We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very9 l( \0 F! w+ p* U& H+ C- R
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ) f5 h) s$ W' G8 \( Owanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ( l2 H- W2 D1 A6 [* C' u0 | }1 H4 g U% Q" p+ e0 S) d
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,8 I# F a7 f$ e3 ^1 o' j; w
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 7 q) K, f. y. f" ~0 y# |! |" Ia very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 8 e( P* n% i3 j( V7 L! j! J, v9 l* _possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort * J& D: V, g" Nshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ! r5 D+ R/ ]3 T% D/ obetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 7 f6 r! p3 p) k w9 J5 clobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ l! C- S+ ~/ A2 ~1 V* Qwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 6 Q$ v; |& i) e# R* | People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but/ {- i* u, T/ }! D, q# f
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not & R S) l. y+ @7 t$ e+ ~# v* \exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ! N5 F) T/ P/ v- vflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through # ?9 t$ _& W! f$ |1 T, Z3 ka roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 8 M* H' w$ l7 W) R6 Y# i 0 y' \0 N# s' D5 w GThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, c2 P& i s: G: ]# Nlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool + ^! I5 i+ j* p0 s(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' Y9 Q- h" h" C1 v% Z0 Q) _
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the. J+ O' g$ r: a( w8 ?8 F
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from * d2 r5 s, M+ g/ A+ ]# L49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes " u9 |' e/ S0 KCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 r" z* d8 k; M! v: y$ @fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.( ?7 V L" D8 h* E. B: a
8 \' w. ?6 [1 D( i: {The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 7 x4 }1 z. |0 Q) o- _5 Kjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made8 I7 i8 C1 U# f
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba + {& h/ j9 g9 l, x0 g' f1 Ntourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 j9 X i |1 T4 H, o- ?a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China/ _5 p8 r' D* S# f$ [ Z& }& C, k8 x
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 . y! C0 P( o& T6 X3 Y: e! Nstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went! J0 N$ v2 |6 I2 N+ ]' F" f0 D& a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- D& d2 i. ]' L+ k( k, |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 T* t9 @6 ^, Q6 k9 C" l, Q
answers to our pointed questions. ! M% ^9 x" l, i3 D+ u# q7 h, c : L+ a: x; b4 ^: E# W9 HThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,+ q# m$ c, b$ s+ O( G) b/ m
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 9 a7 i+ y# _4 [, ?out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 @( C$ Z" \" F1 [
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 6 Z$ J" E1 g, }6 t+ uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 9 Y6 [$ c* b. C& Zmedical schools. " E- W! l! K# m$ v/ P! \/ e4 Y3 R# b+ ]# O1 u; I
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 6 ?( [" ~2 Y* l2 i; _6 @$ {8 Cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% p7 X5 D7 f3 K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) e& p% z+ c& q& p! y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: `$ i9 @0 O. A: y! l" I
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% T; q7 ?2 }3 M3 U* Q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! z' m" k4 a4 G
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" Q, V6 }. ^) |+ z! R) @# K
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 {9 [" z0 }( T k, O: ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some + B. q" I& G6 z; Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. / m3 X% x2 {- E$ q ! L4 a: I z& S, p1 ]The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no % o/ u# e, c' w0 o# jprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, F( t# w# g% |7 y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; j# P4 Q9 V Z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 5 K$ |0 v/ }# c% Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 } P+ ?/ z1 q. E$ m O' i
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 E T4 J* N6 F4 `* L# a; m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! Y: e6 ~8 p& z# |+ O4 P
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ ?5 B. s, m, h; F, [) P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only , ~. ~; d n/ }charge the fee defined by the state. ) _) v( A$ D4 _: `; G, X& O7 m
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 i- l2 d+ Y* e: X4 d4 `on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type % Q- w* k" {, L, b, ]/ ^, Eof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 Y+ U/ {5 T# Y% e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel % w0 y4 l( l+ J- G4 {1 H$ N b5 Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. o9 `2 {5 R/ x( b3 F- }" F
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on $ P, k2 Y- s$ |/ D1 c0 {0 X5 X! Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 n" s' I" L7 |1 i b; t
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% l4 }4 ? z4 A6 \$ x% }% \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch - J* Q" Z7 t+ ?# j/ thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ ~9 l6 S5 {" z0 M; _$ ~! ^. g* x* I$ A
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want . k8 W& a% \' z4 {/ x! @! Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ( E: ~ f) j$ cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there , t C: S9 @7 i) F" R; A3 Eare spaces. - v) W2 c& T. @' C& k& c3 U- x/ l6 j, x/ T2 L: H
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 g- Z: U' B$ e. @
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they * ^* R w+ s# Z0 |) i2 W* aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& I4 T1 g+ u, I2 h) v
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different : u" J! P8 d5 ~ a% ^parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 W6 Y4 o0 M& q* [. J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 2 y3 k- @4 s$ Znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" G6 O* D; P" \
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- j# R0 Y. L& l
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! ?( C$ E4 z G) K7 P7 t
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 3 \& f2 l. ? I: ^spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all1 i* [3 H( ^6 n: Q" E7 Z3 F! h
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very $ C; K. Y8 C6 {/ [+ W) H: Olimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep; U& k. i4 B8 Y3 _7 E8 E& w
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- G2 Z/ X1 P5 X$ _- o" p
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 1 p1 {0 J7 o! ~* r8 @6 |! Sthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 9 h' e9 D3 B8 F" e- w' P, I/ Mhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the Y/ k" }* L& N& U, Z4 Q/ W
tourist area. ) W; [0 t9 w& ~, H( _8 w4 \- K3 a * H1 Q6 i9 S; j5 x) }8 q0 S+ ROne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's * }) r9 v) Z2 a6 l8 A: K; B" Opictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). / X+ O, t& z7 [& d5 U" xCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 0 ` _, [5 |1 W! m0 R5 G) Zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps . } M# \( i( T; q% _
less leader-religious.% d8 ~: f$ I: C4 |( ?% P
* G n% r8 q! R3 H7 |( {
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba: ~: [' Q* T1 W- O+ B# w
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big& `6 E* a6 k0 |7 e( z: ]
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US % b- b' f0 \7 K g$ m gembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).5 O* K! p5 C- h
! c1 T) `2 B9 \" I, Q
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ) E. u( \. F# i0 T0 t6 e1 Vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not * w$ V: v$ `* a n0 Pthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 4 V L7 i! g" P1 n- ^( @convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for' Y+ T# v1 n# l4 G
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars; E1 y2 c u6 c/ V# g
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we$ L. d& V8 |7 h" U5 E
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the, @; ^+ P1 ?# `5 J( S
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 3 X% a/ Z- c$ A {# DAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 4 v- m% t! `- d9 u! U. b2 ]or visitors.5 X; @/ j- B& ~2 I! s3 z" Q
( E2 b+ X2 l" I) `
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
