We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 1 n4 |) U! {; a- J6 T- P( Y$ |interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we* V0 z6 b9 r6 K1 l; J
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.6 |: o% T/ D6 Z$ j
+ A# s- f, M! ^& p
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 8 w* [$ ?; x+ R! y8 {0 g q) |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in/ b. P3 h' @7 g% Y
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as- o8 k5 d' X; h2 f8 T; u G
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort4 h/ f2 f. e$ T7 N6 Q7 r) }( ]/ O
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( y, K( Y; T2 w" T4 p
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the* Y' _9 y$ E& N3 v) ]4 R" U& _
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,2 f1 D- v0 E8 x5 E9 S
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.1 ]) I# X' t. c2 C
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but0 K0 j8 C0 D' A1 _; E& R/ W$ i' d
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not7 N2 M8 q. k0 E6 ?9 s
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our5 V9 w K& f& T4 E2 _; D$ ]+ Q
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ) W2 x; ` {( q. q7 K. La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 }* i8 w/ W" g5 M; ?1 G- c' u
2 s |; c, J; ?9 lThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,8 x/ S& j0 y, o
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool7 v# I, ?2 L# u
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 1 o6 C4 i; y W d7 {of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ! S. m& ~" n/ ?4 O0 xstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from. w$ `7 h7 V! u; H* c' H* O
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes& J) p8 F0 E! _/ `0 F* `- n( V
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 4 ^* Y! [4 e, x6 B/ ? Yfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.2 b" [* u" l9 N, p3 T+ [
! I& a8 x1 j6 K$ ~7 p, `9 w! ~The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are % ?0 V, Z0 m* ?# v. F2 w: ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ( j$ N S5 F: C: Yfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba/ t9 f5 T9 g1 J' ~. s
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 9 Y: y9 }$ u* f) r) qa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China . m+ `" B9 R7 [5 wdaily 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' G) W2 ?& E& w) |+ o. p6 i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 L" q' j) h" V- U# C: _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! o* V8 w U |, r0 U( s
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( g$ r/ d4 t1 ]$ G8 z6 b6 J# T
answers to our pointed questions.+ M) I5 |! g/ z/ `
" \0 @+ T" @, f8 a% j5 a+ d
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 F" |! ^6 J/ u5 i
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand " [$ I5 s. n, q9 w+ K6 n0 eout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 `! {* w: \; H' h i2 a1 |5 f' R& M* F0 |
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 ?; ^- ~/ n* Y C
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ; e0 }5 n/ {! T: Tmedical schools.% Q! ?5 h* z8 S1 c; a
1 C8 F9 F6 H/ o8 h& CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# c# U' m( [8 |" m3 e5 V
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, ^* n' C# p2 A( \- o
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 z8 E. p! M) q0 B9 `$ O
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 5 w. ^3 w* O: ^" w: Xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 `+ W5 B( }6 [& P/ b- Uover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 8 U5 ~5 I: p! p- Y% l" {1 I2 z0 }seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 a# W: |0 @/ |/ n Z: b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk $ F9 |. E' D8 r) z# O2 ushortage which the government is addressing by converting some- o/ L/ ?. Q. i0 o
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' ^) @- _, r+ z: W
x% ?4 i5 W# c& y0 JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* O7 \, k {1 Y, W; C
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 s* `( l9 x$ a3 ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; _7 l9 a/ p! W) ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, [+ F+ X) v K3 z
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby : G M. a( g. J3 S" |sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( Y( p k: U' w1 T/ x$ P9 F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 B! i8 |! \- i! o E- `4 J. \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; b- m" {: B2 o& ?) T0 K8 f
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ) Q6 v" l: Q$ R; S5 m0 Ucharge the fee defined by the state. : U5 c! ]3 u+ b: B + S/ a& A) x# V+ L# u6 g* S3 mThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 d) G0 j# B3 f) d N* i$ L
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 N9 H* n% {- d, |' R& T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big * v- H; l2 `: o- a0 o. Ftruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ' _: F u5 a, P lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 Q! P, {7 m: w' U# W2 S- N) N
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on + X# a9 A' S% [4 W8 A3 i6 h* Gschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 7 n9 ^5 N) W; w; e5 \# [ Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 3 u. {$ V, m9 K8 O1 Etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 t! o* j1 ^! Y& n; d
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! N0 p' h$ S+ C8 b1 N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: c- g/ R* [9 q) w
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or , c" A/ l' \2 g# ]- Z# @; Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 E$ l9 b& f% Q8 F7 A1 ^8 l1 l
are spaces. , t$ O$ @5 N2 h 4 k& P7 Q9 k2 Q9 x1 {% `There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 ^8 D) A. Z- \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 \, N7 W/ K% w4 y- U
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 o2 u3 c) ?" `4 c
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 B0 V8 s9 S/ t6 t0 r
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the , e' a0 J' |( }best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ M) p5 Z1 }' T: [% S
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, I7 j/ m9 l3 ~" t+ i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 J. G. T+ @: f( k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. # H1 @! W9 |) Y# p1 n4 y 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 , e/ X7 w, n& i) j5 M0 Dspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' d: j, a; j7 g, y
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very$ d- ?% x# o n+ ?: _4 C
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 4 n4 y7 J% i9 A! jrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % x+ a! N$ C2 O8 T9 hsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ) t6 j p) B E" T$ d( y( X1 j6 sthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ; k5 H. W+ j/ z: ?1 ohave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 1 ~. f; k" A3 p x$ ~tourist area. ) o7 d8 V: L- R( d( a 2 C2 o. J/ ]! D0 r# [3 K5 w/ Z' hOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's( B1 K( q) p& E' D x: l3 y1 {
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). * {' X- v$ \- ZCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were " V, h& d" ^9 ~- |& B+ Xeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 O( Y S2 l' o5 ~ jless leader-religious.4 v: y+ B+ X: `1 x
5 y8 R$ ?# r- mAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba) A: {: W3 C/ G- ~6 s) V
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big+ G- O* D# O- S& O/ p4 N
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ( J% M( ?' |& u/ v& e l7 Qembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).) v7 I! c4 t& g" }& Z
( D, c' l% O4 q: s# w
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the0 l- ]" ~- ]0 H. h' l. L {2 q
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not . v/ W1 p+ B: B$ \$ _the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 & w* f; p% Q1 K5 U# [convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for( Q& _" k3 s" R/ W- C( A. z3 A
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ! Z$ D& {0 m+ B6 q(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we Q! Q' m. h7 c2 [0 z( Q, L* b/ ~
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the6 \" j2 }/ ^6 l' \8 i
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 Z, H3 `- d2 i1 y, Z0 y4 g) ~* m
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local z4 T& N; f5 Z2 `/ `8 e" S [; R
or visitors. 2 H3 o1 f p' Y0 s- _1 @) | }' T3 }" M/ v& v0 d
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
