We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very% K0 S3 d2 \' k5 ]
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 4 G5 [# c; N' d) b4 m; V# Xwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.8 Q: e+ G& V' u- c5 Q& S: }0 B8 X
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,3 i) D& B) I- y4 C. t9 b* R) E( v
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 0 ^3 V/ A" R9 Ka very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as/ ~, [" h! ?1 q- H4 l! o3 i
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort& _: S8 M- q# T! u- i
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep0 }% z8 m: T0 V$ {2 q" X ~
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the3 |- [+ ?* f* `7 ], `
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,* `7 D" o0 u5 A" F/ ^7 g5 p
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ) V" Q% M; D' z6 r People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but % L, N/ Z$ K7 B3 I5 \4 Inames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# h3 N" e0 t' S2 \; e/ p: X6 x5 q
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; _% G1 h( A( w7 d: i0 w) i
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) Z% n" W* G4 z, t5 b# V- N
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. P9 ?* c c2 |3 h# G; Q+ d3 P% A
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) _' p1 |) T' a9 Z* u2 I
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool5 ?' G6 ?/ C/ o" g/ O
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top % ?1 g6 \& i" \9 S+ sof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the$ f& d$ ?, |; I1 A/ a" H! ^+ Y
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from : u5 Q- Z7 D, _$ B) B, V% t49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes# a/ F d2 a' M5 h1 Q- c* j: c; L) t3 S
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with + {9 _5 F$ Q( V+ G. ?- W9 {fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.( x: S0 a' f+ W4 Z
4 @: d6 z) Z$ b1 {4 a$ n2 WThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are " \2 X5 [, e( V( ^1 ^just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made b- C6 L% }% Kfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba5 \! E4 |* h2 V% S- i
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & B; w- J5 z3 i fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China $ l- m" D W# |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, living & E2 F2 e3 W" V6 M0 jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 2 B! }8 x4 D! q) bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, : e" f) O" z' i9 _: \"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , d( ^3 F& ]2 J+ @- Nanswers to our pointed questions. J) u# b9 y+ `4 L1 K4 @
* q$ ^& f+ T5 ]$ nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ h: g. K* x% R+ |
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 }3 v; j- {& }! p5 N. G
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is " L& b4 X5 T) x' D4 ~1 {! Dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams; H+ d1 v$ \9 h# L8 Z% n" \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / N9 B/ w1 U1 u+ wmedical schools.- Q/ L9 _* k5 `- p- a
* u3 O3 `. S" U; r GEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the . I% }% n; F/ l8 \, ~. ]/ ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants $ D1 y3 ]: M/ t7 l6 U: Q: W" Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . U: a+ N U' }& U$ Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 5 R' R+ p* e% D& F" t( L4 zis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to + z) F- _0 i. o @2 Q& Pover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ O9 `, D& V" I# J3 z, s7 {
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 l/ z( _- w, M6 J6 H/ {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ; g" w- P4 N" R/ n$ P) U" P, {shortage which the government is addressing by converting some- P2 P/ p# E8 t. P7 G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% b& T$ C% [+ z% ^7 l+ @( q. b7 t
$ | Y1 E4 {" T7 v4 D% F- o' DThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 0 i" |7 E Y6 [- J, Oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' e5 F5 a5 m8 C' x$ c# U
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ) O4 P: |8 x+ F I& c2 }" vhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' v# O$ C: `' j+ E' A! T7 L: R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby " c$ }* d! X$ A8 f6 Q- y, B. tsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! w( Y x9 R5 U6 w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." T( @' e4 @: ~( G9 Q: y5 `( p/ N
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ]# F" q* P" R' z! B: J5 o$ oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " z- N) `. T N( x- t( y4 b: vcharge the fee defined by the state.( a! I0 B2 i/ |2 w4 t) e9 U% w
6 X$ @0 N2 y; W* h! B3 n5 Z/ iThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ b+ W2 j5 D2 i$ ]: B3 V
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- Z8 l J7 V4 v+ u# c- Q% o: ~
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 8 I7 Y% r+ a& d' O& i8 ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 J8 W7 [5 ^$ z) u2 q4 ~. W6 v& R" R
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the : C# V0 z& @" z' c4 e- n( v0 M2 dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on I& t1 v/ Q4 ?7 z* Y4 T" [
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if , k) I3 O: U n. T3 U. `you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people . p4 Z5 D' ~1 n3 O2 l) ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 B- l0 k- J6 |4 [* o' k0 p/ I5 J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 3 G8 @1 L: _& `2 A' Z- E. ~+ ?people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 3 s( R+ O" r6 @- g, q* @+ Y$ r lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 @$ {$ i/ M4 U! }/ D0 k8 g
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there , V# C1 k) l, R: Y2 @2 ]) {are spaces.4 l( e* K8 Q- q0 q s
, f9 r$ g0 i/ ~% G& tThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 8 a1 \4 F6 Y7 y2 I" e# _ Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 s. l9 j) s4 m/ r# o
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 7 j) B! i5 ~- F0 l. k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ( U3 g6 K" R2 u1 [: Z8 e. l/ ]& [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' Y: M8 d* K) I' c4 E! f- c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few3 j. h( j7 `- z, {* X/ O) V
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of + p: r+ B6 M! ~2 Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. _" b5 l0 K5 p/ \3 E
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 2 l3 z" H, E- ], J: ]! R 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- k: }2 D1 X1 L! x+ D! X
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all* k- ]% P* @& L7 q7 Y. o8 O( o4 N
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very0 o) I: g2 T/ ]! a& p
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) X& K+ a4 y! C" a( a
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day2 @4 F6 j B* M" q/ [. x
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ s7 u9 C" i3 _. X
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms / f( ?- G6 j9 q3 t" {have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 5 A( O+ `9 I! Z% C* t+ Btourist area. & E, H* R( ^& t) }/ D 7 i4 h" S8 g0 C& yOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 S; `( i: e/ J0 H
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). + o1 d A. ]% }" ~1 ~. l5 Q+ aCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were7 ]# m* v9 l3 X
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps / u* { T" [/ v8 B \& N
less leader-religious. j- O: y3 o$ R/ s7 [$ J4 B
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba / O) O) L4 G% w# b" q: t K: ^2 Vgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 7 [/ u% [& l2 V, H. B5 T1 \black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US; x/ r7 ?+ H( p7 I$ T2 y# u
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).1 {' h, o! h+ ^: ~
2 g0 j! A" C b" XWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the1 p" d6 m X# l. G
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not* _; t) l# N& q+ X- X' B
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 6 V! d, u1 z8 H; E& Z6 j7 H: _convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for7 A3 F* `6 J' m
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars7 |0 ], S2 r4 {8 w6 |2 k s
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we: [0 o. f2 ~ Q4 L* J& _
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the U0 j$ @/ i% p3 f5 p' A
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.+ p. T5 l( l4 L# R; \
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 6 M. s% J& e6 F. n6 oor visitors.0 ]9 P7 O1 ]5 ~/ W% W7 {( d
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
