We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very! q3 j6 U8 G, ?3 z: X
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ' p) L8 ~5 z K" _. L) z6 kwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.* C$ F: n% n; A: Q9 g% p* O
3 ~# ^ Y8 X2 G. Y8 ~, Y8 xIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ( f& L5 E# J7 b# U4 {% ]30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in9 A$ s2 d0 @8 w& X
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as6 J7 R/ d* Q/ U0 s& w/ z
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort $ [, u9 F: i! ]% K; S" U5 v2 w9 Vshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep7 ^- z% t' C I3 `9 s5 d- L$ B
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the . U' \7 |% U( a, D' o) llobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ! I. ], c! F1 Z! @with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ' K2 I4 D) u- a& D& q* j2 z People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but: c% L( S! D$ `8 J0 j5 g/ [3 U
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not & \$ W. ~: k3 U( j4 ^exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our$ s2 l" F, U" l
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through# a& d3 y0 J" K5 z: n
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.: S9 R5 F) d1 a: f7 R
( p. w: D8 _" `8 kThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, , P5 v% p- U5 k& O: T" Alow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 8 b4 u8 x* y/ W' I4 ]( A; F2 f(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( T( Y1 g8 ]* uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the5 n) M, u, M8 ~9 l( `7 m+ s$ R% @. B
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from4 ^1 C6 }; R# B; i5 s# ~$ u' ?. C' r7 H
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes " t5 i" r7 N: JCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with4 f6 L& Z: A; S4 K" P
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada./ a& G9 h5 s# ~$ Z, b8 L K
( O8 B- @% f. K: d
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are . Q5 T# c: M$ D1 ~just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ' r5 u6 X" b1 r, x" lfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba2 T. K8 w+ I% e' n2 X" ?- F
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ' Y& B" ?% K) y/ ea staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China! F/ v5 Z. K: P# C# }$ A
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 $ v0 I) \. i. y3 S: G; }8 {standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 6 }- m3 |" A) U. p B% `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ( a( E+ E7 ~% e"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ) _1 m5 k5 s L: |: ~% wanswers to our pointed questions. ! D: _$ g6 r, c2 n8 N* v4 O* e- {
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, f- W, C1 c+ i j% M: T7 A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ O# x1 h- T- ]5 Y3 W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / w8 a7 ]! q' d& lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- ^3 O; x5 ]0 Z( C' z9 N# l' @# a8 d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( v1 r0 v5 V9 H x! K
medical schools. d! c- v0 w* K: F; S6 d/ D7 q$ f9 ?- I W
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the # Q9 F+ n/ `+ Y Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants : H" w0 p5 p; O' n( q( s% d. G$ ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) j2 H, F* O4 U }6 v0 T( @
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% O9 D" q& W! {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 p% a9 H+ h0 ?: T. S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 a$ j7 m, q, a) s4 S6 ?" X
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 o, o& k5 h& V: f' \" z- R
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk * d* k# g0 M- V; w! ~# Wshortage which the government is addressing by converting some: R% l1 p: @0 y9 N4 }% M, O" J
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! [( k3 t3 i- a# W8 G5 B
# E8 J: l8 J- s& _7 dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 9 {9 N. W7 y9 \7 K/ Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& J7 I3 M* u; [2 a$ u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 h1 m/ I/ ^) `% B! {5 J, _
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ; s; s. a- I% w2 ?! Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ! h/ M) r$ J8 G3 x4 {. d7 b. S: ?sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 u: f: h, X' M
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; x6 c# F, s; R& C+ G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) g2 x) u0 l6 E) H9 m7 E; M
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 5 z% L0 o( [2 |8 j3 e' K; ]charge the fee defined by the state.9 Y: C3 ]4 F, m- M% w+ V- l& R
' h1 z+ B/ \' |4 [ [$ G+ V& CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / H; `6 |6 F3 {7 @% A1 {on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 a4 A8 w& r* p- V4 w2 ~
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& n5 m1 F5 w1 P
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ( }3 m, U8 d( O1 v6 j. oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' o( N H0 m& ]# `+ B/ z5 d: M7 q' F
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 ~$ [7 }6 I0 G
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# t$ o; O9 X( @$ S
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people0 ~/ [2 X: _0 L4 O2 `4 l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ v! E' c# `! ?3 `4 F
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that " @+ m' }; K3 b ?4 H$ vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want . C* N+ F6 y+ }4 k. ?( Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or - M3 B/ P/ R0 ]! c9 v: e7 c( }: g4 Jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 h) D( y9 V+ U" r
are spaces.* N# I$ B) _! }. c+ D4 o! z7 @
) f# P6 l% b9 @8 R% CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 \* g7 S1 q/ K
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% G7 n: o9 d( D$ s* M7 b
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 D, K4 q B5 l& ?; V8 W( r! Z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 3 j" i a. Y8 R. N0 Aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ! p7 H! U0 c! p8 Z% obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few. @# R- I: |" R1 M0 d
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 6 J& O# h- x$ \* q( c) X3 `3 ~& a" o/ g5 ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ! z! l4 `4 \& Q5 f) zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 1 E, n- u- v; X! T, N! _ q5 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 - {4 X! k- c" d5 _spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 E& `4 }2 N# D: x
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ) v B9 j7 `0 @' S* c1 t; Blimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 5 \. j. f4 _# R% b0 y/ Mrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day - i) H& F& A, v9 { s0 H$ \supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 f+ q- Z3 ]; u% m6 d
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms8 Y; t/ E0 Z7 L1 `2 v
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the , a9 u9 E* b) {5 `' ^. Htourist area. 4 c' Y; V2 U! u4 ^$ q6 }' P* s; k - e# |: t$ i2 S) }+ mOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's0 d4 S& f& E* q+ B2 z
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)., t5 D K6 z5 r& L
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were / Q6 R1 Z; Z. \everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , B2 y, Q( ?" t% t- u0 @& e4 i& V9 ^
less leader-religious." R3 L, [0 r9 ?2 t6 s8 ~5 e& n
# ?* _" i7 K; E' }7 t: Y% OAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : v# N" j5 c: @6 U( @ H. C6 \( Xgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* Q( l/ o/ P, R) V! q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US . ~5 W# y6 v, }- d: L% E! @0 Cembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 2 b& I' q6 f4 F7 U/ X5 [* U" H* `# t4 y
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 2 d! v; r3 o3 G3 p4 Jparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not, A" b" ?8 ^7 Q
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 * z, n8 r- Y: H% gconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for " U3 w, w* e% {$ }foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars% {% k4 i8 ~; x3 t S8 h
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 3 \/ l' c9 X% ~" H: {/ F) Y9 x8 Wprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the / e! h$ f7 W0 v$ Treal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.; w3 w% S6 c6 u5 n; G9 w
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local / Y7 f# z. }* E& Nor visitors. / P$ ]" `% R7 }1 n4 \3 {& r - f+ O3 s0 k7 U8 ^-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
