We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ' a2 }7 _: T/ \; m, s# hinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we) M; w2 X6 e6 L; i D+ _" K
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. + t% e: `) K( } r+ |( l9 \1 F- ^' r/ G- T' X! H4 N: A7 I& z7 h
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % M$ b+ ^( d9 Z* _, y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in8 {) k, ~6 D* m( [- {, w
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as1 a6 f3 G) P% u; J# e& T+ P0 v% D' g
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort6 k; F. _2 P# `7 t
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep4 U/ v" k n& D: U
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 X/ \9 s" Y6 c5 b/ c( \; ?lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 C0 e1 @# U. P6 owith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 S% H5 n2 a' ]: Y People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but* X+ s' {: s3 r9 v2 }- |0 Y
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ' @" z7 a, g* ?5 N* @exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our " q/ p9 { |2 Nflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through6 w% B! j) W" `+ X; b9 p, c3 _& Z
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 4 Z* F; Q% [6 T. t6 g8 q- S/ N0 T. o& t/ [
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. z, f' Y8 Y0 m) ~) x$ @5 z
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 2 }( q" O0 N4 p1 [. m# p9 J(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top5 h* R5 j. l' B3 t
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the7 v- Z b8 {* U, y( f
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , v4 }5 ]' a* U9 F) e49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes. P' T' T" _9 J9 `6 H6 ^& M( \
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with - Q: _* v8 o3 v$ Jfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.6 H3 I0 m+ C4 B( _2 ~2 O* V
% z3 a% d7 T! F: k9 NThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are; P0 f+ I; G7 @1 p5 z. N
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ' ? }9 k6 @2 d/ `/ m+ h! ?6 A; F5 dfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba) h" K) k7 ?9 r" H3 o$ k
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & d6 r0 H) \$ ]6 E4 ]a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ) e" p7 L$ q1 Jdaily 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 6 k( \( n% X/ p6 ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ! {# R& j2 ?* Z Q4 E9 B4 E' ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ( c+ b- B# d) d0 m- k% ]- F# r8 Q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ; F; {# M6 g0 W8 }answers to our pointed questions. 1 r5 b5 Z3 A+ c: W, J7 P& R$ W9 J/ l/ x$ Q
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 @# \3 z$ X; Y. ~' p- J- ?) w
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 Y# U" Z5 n9 P" h' z) g% h. M
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is * i r1 N0 @5 Q! Z! qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 8 a2 K' J z8 X) Q! Rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are + A1 T, e" d" E, {* f6 M0 }2 {0 ]7 Cmedical schools. w/ B4 V! t. f4 M0 }/ y
* A2 i/ T, M8 r" ~9 u, W |% f2 t
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 0 b% }; E) }* U- N; Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ~) G' z$ @! vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 D: j% d6 p' D- i( F) j
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 ]$ g& a- r+ t6 o# t1 f* {5 n' L
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ( t5 y) A9 A# Y G& R6 L" S( Lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ; }: s* x& v |9 ^+ Kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and * q0 P" X) D, i% `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk / ~1 G, R; h$ N& D) |9 Cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some . y5 b; u7 C$ m/ |" P8 v+ t csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 2 L) l6 {! b5 i. N9 u5 P3 s' l1 _. t5 R! K) W5 i
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no % C# o) ^7 S2 _3 l6 pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 6 ^( w1 j* C6 Fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ! |4 a7 p+ ^8 K0 mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good # n$ t( z5 M3 Dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' _) O+ b2 d Z: }( y
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) n* f% h( S/ R& x* Y/ S( Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: v$ a4 X5 E) g; `2 w* X& \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ I( k. e7 z6 a. M* M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only @& D2 ]7 C+ L l' ycharge the fee defined by the state.- t& _. N3 ]0 z* p6 w6 Y2 q9 f% j
. B* m9 H4 M& t8 O& ~% T
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% V! d2 N' U$ J; b5 u
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) H' J8 L r9 t# s; i4 f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & r* c" t1 w$ @, k! Etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! p% [- q/ _3 N5 e3 X, H) [& i, D9 w: g
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the : E3 v( a; l4 A. eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ( @: Y/ R9 }& Y. Fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 0 ^) z, n5 Y1 [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 [' U. P4 x4 y$ c% \5 y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* a4 j- m9 _9 F& e6 S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 6 X7 n# N: W6 D7 x3 X Ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ D* y6 e. K" [6 S9 X! f- F. D
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 [- p1 ]4 C5 m" e" d
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 9 v* e/ H/ H( Yare spaces.+ j4 n" @; @' f# W. m
$ w5 e8 J9 U. O6 k
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . t% [( R. r9 `to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they + L8 b% _# C( [/ L; s! y ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 4 C/ ?1 H% Q" i8 B40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 5 ~# V3 N8 u2 C) W+ Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the % ?; @5 ~5 F5 I' j4 W( obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 d# j4 h( ?0 Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of $ r7 V/ n& ~0 t" k& E7 c! A/ Y6 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) w( ]/ u+ D p9 b* U. {
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 4 y" m, g( h: w& ]4 F 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 beautiful9 v. H) J+ D2 m$ x; Q* Z) n
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 l6 D2 W0 }. ]& a) h
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very # {$ G8 E2 r% j7 N2 K! vlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 2 [" U& I$ b E, F' G8 H- g1 `2 Qrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day! Y1 e; c( v; E( W: u, S' [% o' W
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 3 E& e1 P$ v# A; M$ T/ Q* rthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 2 D8 _9 j# ^" A: ^3 ^3 r! Zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the % A6 l! L6 c3 a2 ?0 W! w; vtourist area. 6 d: U. x$ d6 m- b4 c' r 1 v! W* S- N; O8 D) ^ I2 wOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's $ Z( ~5 A3 a& u5 M, opictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 2 M) L7 q) K- C& y. ]Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were' z" O+ a- b2 [: }9 v G+ r
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ) _8 q9 i# D4 @5 C
less leader-religious.4 J9 n9 L$ g/ f8 n; j, ]/ k- ]* H, j7 b7 r
7 E2 @" x3 a/ N$ U
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 5 J! G$ U3 e* E" |0 m: F& jgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big / \* d- ?! f, E# Xblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US " T) U J% W, v; z! nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)., [0 |* i& X# {$ C6 B/ ^
5 k; F: U+ A; N+ O% a# _) @, w, QWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the4 P) @! J$ V' C# k( X" K7 z0 m
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 3 a/ h9 U0 u4 q$ ~8 R! ~the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $17 W, V1 r2 z5 X7 @4 x0 h
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for) v5 N1 |1 a: V0 }/ J3 u
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ( x- n7 M+ g) [& t$ a% j(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 4 T& Q, G& h" g) H% L7 r) Qprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # ]0 s6 H# U8 c( W! {real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going., K) L. b& r7 L
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local B* D" ?0 k, j6 g( o0 nor visitors. + l. S) r1 y+ e" x; p; e1 t D$ R) p! D! Z
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
