We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ; E8 T1 N# A/ Q6 I8 T0 F5 A# minteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we - C. \' q# p0 [2 t6 v- N owanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 1 _# ^9 s4 @* r9 i: L * m r- ^ h! ?' h; g( @4 L$ L1 OIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, / N8 q* h5 U0 q30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in: _8 H* M ~) @: O# k" O& a6 ]
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as " f4 T2 s4 M$ p0 Q$ `. xpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort, K4 n) _9 N/ u) x0 Z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 5 U& e8 v$ ?0 q/ a) e7 mbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 L7 l! u. k" R8 P& I/ R! [
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 K$ b) ^$ e# F4 U$ T9 D3 ]with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 8 I& o* l; f" T% M People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but6 q7 f9 e2 g7 z1 v5 \
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not : u, N( r- w& [1 k) x8 Z( Hexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 o* b6 r" f2 z7 A/ N
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 ?, h: w/ K' O: M; `% v
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards., P1 D# J, v2 s5 X# P
5 A+ S: s: r4 { r2 c' P& y+ xThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 5 f/ Y: Q H3 Q- x& ]. C( G# ?low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 5 N8 @# l: r! A. W% x6 a* H(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top+ U! O$ a u6 X4 j2 i' @8 D
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 4 H- A& c* M9 o" H+ X6 Bstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 3 m* G8 x% G& b4 m! }49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ; s: H |. v* {; P( R4 kCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 0 q0 a/ F8 o( y8 n$ u0 o7 dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.2 l/ T) Y4 K9 \7 W; p6 \2 {; X
5 D) Z/ I. G5 Q+ v5 \0 ]! gThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 1 h- R( \/ t3 A5 cjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 2 A* H }- ^ d dfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba. f' g; J" y) ^" K3 z/ [
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having+ E- S$ k% d) O3 k
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China $ z* }3 Z9 v) D/ o1 ^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, living1 N3 K3 W# ?; P- p1 k
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ! K1 H- c2 h0 H% i$ Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% d! _. n+ F( R- K' T& [+ F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% N8 ~ `* m- p% R- B1 i8 I' E9 l
answers to our pointed questions. E4 d! [) B" P1 b4 @
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, % o) S2 t3 N" c/ L' [45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ; Q" N T0 e0 \+ }; I% Vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 |2 p' n/ A1 Q' j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams - U, d+ `- @" C6 U/ r! wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; h$ x8 M) z; U! L" s
medical schools. & b4 s7 A. d" f; V 1 p& J) E" P) g9 d7 L, wEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" j, [+ U/ L! f# J4 k- n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 K. t6 c8 v% R$ ?, `
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . q& I' \: ~7 D2 [' B) wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 [9 U' M- {& B l) E/ `is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 K9 r8 V2 ? Q: q* e/ b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There / ^( c7 m/ m* P% {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: }7 f% e4 x( \. C2 i
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk $ L3 `. _: i' ?, N ]. g- a+ dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some# o1 B; E1 S" _& t7 D! X. s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 9 W( R7 G( K3 g- j2 K1 Z ( y, J) b; ?- Y8 D- W) M4 }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! t0 { s, m8 u9 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and : i0 ~, o3 E/ B2 G! Q8 Nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) I/ h/ F7 w# C4 W9 D
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good % i/ o' K. ]! D0 Dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! x4 J- b( G7 H, b% z) y* u
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 ^7 J# z9 f) k" N( F& [% f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. : U) s7 l' U; c- n5 `4 P7 ~( eDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 O# h) U( ?' \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. ?& }4 U5 f O8 N# J* Y/ f( |
charge the fee defined by the state.; b6 _7 n' V. i, m( _. Z
1 i& M- r$ h; Y$ ^+ g/ L7 U1 m
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get + n7 P, v5 e! l U% gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ( ~+ P* F8 v& {, W7 [/ D/ bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 4 V8 c" U/ |. W& L' mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 1 V3 L4 ~& M3 V4 n) u9 w' xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& C }* o% ?# n" d% p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 5 M" M3 M2 b- Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* ?; ]' q9 z% ?7 U8 v5 E
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people - ~) v3 h2 U9 F; mtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ; P: A1 K: t1 Q* w; c8 |7 zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% q1 I4 n. a6 P" p) J4 `" o$ M0 c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want r7 B: N6 n1 ?8 b5 o* u, M
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 5 t% F3 L' _& |0 V8 J, Y F8 j/ o9 [buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there $ E: v7 m7 v! S( ?& q% z8 t! Pare spaces. ( t) P4 R/ q& y1 o) n# p) X& D$ {) E- H
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi% f2 U8 ?; _% z9 L8 [+ l4 w) m+ J* |
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) e% w6 X8 d5 I! Y) d/ x" G; {
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 1 }- U& D+ g' V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different# N& m1 v3 w: j/ `0 T: H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% e! f0 `! `: [" i# `4 Q* J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 1 s; P/ b Q! |, \ M0 knice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" {$ }6 s9 c% |+ y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it " \0 M' h/ S. x" Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. s6 J2 s: h, f0 C2 r4 ]' 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 beautiful7 c/ z! i, ~, F) j S6 o
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all7 n4 |# i# R2 N! A
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very+ e' D* k3 Y Q/ q1 s
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ( M f! d, M1 W/ k: f5 h* B' Srecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day" S; X3 Y. t' m$ M6 E
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of, ~: h; I6 `% n, t1 z3 S
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms6 I7 u, c) e* _. e+ W+ U, k' T
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 d" d" k. S$ }2 `% m' {$ ^tourist area.. H; S1 g% e4 b$ h6 v
2 x# x/ J8 R& `. s: [. D4 DOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's9 h7 K1 i+ P2 g( n* z H' e) o: u2 D
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 9 t: G3 q0 j7 _! ]6 `# tCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ! |8 x, P* N! B& q; Q# y+ Z* meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " ^- Q: q+ z+ `" p; X
less leader-religious.' D. f% G( |( @5 m
) J' {! N$ m8 w0 l, F/ D# n/ D
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba' D3 v! f/ m8 J- M& G1 k# [
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 5 B7 b. |# f: o) D9 {& {$ V8 tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 6 \$ Y# y9 v$ s' v4 M% xembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). w% t& U0 t; C4 @& i% A, h
z& i% `+ W6 t7 pWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the) c) R# T) a) n
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not! J4 Y F7 }2 Z# Z
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1, |: z+ C, I3 w2 V9 i
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for n! \8 I4 j; |. ~# G9 D9 ?foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars! |3 L" ~6 {0 X0 M
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we& E# v6 B$ l7 f' l/ v
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ) j/ J; A; ^" R) J5 z- O) ireal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 x* u6 Q' [2 N& _2 L. W' C
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local " `$ ?7 Q1 \+ m4 Jor visitors.: i5 X$ H' e4 | j2 h% ?
+ o m* {) `: }1 U-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
