We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very/ c+ J- U* S% I) P. Y5 A
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we; T% d8 `9 X0 a9 R; @" C
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.+ T4 I/ j6 u( m, s
, ]* f0 [' H% n; K* C4 Q$ r! [It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 7 t! x" M w) a# H5 |! A& \30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 5 d' O7 g% Z \, i. Na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as- j! ]( P+ u* s& }/ E
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort w' K& u9 r" lshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep , f6 K' N4 w" I9 h4 rbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the- z5 d9 b2 w4 [/ m" X
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,8 l; E$ Q9 } L K$ S H, H% H: @+ c
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / N" E8 G8 |' m1 y) G* E/ H' I People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but {" N* ~8 t. s8 d7 Lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not $ F- Y# t+ I2 B$ x2 j( e8 H% xexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ' n4 p" U( e% M9 m' j; I% e& N& @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through+ ]* @: C4 f `9 Q3 n1 |
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ( U7 ?! u' f, l/ D6 [/ I6 D9 s5 w; N" c" c
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,6 x7 P6 \' g, B" `4 s
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool6 {$ _. r D: ?8 m& S, V4 S
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top4 T: \$ p1 \. ?' ?
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 4 U) w. n8 k" @- ]- }/ ystars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 4 j" z" Z" T6 G! ^5 g' h2 a7 j49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes0 m- t+ W' q& i3 q' ^: n
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with2 D: I. N' B$ x! _- @
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. & M$ e) W! {$ }6 M! K5 Y& F$ E ( G: W8 r8 b7 Q( ?! D/ U0 Q6 tThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are% s) L& p' U1 F1 A& q# N
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made % Y. u% c, C: mfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba * n M8 \: j. X4 s- I/ l% stourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & X' R& l+ n/ B- H, k$ N# r2 Ua staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China3 O2 T" Q$ ?; K$ t T
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 8 W7 I S' T4 X: Zstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, C3 C; j0 C$ A3 q4 `4 h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 l3 l- _1 U: i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 4 O! A+ i8 H K3 g: p! F2 Oanswers to our pointed questions. : q1 }" {( i8 B( K3 g$ w7 z' r _# P: Q
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 1 X/ ?! {( I0 Q& l! v; ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 2 Q& ]- }; K) y' Bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! I/ t6 n i5 x+ H _
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams + {$ M, m/ s: u- vto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are U M; b' {, D+ i: G' q, E
medical schools.- v. [/ U* B7 B$ _$ g
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the + E* p% g. H# s/ m1 r: f2 Rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) j+ a, i0 s" _6 K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* B# E- @! {) \) a5 O7 a
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba0 z8 G6 |! S$ v) r: F( L& h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 j6 L' u' Q) `( C6 y1 Q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( x ?0 |6 K, ]5 N& ~seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& u7 h5 L$ y' z( j/ |
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- L6 Z* C6 I* w |( \! T' l* v3 d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some % O5 G: B2 w0 p+ c3 q: ^sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. Y8 N: B0 Y6 `0 O
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no + D) M6 t6 u; s- p' ]7 j; Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 q' t! ?3 {1 k: s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: ], d _6 X0 L+ y. J" q
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 0 y3 K7 {4 e' t! q3 Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ r+ v* s% H5 }7 a: w: o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ! E# w# x# w' g3 Ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% N5 Q, H( X7 ~) M; l8 T4 I: e8 C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , o0 f! V/ y! z/ V7 q$ ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only q5 {( [, ~+ @charge the fee defined by the state. : Z; _% t5 M+ ], d1 v& W1 r8 Q* D1 `' O0 p p
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get + ~; l6 ]* h* a- p$ a. Hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ G% H& z9 q, ^4 X* h: ?8 g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ' c0 _7 o; [* m% l6 Rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 ]3 _4 q. u, O6 l
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the) H1 m# [8 P1 [0 v, [( S+ H# m
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on . n/ @ F5 _7 K: Yschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 I% I7 u+ G* M" ]$ Myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people " l6 f6 p: ]* C4 ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& ?3 w0 s# `5 R+ |
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that / p5 B* ?. u6 J! h" t# y7 U% vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& ^9 K0 f9 w& ~8 T& \" W8 r) Q u
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ( E) e$ W' f G, F. vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there$ g% O) R, F' O+ J+ J/ O- J7 u" ?
are spaces. / G9 _3 ^3 B% X1 u ]" ~; F7 U8 m# W. o, t# c: i% d/ q9 A
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 9 I( Y0 B1 n( Yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 5 i5 x9 C2 h* kown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. n3 d" S0 \2 h; J; M
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different E$ x# E8 W! X% F4 ]" ^) nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" w( L- \) r; Y" Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 F) v5 c7 O) ~. B& o' j6 i# M
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of % ]1 h% S5 p- fcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' Z; J# v( @3 ~1 e" P& W
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ' V; E0 T B1 G3 S/ T! D) L- d* z 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 ! D4 t- S7 p0 Y% h& ~3 d6 uspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all; l' J# R7 n1 m* F# l) ^2 J; r0 }
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 0 P* u1 T) c( }, W8 ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep % F! n; y1 H( V9 ~( Urecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day( k* t: a. `) o# g. y, z) G
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of0 V: n' W. R: e; W/ _
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 3 x- u3 T6 o1 o! O- q( h8 |6 ohave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the3 m0 Y5 l3 H# S. d2 p7 a
tourist area.& x5 A( {5 a' J4 w% z: f
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's0 v1 p* a0 i7 z( `2 T5 A5 X9 q( T
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).( C9 y; S# o, H% E9 @8 u
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were* F$ q0 `; w4 g6 u2 \
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 V: `0 J$ Q! ?( J5 p$ Yless leader-religious. 6 g d' w- q0 Z3 `* ]: b/ P( w7 w3 {$ `
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 7 j) F* A. b/ s8 Y b# ^government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big9 S( ]: Y1 Z( q6 s0 \
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US: ^' f/ b* O; W
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). # `/ J+ W( T: t+ G* j 1 u7 }' l* [- `; x) P0 u% bWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ( X( N5 w% K. h& n; ~* J i: ^parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not " `. |% a5 z: A4 X9 q( w* Bthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ; q: z9 Q) a6 Rconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for( E g/ l |3 z' W
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars + |5 Y% v; d4 R! R6 H/ h. S! \7 Y(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we8 V3 T1 c# f8 j! S8 |/ T' K; v' H
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 8 v# L! _3 w& W1 w) T* u6 }real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 0 f* o7 h/ K0 s: }& E' s0 `1 @And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local : a$ s! P( |) g$ Vor visitors. $ p) C" N% ~9 g. X0 m f' H: D ( b; u1 n7 r& a-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
