We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very * p* h* ?' m; U/ T Rinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we * P0 E4 E1 a8 s) V, J9 Y1 @wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. . K8 \+ C2 t# a( J, D5 q& G# ]5 Z( L! p" s e) w" o0 n1 J
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ( E% Q7 R4 Z0 ^30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in : v& ~2 @* ?% S5 g, Ia very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as . o8 g, b/ a, |: w- ^possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort . E6 {. z" @) `: S) i: Jshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / B, Z, A5 G& sbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the & M0 ?1 J) _( h' vlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ d6 i) H$ X9 z" j% T; }4 y9 q& K6 w Mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.$ p" y* U% ^: i# Q t0 T, J. @
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but * {0 R; t4 Z8 R9 s# `$ Ynames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 d7 Z7 ^' a3 r" P# N
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ) N9 F, C# K. M$ Vflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through; C; l) G" `9 k7 V
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.2 |( t4 z5 u! _7 |
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,8 {0 _- ~) u* w% [% l2 B
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool. x3 F7 `1 N5 f
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top3 b6 j- H$ V. A4 [
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 6 F% ^2 D. V) a0 I5 _7 ~6 @6 M1 Bstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from . w! s$ V& ?% ^" P: l49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes" p( K3 U" f6 B) D4 j7 i' s2 t% Z
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with5 U; {% o, S9 P# K. a
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. - l3 N% n& U2 x9 p1 e4 K6 l ; |+ ]( \ I6 h% b1 w1 f+ mThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 3 o" @2 [. A Z, V7 vjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 0 _+ n% r/ L; ], |* O8 ofor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba# l# H. p. n/ a7 S3 a( H M' T
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / l% l# @) g- _' k E/ J; V+ sa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China , T) ?, _6 _+ c/ Q, x& z9 H( [9 vdaily 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. {3 F% P1 V3 \: ^ c+ W% l& M
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 3 E3 a4 B! X- Z* G+ Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 1 l2 R J' l- A"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 9 G( m. X/ h9 {' manswers to our pointed questions.' F# e1 H8 ]/ X8 { P) @9 q) `# Z
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," M8 b) { H4 O) x' Z
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 3 ]2 c4 T2 a; M( k) V( tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ u5 |: ?9 D; @, k8 Q. n
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams - t, @: U" D0 B# ] y/ tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are $ g) f8 A' v; L4 ]medical schools.$ }# z/ W0 I( k8 h
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the % q6 T, G% H) cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" q) B& o: l7 W5 ]5 I! b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ `3 T# R% b# v: W! x
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! k2 P R! [# [4 T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to9 A3 U8 h) B2 z" I( Q2 P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 5 _: f: b9 ~3 ~ U7 Y; G; dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and. \8 v: l; N: Y3 p
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! Z2 N7 `* s' |. h% B, G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ! O* Y: R$ B" o4 q7 C; s8 s% vsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ i: n! q. M% E% Q/ ?
$ g3 V8 F% ~5 |$ xThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ' {* v' k1 i; u+ Q6 J4 L/ b$ O$ Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ( W9 |, T. O- s$ wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 P$ g/ _; n" N3 D& ~. `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good! ]2 W* D, p2 x! C
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby) S3 J: ^' o4 V" t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high & W6 ~- G |) M. ?- qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; c- r6 ]6 m* C9 y, m6 Q$ @$ E
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) E. s2 }, K+ @# W3 L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ) N) x9 V' Y$ w1 k" Y8 v$ ccharge the fee defined by the state.# v. P9 P1 b$ w" i1 F1 |
6 F. L/ c. R& z; wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 7 q5 e+ `+ a, ^% e$ i: v8 gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 W' N, c5 O; b& G, |9 N
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big q5 D+ |1 e& t
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel * }: P2 m0 G' _- A: Yseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the & a2 t% u3 A% ]& Cworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on) K- ~+ ]/ [8 s6 i6 o6 N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 X8 ^4 k2 K1 k) Y' \
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% N# c5 A) h1 z* j2 Z
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 Y# Z, f# B0 s! D# k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; w6 L, I, H4 y7 w2 v7 p. V
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 9 k. j6 C, s3 y9 a6 |, L0 Z- d% Q3 \to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or & c" i4 k* H# qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- }+ }) c7 d: a) U; }' q
are spaces. + a1 m, J G* X5 I" H( `, n" k' }5 {7 G0 ~: T0 x% t6 d
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 g0 q' k) |' o Z& ^# G# l* i. C
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% K3 d8 c9 F# r' b5 r4 ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 A' }( a J; O6 r1 t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) C4 v. L7 Z4 J3 J* ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" o. ?- i. {4 L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ! j! X9 b3 T/ `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ! h6 l7 H' u# L9 Ecar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 3 i' H) T0 U) H1 Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! o) d5 b6 T4 w' p
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 beautiful8 b9 G: X' e3 x: [! h- I
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ( U. n+ ^1 b. z: f qthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very/ n1 P: T- z3 X) A6 c2 c* [- a
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 9 t& H. V k, v9 X7 }recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day7 q( ]; d% m8 }0 T
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ; P5 ?( s: x4 }4 N& I" \# jthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms O6 g9 H7 C2 @. P3 l% Rhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 v' q4 F' D; z
tourist area. 5 x* @( f' \, T! P% L ) n2 }0 r3 [! p- yOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's & e% h( i0 }; z7 `pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).* n8 y1 n3 f5 _: t! `' V& d3 r% Z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were4 y* X$ o m* Z) g2 z f% }1 ^
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 O/ d8 W" ?& R8 d5 b
less leader-religious.) [; R+ d, {$ a
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba & z1 m2 Q$ \2 y" `. f% u* x; X }- bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big% X8 G$ A0 c. Z" ^( v4 M
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ' a% y* V( P: R! Q- {embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' g; j6 P/ s7 q0 j
# E( R" O% p3 I- f! q j" b, v* m+ UWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the% t% P6 W, ?* q; S
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not5 n R* ]2 ?0 R3 I' i- L
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 3 w* s' L- v8 I5 c! Q7 qconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for4 h, [9 U' }+ @5 d
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 2 ? h6 l6 _; M* Q(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we2 U% B! [# x0 t
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the& N6 J/ W- n6 l. \1 a
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. ! e# C3 t0 S: l0 ?And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 7 | j. @7 n) T: @or visitors.$ C" \$ X2 O! m5 r
2 n/ D- I+ T J' h @, \-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
