We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very e9 K9 B7 n3 p7 z/ cinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we& R* u$ n0 T( \8 A
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.( K% Q$ w* I, O5 ~( G
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,3 g# a( q- ]. P9 d3 \) y7 V# ?1 [
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' Z4 d0 E d4 Ya very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 2 e, b, G: g a' h0 Y spossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort; u. P- C; w- x3 ]: {" r. {
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 |7 N; |; w; m2 ^
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 g0 D/ N0 v' ?" F3 V# |* F* K( dlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, & W3 g9 I: @3 Mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there." X0 H( X; j- ^- f
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but L' D7 ^( X3 X6 y& w- Pnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 L) Y: `; X9 u9 s. M/ A# d' yexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ; F" c1 B: D) M6 X) Zflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 1 E5 E+ }) e% O0 g8 Y. ja roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.' }3 d% \* A8 p) C
4 n2 r- `& O) o8 [" OThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 5 c# V) F7 r7 D1 G, B$ o4 M" V& V/ Z4 Olow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 6 u/ t/ H5 K n) V- S3 V& D5 s& C( Y(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top7 y3 g2 f9 L N7 A& ^$ J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the* X$ K7 `4 A2 r! s& Y
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 5 T$ [$ W8 O" T( J: k4 {0 b# f; O49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ; n: H. G1 T% ^( P& R, f; YCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 3 u/ m5 g" ^ A) d, ~' @fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ( d, i8 l$ ? Y4 @6 E1 r8 U2 @" K9 z {" S; X4 ~& T( X
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ; ^; E. T, A' z+ jjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 u" r. [5 U% ~$ S! h# O# t" k
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 T" }; l, A6 |, J) ]; h/ m
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having + k) a; a+ y! ~; Y9 t( za staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China % ]; W* P+ P _" a5 l7 I, Q6 ddaily 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. R4 }2 t" T: S
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ' i1 k( ^4 U) g) Y( `+ Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. {* R0 W* z3 _, F1 l
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" ~% ] S4 z E
answers to our pointed questions. 0 D+ {) r- u( q i1 M" ]5 N" g/ f . O' y4 L4 G; `3 {; E) EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- Z7 B- V$ ^0 x6 Y% M# A3 R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand * r# Z' Q0 s+ y( i3 Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is* D6 a6 V) q6 g; ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 p5 h6 t J ^. q* P( D0 B% J3 [ Q
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& ]4 K4 k0 I- y
medical schools. & p2 a- w, l/ r" m6 w: i \+ y f1 f& ]" B& d0 c3 H
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 a& Q4 J2 F4 w5 }1 i. s; o* n0 y4 q
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& l6 k/ Z5 q: _9 |7 K. M
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - O. U Z+ j+ f' M5 J4 P* ^assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba . x- x; ?8 X1 t$ {9 m. Uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to / w0 q* j4 K" n, Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 0 U7 L3 Q \. i7 @2 Y, z/ f0 h ]seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 z9 ?) [3 }0 G0 q. L) V+ Y
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk; J( d( ?: M. m7 K i5 h: ]% q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some , W% c/ z- Q, z# hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ! X, S2 Q9 E3 ~1 M Y' c5 K1 B5 A" p: @7 N5 P4 {% ~' P3 b
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 {0 ^/ P/ V2 u5 F. _
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 6 n. p' H7 ~: N' F! Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 `+ ]$ g, }: A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 e; D( z4 N8 D" ~* U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 M3 p2 P) S1 g, n' p) P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high - B) J1 b1 c* y3 z0 q7 cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. % `; v" l V( K x/ lDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( B/ r) b3 ]* Q. P( u" N4 ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only r( [8 A Y/ J% D& j" Ucharge the fee defined by the state. & V' g0 U7 X9 O. W! o; ^7 x' `9 F2 m6 u; K L- t) `) r
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ I% o3 o# p' n$ r, @
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! }' i T& w, B* j& d
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& y/ L0 j7 V, W8 e. Y8 C8 |; I6 |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! k+ ? x# P% j: r4 k0 m( s
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the : _& |0 c9 f( P4 e! {3 _3 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on * t7 B7 D6 P$ tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if * z* a0 ?7 q2 tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 8 y; {) Z/ r: H* S6 x5 atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: m# t. }2 T/ n6 M2 A; n
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ @7 [5 T, v3 O8 i) K0 D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 B# ^' L/ R- Z5 M9 w c# |
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) S& v( e% R9 \& I1 `+ E1 [1 nbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there , G' A; ~3 m) Z, V7 rare spaces. 8 K/ ?* J0 s1 N& {5 s% T, P' o8 b( F
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ( X7 o2 x, ~) u( W O0 l- Mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 0 Y& v) F Z2 _- C- Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the % @% W ^" [8 v2 O; |40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different * [9 ]+ p( n7 rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ f4 W. O# |5 t' M9 o+ T$ h1 y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ) ~' F; c% Z+ X7 M N6 Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of* X: ~- \: b, g4 i- w
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: T, _. F# W( X; T3 Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. h4 K9 {0 o1 R4 a8 D3 e9 O% `7 u 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 beautiful6 ~3 T! T3 F$ P- Y; @) a
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all : _8 a( ?/ I2 L0 F' ^- ]the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 1 G+ b ?5 [1 O" e. I+ ^ L' ?limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep$ p. Q9 l6 c7 _' Y- x1 }5 Q
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day4 M$ w# g0 _: d3 y" J* v# P
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 5 p* _# B- ~+ V( tthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms( Y. Q2 U, \! _& D* a
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the . N: t, ]5 G9 e6 h/ gtourist area.% s' f0 K" z( h( w4 K* F! I
4 w) c& p- }8 P; a( a1 r6 LOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; e7 f8 I+ z% W9 n* Mpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). . d T9 U9 O* q8 VCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 6 \, ?6 c Q& u+ w& L9 \everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 6 s9 ~7 i/ s7 K {
less leader-religious. 5 l) Z* A2 X7 g+ | @ ) @* b1 R8 m I$ P; G3 n. {/ X3 tAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba8 g5 `+ Y9 J0 w4 C/ H
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 8 U4 m$ I" U1 I& r: hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. J2 N& ], m6 v/ i2 S; \
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 3 p0 U+ {" o% b& n1 g7 |' R" H $ I5 U$ i5 u' r2 A& d9 TWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . @: Z+ W0 q) u& D* z, n fparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not1 i9 W K, |, u9 n
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1! A! c3 @5 \; q. U. P
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for # q, b* E: C- g( ?$ P5 Yforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 5 u- |. O/ E& ?# d) E' S* l(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we" o0 J$ A; R6 i8 B( Y# [
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the " G3 u! v8 D! m' q; r7 b& }real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 6 w- d" K- o( Z6 t& ZAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local' J* V0 X' s3 B
or visitors.- I- E, r, c: p: g V
$ v' V* Y9 t2 J( B7 W
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
