We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& K0 I: C1 S+ s0 B! d* Y! ]8 z9 |
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we, Q: z1 T1 }1 [* {$ R* Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.& X8 \( A5 M! `9 v8 A
$ f1 M: p5 n5 @/ Q# lIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 2 C+ Z) U, \: S# R3 d* P3 k30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in6 }! T2 n% g e* P! \. n, h
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as3 K4 m9 m0 r* O! t3 V% B
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort* Y/ l' z& M1 D7 d
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep0 `! w. D$ G/ M$ d
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the) Z7 l( t I" T! \) \5 _' J
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, / v. _! f ?3 ^. h" Z$ R1 w: ~9 wwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.0 G9 ]& I( ~! t( S' s/ Y; G
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but* L" f) P+ a' I) m/ k' O4 G4 `
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 3 p* i# T! `) e7 f, f6 N6 gexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our& I& A. P) M. ?1 g* d1 M
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ; j7 y8 j+ d& y+ v1 Q: La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ! M6 P- }, A% a/ J+ c( I 2 {: ~! S+ v$ \; E7 V. d( f$ |9 V4 ^The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 6 d$ c: k1 h0 E) zlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool + h, s" w9 [8 q3 j3 o" A(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top3 q2 X! p+ i; l) u( Z4 @ K0 i' y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the; g4 \9 u0 W( D4 j- J$ ?
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from1 B O b/ x+ U" ^( o
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes3 O6 J# a0 y& M3 v9 J0 U
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 1 u: b6 M7 ~* Z- |/ ffingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 0 U- T0 A- r4 H, E. _7 J$ B. W* y8 h% ?9 J+ P$ y# R! u% w. f
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 b$ K! y" F/ Q3 I$ I
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made, o8 Z/ M0 Z& a
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba: J: g2 Z4 p8 U* L" \+ r
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having % y( \0 f) D. X4 ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China5 X. A: ~" c/ l! K& P0 Y( c
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 2 C% q7 i/ h# n/ }) j8 S8 P# vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* A4 V A/ p7 i0 B
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ' m" s. c+ X& I1 R"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 8 J* T5 f" W% Eanswers to our pointed questions.6 ~/ Y6 \. C: n; t
F {. C. _% l8 j! N, \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, : X$ v6 k. T- J5 W. z% }, _45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 9 M7 e5 z; j/ s/ }& y0 ]$ e1 m$ \out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 1 n+ z) Q' m R2 i" S) ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! V* k/ K" r; p; g: [, O' ^
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 6 y% i, o3 U( ^' r- A! z+ hmedical schools.7 `( p1 J. v, Y
: M9 g. _' o. q$ d4 C" B0 A& \
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the " C. R N: o2 J; E3 `government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ( c X% y. g; Qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- t/ |. W5 y/ R, O' D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba + }1 v9 K* L9 w: [; s0 N# Vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* s1 u- |& w. c, t
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There1 D! M* B7 P1 l7 w
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ( Z" L6 d9 b& _, pmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 6 J& A4 J0 H" R+ i2 b. U0 sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some: U( i0 u% ?! A3 v! O2 B
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.3 ]$ d9 c; k: l. @5 K% \
3 ]5 _2 M5 t1 p( j& h
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& _' @) }, n4 I
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and " ~* b$ M" t9 }+ Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people + {1 J$ ], x9 X6 Whave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 h, t5 O" \( q1 d7 B* j
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby w8 u+ J7 Z, r; T4 i1 wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high% x1 c: C5 P2 Q/ D2 d Y& ~3 h0 o9 g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.0 F9 g4 O2 Z7 S9 S& `5 K8 F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , {, B# p" {% G' I7 p6 La lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ( _0 K, \# h) C% M, A: {8 Dcharge the fee defined by the state. 6 M+ B% ^/ ~& I1 w7 B ) N& [; c9 F" K0 S6 S d7 V9 C* C0 D1 zThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get : A5 U& |" W4 p( R# g" T; i5 E% Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 O7 F8 G/ Z) ?
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big " @; g% g* o9 F" X7 xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 0 d% U) s& I' {! ~2 S2 S# Q- hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 0 _' @3 V# Y; [8 c3 J0 D/ E! ]" q( Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' Z9 i9 d" L# s
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if / Z- X- j; X5 Z6 V* Hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 7 S# U1 A* x% M5 B! y7 x0 c4 z. Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch / r8 e! [' z$ ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ! |% X) x* {: opeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 c5 P5 j, o1 m' O& D2 X7 f9 B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! q# ^0 X6 A0 t) Y6 c* [0 a
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 5 g1 o3 p# x9 j S* w% H7 A: `are spaces.- Y1 u3 i4 Q, I4 u
0 B# e2 A% m# S- _5 S* [. hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( J+ p6 R- b( I) W" S9 u' ^% V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 6 J/ B; }3 m/ x$ C6 G3 bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the & P" _! n7 X/ p40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 f- r' C$ l6 H) T8 m, y r; w2 e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ( h9 v* r4 E8 X" b: K7 Q7 Pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 v$ n" i; \- I& j: y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 z% t8 ]8 H$ S+ h
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 X) h* r* k' q5 I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 1 ?/ @' a# _4 O. H& K 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! Z, a u( _4 k
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all& j' `: `8 k4 X5 U' g7 |3 L/ W- B7 x$ V% [
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very* Z( X" `. I w* D D5 R9 _4 F
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) ]& F, V- E; Z' ^5 H# D
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day - [8 V1 b% }+ osupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of " j* X9 Q& f7 C9 ~. A' ~/ W, jthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms , Z6 z& ?5 h" _9 Ahave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 ~- w* l+ |8 I2 stourist area. 9 o/ b3 [* x! Z 3 p7 a- S, r0 P( S. uOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's , D. k7 a7 `1 j; A7 w+ |pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ! v2 w K! T: VCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 8 u; M* N; Z, [$ `3 E8 k1 Q5 B. I1 J+ feverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps - W, {, s! S6 T# j ]/ oless leader-religious.8 s" i6 }6 m2 c1 _' A* {- v% b9 w Q
9 V% Y. p. V" ]# b( ^- P# B- H* l. F3 w
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba % A+ q/ ~9 {) j: u. Wgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big& R, i( u9 `# O( U
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US % _" W2 e& k9 n2 _4 d* X2 o4 ~7 [$ Gembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). : A% @* p( m9 X C6 K- @) b 1 X8 z% n8 R/ B6 W: A* ?# v) FWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ' U9 J1 }$ B" M5 E: p; W5 w7 Oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ' y/ I2 o6 k' N; Bthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $16 J+ J. k" i# X/ |8 f* X1 Y! |
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ( k V4 s' L3 S% Y/ }8 @( vforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars' [% w1 Y5 ~; p6 ?
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 6 J3 i" t+ [' ^9 k% [2 b" Q* ]probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 9 V K s0 Y0 R/ q0 H; o+ preal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.% e, ?, M o/ m+ ` y& M
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local, ~8 z% {& l/ ?8 v) |8 K: r
or visitors.0 I: Z5 F1 W% l
4 Q$ M9 L* _# s6 f& b! Z. {" j-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
