We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & b4 R4 P5 G; j- h: a5 q/ L" E' _2 Iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we5 ^4 T6 A4 ]5 m/ I
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 4 `( T4 @ H$ q; D4 @$ W3 o- f2 U) r2 R" Y* Y0 l" y
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,- y+ Z/ O0 @4 s/ x$ r# o
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in$ H5 H7 c0 w8 Q) w& u
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 2 W) N$ n' V4 Zpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort + U% a0 g) Q' s! g Q1 L% jshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep) o% a% G2 n5 r' P( J4 y$ o: @
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the / o7 H ]: Z1 C" ?( a$ ^* Dlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,. L4 |' z' u. C0 |( i4 `
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there./ i) ]: G+ s+ \1 g
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 c( {; Q T2 L, G ?$ bnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not % B! ?$ u) E' m* m0 N! t/ ?! v4 Kexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our1 S' m* T: c1 o7 @
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 1 ~3 _% Z" k5 b' Pa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. % @; E7 u: a% _5 o0 i% n" q R9 D 6 q# ]9 T+ k- W0 F2 _0 ], W' FThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, , o5 u- r$ p0 s; @, W1 Llow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool3 i3 d$ L2 _; Z1 ]9 g7 G
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top1 ^8 V/ n3 t) ^% I, ^8 b; n
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the7 G& v$ F! }, h" Z) w& g$ G# T' N
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 8 t8 [2 q" [% N) I49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! n& T! L2 D: ]* T- CCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with - P( D8 \1 L! a- Y. f- Q! p, q8 r8 Ifingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.8 V; m$ H8 F, }& {- c
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 A$ o# x6 c/ I' @ }! \* F! J
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made u* z9 T! y! ^1 w4 ^7 Z
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 1 q4 q: n% t: ]* U4 |tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 6 o: a; S0 H. m7 `a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ! r# t# b2 H$ V$ m. N" ^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, living7 X& |5 b. e3 ^* n7 L% O. h: b
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went " p a, k" F. d: R5 X8 ]' p3 Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 7 l- H8 h/ H1 o/ \! L4 w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& {3 z. b4 w3 d4 K' ^; {1 ~
answers to our pointed questions. + L3 F) j; _, _5 M4 F' D 4 N7 j% h$ a/ X* `7 |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 2 U6 h& b% Z; [. a" q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 H3 H, |5 f8 [" \0 F# l
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 0 D; `6 c( [( ^. R% Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- C& q5 a" H. A& x, u5 J/ ?# C
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 q9 s/ O, n5 r4 h5 e
medical schools.. L3 L4 z+ q3 L! u+ a9 t
0 t5 _( o& u6 ]. T2 D% n, ~9 h) F3 `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! y8 i3 m2 e1 `# l6 D( W/ S
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' a6 p. f9 }- p& ^# _# r( x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. v* t5 {) @+ _; S. D d% C- N7 J3 ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba + R9 ?4 S2 _' @" v5 U ^8 Ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ) Q+ r! h/ p# p1 \' iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) \: }, y( e9 F2 |) i& |2 E# T8 j3 f' S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and. y- Z* \2 M3 e* E. L# t
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk / g" T0 n2 U S$ [% [ y1 v Ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some" F- X) K6 }) J- J
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. N& ^, j6 t( ~7 o Y! u# e
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ! G: P0 ~0 \$ x2 uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& |; H# z$ L" z/ C/ t8 @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people b2 l+ u1 D" Q" E. b4 A" j zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: S9 o* m9 _5 J& d
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 9 B# B+ m9 H& V' g7 i/ ^6 Esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 T; j1 o; ^' u# `9 N6 Z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ X t6 e |3 O. u% x% [/ r
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ' W3 g" ^' W% e: B8 G+ j9 @a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 9 ~ O2 k) Q# c( Ocharge the fee defined by the state. # X% J& Y$ g* v! i0 } 6 g) G! e: l, @, c P; b( `0 dThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 0 b1 b$ t+ }0 |4 @5 Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 o) @5 r' h r+ x' u; E, D& [: Q
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 r1 t8 a) ]( R) x) \. f
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel5 ]$ K1 I$ o* G1 b* K8 P
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 E6 D ^/ ] ~0 c/ P/ @ {" ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 w8 f- [2 A y* Zschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* C# B- u# }, r* b) ^5 h! x
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- U4 R) j- Q7 u0 u3 Y& V* g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch / o$ k" t+ g- V5 zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 g j7 L: _/ e# Q! Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: X8 a' r" \+ d" d ^- j, k
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or+ ^ x1 k6 h/ i
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 D; t3 p0 @7 v& J# [& U M/ T
are spaces." B5 g+ Y; ]6 e, o3 H/ D
' ~, ~- _' A) n0 wThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 y5 {+ |; Y, E! S4 e5 L: E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they & W3 |7 D; C) Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 7 Y2 \& c K0 A3 M! @: _9 f40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 }# p6 H) p$ w" F r4 P u! M& s
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ) m' `: { L7 y& h$ fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 d: i6 S9 f; o1 n9 s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 0 ?0 ~( b" [- Hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: N0 _) g0 I+ ?& K, i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. # A3 ]& N9 W# z# h/ L% G$ i; r3 B) Q 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 beautiful7 F9 A/ X+ U5 h8 ^: h
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ) k9 Z& `- _4 q$ gthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very # o7 K, y; f- I8 l9 l% N0 Blimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # b5 D* \: E/ ^% V9 Rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day! G# x; ^3 n3 r
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of - `# d6 ?$ t( V h% p% l6 wthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms7 G8 _8 Y' _3 G+ J4 k- h' Q
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ! e s- a1 M( f0 gtourist area.4 O% \% \! U& R' b7 V
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's $ W" W0 [ Y1 g: s7 Ppictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. n& P. f3 R; f" m& e
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were * H- H2 J1 {# a) o5 zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 4 ]4 G/ Q4 n" m8 @+ F0 T
less leader-religious.' `. D5 \, i" G" o, E
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 2 G4 L }6 e2 P4 S* Ngovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big' t0 N0 a1 L; E$ D- u8 N: r/ }( K* k4 b
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US - v4 j! ^2 {- S. _embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( y+ x. g8 A- j3 `" Y# t' K/ r / f+ Y7 _, H S! l+ n& [ ~% i3 \We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the) f0 t8 L7 S& {; J W2 e8 ~8 T
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not4 Z y- _- z) ~7 t( c2 O* o
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 5 o8 q" A0 w8 s. N1 t1 tconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for $ a: Y! g- ]' g8 c. s% \foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 4 d/ c- Z; U) g5 x, d% @" s9 X(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 2 O6 a( U. b9 R! B7 @ c, gprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- @1 N- k' J! r
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.& s+ a8 {7 E9 ?& }) e: I/ B; j! r
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local + Z6 @! c9 W8 h d) {% H2 aor visitors.1 ^- v4 d2 G( F4 L
! W8 u: }9 m9 h, Y) Z8 x1 D-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
