We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very + r) M l+ n$ Winteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we0 H! s/ D( `6 |* b, G
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.2 q# \7 M: z6 b: E7 o0 b
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 7 ? J& f2 _: M& ^1 p30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 7 @# s8 ^3 r% T* w: la very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as, n0 H5 f K! N
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort & Z& F5 R( w3 F: t( H& n$ L5 ~show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 }% L1 | e: c' K% W: T& f3 `: u
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the + J$ J2 c" D. D! ?lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ( l$ ]$ o; L1 @9 X, U8 w6 {with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 2 S8 o% O0 k7 C1 M People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but " O1 @5 y( ^! y, i% X' @) Qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not T4 K; s& O7 E ]! s9 [- {4 Texchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 7 h: F% s- c3 q! ~flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 4 o- S5 N# ]3 G9 _a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ! O- S- r% x9 M& j4 l/ ]. |3 p+ W; |' p d
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,: l6 ~& Q/ K2 d
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool j. y. B" G2 x0 m(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ a9 P8 S/ _9 d! p W6 O
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 4 Q$ `1 t* Q# M. \/ V3 s# E" U1 ^stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , t& S8 M1 ]% b5 \& _- c) c49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes2 B, m/ S0 X* K- v2 k
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with) A" m: ?2 h, Y! a; \, w
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada." u9 o* b2 @% c$ N
) M9 S2 m. ]" D I6 d mThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are + S, Y4 l" @/ x( M) P9 yjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! N0 y% K q7 V7 a2 W' {
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba - K# x g, e5 R2 X4 {; w' htourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having. k* f0 c) y( y
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China5 d* a1 s X, b4 S% C" F
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 * a8 R8 d) K! u8 ^5 G5 O4 Ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. ~/ q) @4 M' G4 C7 Y+ M1 X
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; i, F! v1 Z* ?+ @' M3 Q
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 Y) j" P1 Y2 W
answers to our pointed questions., K$ [/ _' p+ x. ]. c r
: w D8 T5 C9 bThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, X. ?5 n4 G) U. v$ Q& n+ C5 ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 5 m( E v. |/ d: Vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is % [* l- N$ f8 f1 f) Hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams # ]) ]9 b2 g" q4 m, D1 i9 Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! ^. m! H2 {0 t- z. H& W G
medical schools. 4 M1 M( n* d5 K6 t 9 k' Q: z5 Q( W2 IEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* Q/ |7 Q. V* F
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 A+ B @( G1 V" f1 x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years' a0 W+ A9 o, S+ y0 Y0 j% g* W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 }/ w3 w1 l- L1 dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to * e/ Z' T( ]) d) [6 i; L0 [8 zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 7 g7 `! S4 B9 @seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and9 X5 v" J# ^/ l- L q9 b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk % w/ |/ X. r) k9 @- W# Mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 E0 }/ y: }- p, C9 `
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 y' f: |( C( z2 c, h' L
/ E7 z$ v T! H3 M. {& T+ @The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ m- j( P4 r+ ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ u* r; C$ b: W6 }) y! ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( d/ l9 O5 Q8 R, d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ _: p. T9 _' _ _$ h' A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby c0 R ^! O9 i. ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 y! n4 c2 G& T6 s5 Y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." s0 B) n3 D5 k. K1 c
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ) o* l3 F$ F9 s7 n/ w( B, J- ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 n; p' M! L% N
charge the fee defined by the state.0 m+ X' M5 M6 k2 V; K- \7 ?0 `4 j
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 R: X$ o0 O* j0 d# n' C2 h8 \on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 h% o- \) x: O+ u& @: B
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! z/ _: z% L2 `$ [8 Q; f6 [, D1 s
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 Q8 p& C* d" l* Z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 7 T# P% V- \# H# ^- hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 H: c) b- P7 Yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- S, J+ e6 x. u4 S, r1 {, u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people - ~% y3 H8 ~$ L: |9 @trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! B6 K A) n, ?
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that # w- f3 Q6 X3 ]people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want . ]5 W; I/ D y/ Eto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or " A! g9 O, }0 b+ q9 L+ Ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 8 _7 c8 p& b8 E) g6 W) V% V7 zare spaces.2 S$ E6 |1 q- z, y: q7 Q0 Y
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi7 D6 A7 |3 o/ d* [6 X- K; V8 W& a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ?# p1 Z4 g. x) A" K9 d+ _* uown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. q, y9 c6 S( j5 o- p* ], j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 4 z( n& C I+ |$ i9 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- U7 n) g( J2 r) T2 w: l" C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few . u4 v: K4 T. Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ l0 ~; C" z! Y) o! H0 |
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- a) q& K3 B+ A0 ~7 a
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 2 S! B N( r8 y; h, 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( A/ k% e/ j/ P0 Espots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all0 c8 m4 ]- I1 a2 [: f w
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very z c$ g6 C7 w7 z9 J2 b7 X
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep8 k: O& W- e1 E- t2 K
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 6 |; Y7 K: @8 N' S! Tsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of , T, |2 B+ r# {' rthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 6 u- p& L, G$ X# lhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ) g e# y4 ?7 D# w& S5 H$ etourist area.3 R& P9 T; N J
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 2 T9 \! j! g# Q( d; \pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). l+ i+ R$ u9 G
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ' s0 t- G5 \1 {# geverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ( g* n! z- ` M0 |) h3 t
less leader-religious. : q5 `* S! H/ H- S : O, y7 Z7 [$ d8 ^# @: VAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ) [7 u8 n2 T: L# p5 W" hgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 0 I* x9 s; I) u7 t+ m) W! O& tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US5 z/ P/ J: S: A7 W' S) S0 [0 y
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).8 j3 H$ \( r* ]. `
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 3 ^. h7 s7 _7 i9 \* w& Z Vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not - |/ S, b( K; w* ythe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1- z9 j! g) y& R0 a( x
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for v3 g. W- I5 ]/ cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars7 G, a" Z Y4 Y5 O: v/ ^+ a3 v
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we [5 o% `* ]& T1 ~, Fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 1 c$ p* b& q. L4 h3 g9 @real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. $ Q, o8 J8 E! f1 z0 L1 n; FAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local % n: V: d. H/ g6 h* xor visitors. 5 ^2 o+ q3 e3 A1 i8 z6 U9 d3 a% ~" j" v2 K! t& K2 z0 j: R O7 m% M
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
