2 _$ p' \: gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the . C( @+ f8 n; I40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 2 K( d) `( E' I% K) x% R- Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the + G. D8 V7 o: ]4 x9 A3 [best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few R9 d/ z. Q$ H: L8 s% K/ Unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of B( K/ r3 v( V4 J0 Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 T, J' }* h! ?: `, \% l- k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: ~8 U' R% S* y6 T! k! B( {
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% U' l8 ]& f( U" [3 h3 R% n( W
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 U7 S& X# ]6 L2 Q
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very : M8 B' f' B. h3 slimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ; @% {* K0 m5 |. h1 R! wrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day L u3 _. p% u6 @% {& |) f X
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& G1 ]; |: t2 A+ L% x. `, m
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms , E( Y0 }4 Q7 ]# g- @have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 1 A" S$ q1 f1 `' S# `- q& xtourist area. R, F5 f) Z1 Q. o( B m5 O: O # s" y8 f$ s' p! y" s: aOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 8 l! J# I; w2 {6 E. d; Z5 N; q5 Vpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ' c& s6 ~5 P r( b! g. r1 P, zCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 ~# Z$ w) r2 K p7 V) m+ F
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ' W0 u2 `7 h0 V( o5 Z; p& ^4 Bless leader-religious./ w4 T; I$ s, P% r
) V. L* a. p( E8 A8 U0 mAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 9 K1 V4 ]+ S! R5 v7 o I rgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big : Q4 k$ Q* ?% m' E- Ablack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US$ B+ }; n1 d9 |8 O( }4 q1 ]- a
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% `% R) s7 n5 Z, b# {8 h/ j
, K) g* _' @5 N: ]" UWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the# \3 {2 e' ^ e4 q7 F1 _5 P4 @" d% H
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not- `7 ^4 P- Z" E9 U; K p
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 : @( X% {; ]' h0 |convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for : O0 X# s0 T0 p2 ^" m+ tforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars0 w- V7 ]4 @' n& {9 X: n) q
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we - D$ k6 M+ T) Sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ( i3 V' M, I' M+ m3 m3 Yreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + I5 Q# A4 o2 I/ L, c v' G( U; ]3 dAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local % p7 }5 t- [' f/ e. Tor visitors.' g& X" }) t% ~+ u
) D7 q" r9 }, l B
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
