We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very , s( W7 v' w- Q \interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we" f% [4 _/ M6 r
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.3 D, s0 H) l2 E- i9 I
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,# ?$ y9 @! O# N. `/ |" P5 s# G
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 0 x) l0 R. L; G2 H# d: W+ A I9 c: fa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ( h) y0 @; W2 R, Z2 g: spossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort! j" f. S/ v! ?% ?. | b
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep7 e6 ~, E( m- C5 e. W5 C! B' ~: @
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the + B1 H. L) b7 H# hlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 8 ?- D% p6 M2 U8 c3 k( w0 mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 c% U J" H ?8 [5 | People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. U) ?( M2 n1 j, v
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not. v! }7 D) J# C# W0 d/ D3 A
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our & d3 j! ^6 ?/ Qflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through+ s, u1 `8 v/ Z5 ]. `5 W
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 8 n! @. D2 ~, b5 d4 O* x; c+ p/ l5 w& T' j
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, - H1 F6 Z% R$ h: A3 x( Y9 p5 dlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool - ?. t3 E' U! k$ X(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top * U& j% b" ]' d$ h- jof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 4 o D( p) S+ u# {9 jstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from8 @/ ^/ s' c0 K% ^& t ~
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes. T' d8 W# H' a8 W2 X1 m* R
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with( @5 b* ~& Q5 Y. t, l
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! `; v5 @/ V" \- t
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are0 y! w* K8 D, f+ c
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ( h. x y7 h* ~% X' X$ I) Qfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba5 y$ i$ I' |+ Y5 h' N
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having1 s" E, g2 U% G+ x3 U, d
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ D! f, I: P2 N2 [. z+ R
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, living3 s, m% U4 l+ {* V. p0 g
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) T! W0 W- U+ _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, - j% e3 o& \( x# u) P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ; l( g- |4 W! J/ S* L9 banswers to our pointed questions.) d3 m6 a1 J9 t* D: g
0 r4 d+ V2 c. @The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 K/ z7 _3 |- h8 l; P
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ! Y' D0 ?3 Z/ o; lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is0 d g8 w& T0 A3 W9 x
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams - m. R4 U3 b3 D4 E4 Y1 bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are " d0 I$ ]* ~/ {4 e& Lmedical schools. |4 r/ w, i% j O6 T- N2 |3 A- {: u4 L3 N f/ ^' W) v' ^0 D- g( H
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 o8 ^; r) m5 R$ g' A( m; n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants % t9 x+ m( C! l$ kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years $ p$ ~0 y" g7 l2 ]0 t- Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 0 l5 ?, V s2 y" Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 x( f# `8 ?( g" {2 W
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ; C& B/ M% h- i: Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and $ C# C+ K+ E+ Q/ F5 F" K' {mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 k0 _; K6 {+ W' H8 g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 E1 [; W+ A* b5 e$ r, j$ [9 s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ |0 a, P* C7 x2 [4 j
, q$ r" j9 `: @& m( \3 n4 O+ v. @
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' R# b3 l2 _& r3 c! g. O* ?
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 b: S: Q4 R3 @1 s! i+ {
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' z! D2 W, O8 l" ?
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 p7 g; U6 d' L- O5 Y0 V7 R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby $ N/ Y( b1 U! ?( q4 dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high / [5 j8 W5 ~ K, ?% `2 adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 1 I1 K- p) n9 jDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 }+ W: g( X# Y$ j. Q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 M. z8 x$ j" J) L5 K5 b8 S! N% }. T
charge the fee defined by the state. & t) T. R9 e5 l( _, h2 Z5 ~+ G& @3 p; z, Z
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 4 Q* y1 a# j7 ^" j# ~* qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ ^2 i/ | ~: s/ z5 t8 p
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big " {& D) c9 c( d: U# ~truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ) z/ \+ z: Y0 X9 lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ! o' J$ F. P* u/ D" {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 A a9 D- e1 p5 }* O1 uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- u# R: A+ z! ^9 }
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% R7 Y' d7 T0 N* A( h
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 ]3 `% L/ {0 Y$ ]+ e: \/ m& G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 ], f. W% l4 e6 G# k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ( T5 i8 w3 ~ E# J) b% k: nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or $ o' ^7 K4 W6 A( w: ]buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ! \& s# ?) Q( ]: D1 }, ]" z: gare spaces.2 `) X) @7 G5 B$ q; y
- y, i/ g0 z; C, ~5 `/ _0 ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . ~( I2 W4 V+ ^+ Dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 5 ~; h/ T' o8 \# g @# f4 Rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 2 d$ B5 ?" I, e" S2 P; z40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 M# H. e. h3 E4 Gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ! h( _/ v2 l T7 U$ ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 b, G$ g" b* y( D( U, N
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 2 H/ R9 c/ e8 _# ?$ ^# V% J6 dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 3 T9 c8 f% x" q/ q4 M8 Xis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! X. }% o" T% n" |
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 7 p! C; N3 L5 X2 g! xspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 W, D, V8 k1 ]# [, f, W- H1 e6 x
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very# j9 _- d- r- a4 e, i4 s0 {* I( H1 U
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep + z6 @2 Z* L5 `( [recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % d$ Q1 x1 z% v& ^; { Q$ i* x/ fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of , N# Z% |, J# `4 ]7 bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms : E6 A: i. z& | }# ]$ |/ ~have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the( o6 u9 F: |" q3 }0 m! ^
tourist area. # T, T2 m+ \7 q" K2 [. v- H; z # j7 N6 v7 b0 A$ TOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 6 O: R1 f* y6 b& @" _5 ?/ O5 Xpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). " i7 A- A/ |4 k2 V2 \Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 6 Y/ ]+ |* D& z! B$ o/ geverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " A# b. w* T' V* y& ~' Dless leader-religious.4 R& Y$ F/ U# k1 i: e- N! Y- f
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 6 i3 F/ J i: [3 u8 U; ]/ fgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 3 M$ L8 ^. I5 K* n- J$ j* V/ mblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ' p. t$ U- |9 D$ e. a# @embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). & o$ i4 y8 L- M8 ^( F: j7 R4 o5 [# a' k2 B7 m
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the0 p$ y1 Q* _: g6 S3 z
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not+ Z( T2 ]) o2 |( E
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1& j, `9 I% ~% F9 y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for . Q- p m7 k) L) i9 Y6 ?9 Rforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars& X% B) j6 ]; ?1 y; N
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 2 P! \) ]* K4 k$ a- D, `2 k0 v3 r7 m7 p5 vprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the, i1 b1 [& ]1 G8 w( d2 A. F
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 5 [ Y0 }0 p' v' K/ e! V5 l* t+ XAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 8 k$ e& Q- x, q7 lor visitors. ' K% P+ V7 ?% }8 T& i% { y0 K4 z" l2 z- e" c) w-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
