We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very $ P8 g4 w# i% ^, m% T, |interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we |+ ^; c+ X0 K+ O E
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; i1 ^) \( F' T+ H3 v
" E1 H( n+ P/ Y: ^4 E" C! p5 U" {4 yIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, z. @& ~7 `, B6 [- \. x30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in* M5 P; t0 d1 Q2 b
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ! j2 G) ^4 |) c/ k" _possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort : X3 V" k" H% D* w8 ^8 |show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep' W. M2 D+ z5 C3 ]4 O- \. F# a+ u
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the2 y$ u8 W2 n' `! c9 w- j
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ) F+ ?6 }2 p/ Pwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / ~ H4 C+ B* ]0 L. L People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# N" R& b. H/ Z0 X
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not - n& w; G0 H) l. p: lexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our9 s! k3 j! |8 k9 f6 L1 ~5 }/ d: I
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 5 x3 v% R1 e8 \* z# s i4 i. ja roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 H! S8 h) u/ w( I Y5 f4 Z# I4 @. y
8 o. m9 e' M" |3 lThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, `4 M, A8 v9 u2 q' klow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool; m0 S% e6 S8 a, A0 \( r9 ?
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ p1 K* u; G6 I8 r/ a! b
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the + }$ V J0 {: [3 |stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from& X8 D3 n5 q7 _3 O4 S& O: l: F
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes) X7 W; i. N* C6 ^% r
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with {' N1 f. {4 P( m
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 9 p+ Q; l9 ]& N7 A" m! W. ~3 }# E! Z
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are& W* [- w3 @% v/ K9 \
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 7 V% }: F1 q) ?for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba6 q8 h5 v, @! e6 r. J
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having , T; y3 a5 k6 U( D8 V. \9 Da staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China , I6 }8 T% e$ P% M, ~) Ldaily 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 1 V; f2 n; p* P: v. Vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; @8 N$ v8 y( x7 y% n) f0 N
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,5 D# f ~3 X6 P8 p
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give # k4 R. ?3 v* d8 B# Sanswers to our pointed questions. + r1 s- i$ `" a' w# R$ v! `* u+ |( l6 Y/ W
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, " ~6 w3 Z' }0 M# L45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; u$ k# o) E4 Y/ _7 X6 u! S$ P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is U# q8 |; C. m$ g0 D8 w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, u' Q6 v3 f$ M
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / R& [, ]/ w* N8 Dmedical schools.* C/ F" \* H5 H3 j) _4 ?
' L; G& k9 d+ t/ [/ m9 U
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the * t1 L( Q1 O P: ~" H3 S5 ~ Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 v7 R' { F9 \, I; t& C- x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years" T- \0 Z7 k; ~4 k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 H4 C+ v; f1 B1 M& Pis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) I2 L i; E) ?4 _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. K/ ~0 o: I+ P0 N( q" C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* @+ {% E U, U4 c$ Y
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ; d \# T: v3 B- F' w9 M* y7 `shortage which the government is addressing by converting some % k) t" x4 L E# osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( \8 b6 K+ n5 |* T) P, H2 {( d
4 |2 a, R: s4 @5 l% ]" \- m
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 6 j$ V* _! U5 m8 U% ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. ~6 c) P% X( R: [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 _0 O, a# O; z4 I3 u# _have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ' n$ f! ~8 l' v2 p' L# n1 m% s3 |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ( }* Y: @+ X% p: i9 ]( M* X9 @3 Psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high + E2 s& q5 N7 _ A# g: d4 Fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 t2 b+ Y% n" l, ?) v+ C+ QDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 3 A4 A% D9 t( y, M0 R/ ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only - W) T- v4 s. scharge the fee defined by the state. - x' ~& a8 N Z7 F" S * Y+ }5 S1 |- M! l4 J! {/ z" X5 q1 XThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. F& b. y: o1 w& M
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" ] X$ s8 ~/ b0 c
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big% \9 ?; a4 N8 I: N' S
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel# G" V! ?, r/ [) f1 ^+ Q" a
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the % J4 g0 |: } K6 L! W& s+ H8 vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% ~* ]: B# [9 k+ c
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if/ C3 }' w. y i+ y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people - f$ L- u3 ?1 R5 a3 H4 |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 0 D& u! m/ W" \$ D. e$ ~9 g4 Ehiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 H) H* o: j) C# `, r* J5 p4 q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want + J" }! j! ~2 E% J# h7 rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 S+ c1 k4 a- p) W9 K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 _+ w. P! I( V! b' B9 f+ M
are spaces. ( K) g, w8 S1 J( Y: s; R Q: l2 P6 R5 l. W; I! S
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi , k7 |2 _- x7 v4 B4 n" Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ! h! T8 {' Y! _8 l, U! b+ Wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 A. R: R G5 Y' J9 W! w1 n, m
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 0 ]0 a' g) F* oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the : p# _) @! f$ L, z5 F) T7 q2 tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 4 j. B3 {/ E1 R$ u0 U9 \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ( f, ^# C9 y9 E0 Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ ]- T% Y6 `, C2 }' V8 N
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. & n. p: ]4 t$ ?% P+ M& 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 6 ^0 `' R# I( u" |' x5 |spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all/ t/ L3 t& t) j1 ~ x8 P
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very# ^; R' r6 T7 M
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 2 l- A0 c+ l& H$ m" Crecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day F4 r5 H3 u `& v' u; Ssupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of # L5 |/ Y4 \# n5 ?0 Z, F4 @them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms $ D' H8 y, ?2 k/ \9 A, Q, Fhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the0 f8 u2 {; G& q% V0 J' P1 ]9 q
tourist area.4 p; e- U6 @* \6 x
' p1 J5 Y6 l! w7 [One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 9 g1 i7 o( M# T- x- ~, x& E& ipictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). % f! Z! O8 q7 q9 j8 O& hCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 8 j" o3 Z/ A& K6 T. J6 B& c, Teverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + u5 b) f( v2 R( P) d3 Q! x% n* \+ j1 kless leader-religious. % M: b7 ^- X4 |$ B# N$ ^ % K1 X2 O1 \9 I n6 U- c! K sAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba $ r; Z+ P- m) U5 j2 ^: e8 o6 g+ Vgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big - _/ h2 g# X7 W$ E4 ^black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US : b, N4 ?8 R% t) Y5 C4 Uembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* @& |* t; y4 {' ?2 \
: v9 t+ h3 ?' l F6 j
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the% w; W4 k5 X! L# K
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 5 g8 ^! {. \- G. u+ d" gthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ) A5 i7 K6 X+ e7 }' k! pconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 2 H4 v, X# l; p8 p4 M# tforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars , \( g7 E% T0 m. V5 E4 c4 {5 a5 e(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we- ~$ |5 i% U: ^
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ' e3 z. [" [$ V" N. \# ~real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 4 O8 o% k) B* l/ N: LAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local7 d1 r9 F+ E2 `& B# ?. m
or visitors. 2 K: K: A* v$ E/ V2 F8 |& ]- D1 w+ l5 g
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
