We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' V4 m( j5 ^7 ]1 i
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we5 i; Z" n' V' W* t) f2 b
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.6 T. {* Z- H: b6 h
( M2 i# g, d/ C2 AIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, $ q* R2 e s2 ~5 D' Z8 ^30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in) e6 W. O) l, g' y
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 1 p2 z. p* x4 ]& F( n6 {possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort% C% F5 u( M2 r6 V$ \
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep) X$ |$ n# g! @& _% K/ ~
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ( S8 }. x" }' `* S6 Y, c5 plobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,4 M6 `9 x$ N! K& P X9 E' P. x) U; C
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.+ ]- m+ I- `: W8 u& }* N
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. W4 Z) v: y7 o) c' U" ]* B+ _
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not + r/ X F/ l" B9 A7 lexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our$ v9 s/ Q9 n, a' t4 v
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) e* T4 X& ~* [; P5 F4 k
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.# G1 U' T- u" v* O6 C- f0 o
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,6 f q. @8 m% @; k- @/ D. i
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ' V5 a3 T% k( y4 i(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top& L3 S& p, p0 y/ \/ E7 s- y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the. B3 L5 M+ M. J$ M1 E* J
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ; P- }, U- a" w# V1 M49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 X# D5 U6 q5 P* ?3 @0 ~4 dCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with " ]5 V. [1 q& E" C. j: Ufingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. # p5 _( R% o- M* R; L0 i( f # n% Y# H6 b Q2 C) R i9 C! m& l. NThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are% g7 C& V/ S$ d& _; R7 X3 U, V/ W
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made$ u- v( t' c2 o$ B8 `
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba0 F& o! d) I# W \1 e
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having( Z8 Z* v. ? v8 E5 A t
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China , z* j( n5 v6 t4 g$ Y% o3 i; Bdaily 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% z4 y# Y: Z7 n; K0 F5 C
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ' v6 e; Z7 g; x8 ~' j7 A& D/ Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 @- [, b; \5 ]% C1 R. q$ G) A# K
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 c w( x& k. A( T6 X# I
answers to our pointed questions. 4 E0 W" H! }8 E 5 \/ z6 e6 p3 n! m7 EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: X! m( j: H) ~/ l9 u
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ( |* M; z# G7 k( qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 9 K. ~5 |) }6 J! Nfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams - ~$ x+ I. d$ ~8 E8 E( Xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 6 t2 l0 ]3 y( b6 z0 umedical schools.; r' X5 j7 `' j& ~2 R
: N, [; F% Y! qEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ! m( _2 t1 k6 j4 _" l# _$ }$ D) K0 Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ! U5 I9 I0 g* Y2 s0 d1 e4 Oto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; ^; k, N0 A" { b1 H( {, E; z. m, _ Q
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" C" F- r" D, D. _7 z8 j# [
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to + d) }* d! V: V6 e+ R* J: \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% s# Z: R! A3 [. D2 W& K Y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 8 K+ ]; s1 f; U5 T. Q4 |5 Kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! F' F$ q$ v- O* d
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some $ B7 I- r( K' e: P' ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 2 J. O/ d/ b2 g0 U- \2 C3 w0 L/ g X$ I# I4 L! n/ r: j2 EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 3 a0 H* q' j+ ^2 `0 q+ lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 `4 Y1 D2 n1 U0 V
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ z: ]" o" Q4 G7 Q' ~% p. ~- ~) O& @
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good * {% W0 ~! B V, Z; ]3 othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ; x& u- V. q2 N" ~6 V) ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high , [* K+ ~% G0 b( Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ) O y! K- \ R7 h" JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: V5 `' n( W1 I9 r7 C
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 1 W# W1 G; l9 O4 C! b. d& e+ ~4 gcharge the fee defined by the state. 1 m" }7 [" _/ l2 s( x3 W+ P% d. i5 m * `% N$ R! o1 t& T/ m6 OThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / @+ u. H) h F9 {0 b1 Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type - Z- L4 k4 O9 K. Q7 ?; v: \of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big [% P: j0 O+ `% O: o. o2 T9 @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel $ W2 S" d9 z7 K0 |. jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the + U5 @' `' q7 m) a" Pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on/ Q( c4 u& Z" f- d7 c F
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) K, M+ t' y; J. q4 W: p
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people Y% x" y9 R8 S% ^- Vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 b# X; V; B- n6 Y$ x( i H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) F5 k3 O- P8 ^4 [; S4 ], a2 F4 N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( ~; _8 F) C" M2 L# Z2 [, a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or : T7 P6 e7 f$ _# O3 ^! q! f3 Bbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) l0 [& w7 ? e; l e$ b
are spaces.' X) f1 D. y7 ~6 u* C( Q0 Z d
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 q, ~$ m6 A' H3 j3 }0 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% \7 r* O! t! @
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ _, h0 J% m) G/ {- L, @
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 0 N+ N: v5 l$ ~3 {8 w7 Iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the , D, g0 g: H+ A( W% q' lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; g! z( G* m$ j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 t! d [5 d2 `, J- x; X+ k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 2 `9 R0 ^3 q" q. l8 M5 Wis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. T& M2 O n# V# p, }/ _
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% p# o3 r1 d' D; o* t$ B- U% @
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all3 A3 C* q" w1 [# s4 ]! X9 ]
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ' U* v7 p% M. n2 v$ Hlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep+ \+ a9 L( n% v0 J' M
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day/ \/ `& w& P: z- w9 D( W4 u7 d
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ g# i$ o2 K; I2 @+ ~3 Z
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ! s( }6 ]; N! K fhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the1 D$ Y) j7 I4 b6 t a
tourist area. n0 K& F* _9 t8 K+ n/ m7 ]
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; X2 T9 e1 ~; B3 P c4 @: Vpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).3 ^( B( n# i0 s: Q, A
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were2 B+ U! s' y3 Z2 G5 c
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & P2 a4 d6 v o# C: B2 J* fless leader-religious. 3 L8 H7 D/ x7 }' i& n2 R7 [ G- o; d p6 F- e& e' T
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba6 {: c3 Z" s2 d; m
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* [1 N0 G) ?" ^: O$ P
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US9 ?$ D; H- i! ]5 B/ g$ ]
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 4 c" Q( I8 d" K9 V+ t % D) b; j$ m: Z$ n: uWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the* |4 ]6 M3 T# J6 z
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not+ F- s7 w# H/ v9 [+ i& d1 g
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1; w7 v2 s/ W" H( {, v6 d1 w" F4 e
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for# ]3 c3 _( q2 J$ }' l/ ~) y
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars. O2 b1 ^4 P" a+ b& Y
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we * Z2 Z. @9 S, C/ F$ tprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the7 ]3 V, J+ K7 b! w# u
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. }$ c. y# E1 u- o1 I% K8 z X
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local( @5 d* }) N6 V" v
or visitors. l" C8 {2 ^* j( ]! F) D. Q0 Y) q
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
