We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very+ n0 }; {& l1 j$ n
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we; T2 g/ N; w+ E% ^4 `& y
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ( ^0 N% L: G" z3 ~% J6 @9 R2 f% ~4 ]; y( \: n/ @2 A* B2 T
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ' R) J7 T' G4 J) u3 x+ h* w30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in/ z3 G7 n: P) z6 N* D( ~
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as$ H' ]* C, `+ ^
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort+ _$ n# F6 r8 Q3 z- Y6 p9 ^ }7 l
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep' A' Z3 m2 n( G( J# A1 c/ }
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 3 i7 s3 f, p# w0 y& f7 t' Slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ) j- O* R y- w1 @* } Xwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.5 }% a" _' @) }
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but - u M& U& M8 Y1 [* \( U7 Knames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 f l) F- Q+ a2 e5 `! i2 h( jexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 7 H7 ?0 q# I1 M! H6 t. Bflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. _( G( E+ Z- p
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.% s3 V2 C' G3 H* `, {
7 h2 {) n/ g! t# o$ ]! @# S
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,' B- r4 z$ p6 i( A' Q$ v5 }* v
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool : }8 V" }/ k$ t$ N$ O5 x(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top : y g# ~" S" @+ Dof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . w: }. |) i4 U3 e3 J5 D/ zstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 8 p3 L! N0 ]2 y; Q4 U9 r# ^! ^49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 5 G5 G! v Z$ I9 E9 {; KCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with) G+ l* {# P- ~1 E, W, H5 v/ f. e
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.' a' C1 X6 r; V
4 H% `2 o- l' V3 y. I3 X! h
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are - ?& i8 ]0 t5 p. k, yjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made & t V2 M7 g+ P" w& U( s4 |for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ( C+ c! o3 Z$ K, u ftourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having " F# p5 W n1 d# \0 l, _, Ea staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China. y8 j# | E. L, D$ v
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) o& i1 v3 r! _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went , A) e, i7 g; |$ @2 i6 fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,8 q2 @2 s8 o* D6 A6 g% g( o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; a& R. E1 e. Y) a( @- p
answers to our pointed questions. # @" c$ B% |1 V2 y 9 f* Y1 N9 v* ?/ d" nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 7 N4 V/ _# ?2 y" C9 a3 w45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- J8 l! L2 H1 p: r4 U p
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 x7 R) S7 v# b* J2 N
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( O3 _6 o' o, l
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are , h4 l* A2 G+ `% Vmedical schools.! a6 i4 W' ]+ M A) U- F
$ L5 c7 h N& Y$ g& Y0 b6 UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( b& Q2 S, A; g, i' r# k5 A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants . H2 Q2 `9 x/ Ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 5 Y) J5 l! y; h3 r9 q( Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 1 m+ k( V9 M* e( M: p! cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 h( z( [. @+ p t7 bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 W+ |. k' {. p0 f) U* T1 `
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 4 y. @. O- l nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk9 ^! y0 |. `- D" u1 A' M! @! f
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some& h3 t) n7 ]9 H1 ~7 V" k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! \1 d( f* R7 W, q# L1 d" m) g
+ S/ `( J( I' P' g; {- } l
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# `1 X7 T+ V8 P1 h7 z8 p2 M9 P5 N
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ) G0 `* D% T- D+ c/ V p6 Nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 ^# O: w. b; ?* b F7 }: O; y/ jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 @) V. q, T* @; l. _& p3 ]
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ) h3 w r3 }7 f W: V9 Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- e' K, [2 m. q0 f1 @4 c
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 4 a0 N" M" T a7 n" F/ Q ODivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , S5 w: O$ e: P Z- ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ! q. V) {4 q7 i/ r4 Kcharge the fee defined by the state.* g9 W3 A+ u6 |9 K* u# ^3 a1 j
7 j) f0 E* ~3 A# a2 oThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ' S4 h J/ q+ qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type $ d1 u, |7 q( Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 3 Q4 l1 B. i7 m& h( Atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel * [' i _- i) m( Q* m- ~' w0 }seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 T* E$ K& Y# E. a5 T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 3 V/ E! L6 `( K4 @$ Lschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if , M- D2 z- j- w, @8 O! z. I8 cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people & r0 X9 t( S1 ptrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch : |/ b+ x0 ~' @3 Shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 1 o5 [+ K% s9 y, y8 f3 qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want4 h5 i% I: z8 B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ; L% E2 ~- C( p: d/ zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% t0 U4 k `$ d9 S3 e) |
are spaces.4 [! U ]* U! p* u/ i% c' ^
9 |3 i! p" B% s; c' XThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi : l2 G: ]( ` Rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ' ^* e1 h3 e& q: C, Q% c( Rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: k3 d9 V( J0 k4 `2 |2 W( y, u) t# I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ! U% ]) Y# N# j- E2 l6 kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 g- h: n8 |7 a3 _3 t
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few : u, ]( e( y3 K* F4 ?, J( bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of $ g: e2 G3 Y+ }4 q7 Dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it - n( G$ n1 p0 X tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 0 V& F: E, C# Y f 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% }: b3 F) g! j. G. P- r
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all Y; Z1 G$ {/ l5 i0 s- p6 o/ ~the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very- k- a2 W3 j% Y: X3 O; d7 p/ a
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep, v2 S: A4 B) q' V! U0 M( I! q
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day7 t3 L2 \6 k* h7 K! Y
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ; r/ ^* A! A+ R2 S5 E) e" Ithem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms & _5 c# w l# r1 ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 5 q0 V8 r3 p8 Q& I. l! jtourist area.$ P5 t. x& Q$ j( T. f$ b. M- |
F: p; X) D9 O- }. p6 O& [One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 z( v- r( _+ K+ z5 E5 T/ Z
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 N! o1 I) a+ w, c
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 9 n& t- X$ h8 U; G# f1 Keverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps - C8 d& [# M6 |5 R: ?* ~: f
less leader-religious.- A O1 `6 e3 L0 N6 l( a7 C
: q" V9 }" z3 f# L7 mAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ! X2 k9 s1 g1 z2 hgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 2 N0 }+ U1 p6 t: F8 |black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ; e+ g! b7 u) Z' c* `embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 7 e8 X* l8 Q* m% h9 e% j$ X - v4 u' e/ O6 a$ P9 W' i* CWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the / ^- h2 U5 E; B+ nparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not! O7 j0 N1 _5 m) \- `' }( C) n
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 4 c! [) }5 _! z3 xconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for2 L2 ^8 c! b! g& d& u1 `9 P6 O$ v8 [2 U
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars # S9 X) @( C( Y. a. I(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 p, t. e8 }' P( f1 ]4 Q
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 9 P, Y) e& t6 |real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 8 h5 v; J' ]. {9 r+ l4 ?2 \And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 3 U+ `3 U5 |8 ~' l7 d `5 _# for visitors.- s+ H+ G7 A. |% B" [7 ?
$ H/ n6 K& `/ O* Y; Z8 I& t1 W+ ]4 [
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 4 A' ~, ?" W; d, t) C0 g0 e
