We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very - J( i+ o2 C/ ]/ @4 ^interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( V* |9 W1 x# R3 t5 r2 U8 O* a; d$ Ewanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.! P6 z7 \' q" |( E5 I- H% N- J# ]
% q* `2 k ?) J6 E ]It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, + Q Q0 D9 a) H9 x# w30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in& m! V1 Q9 Q: ^8 _! F" z M7 J
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / d3 V8 I5 q, ]( j5 i6 Ppossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort * _) H5 S# A8 i+ s- X X3 {' Dshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ( S3 q w, F" v9 ~' U+ U2 Nbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the2 f6 W: L# Z; m f
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , ]+ t0 _/ G5 P2 ?' M- N: qwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.( b- |$ [9 p. U V
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but + ]: Q0 Y( H& ~) M9 ~9 }names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not , D9 h4 X! m4 @4 a2 y2 I6 Q# Kexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 d9 W8 ^) @+ a7 C9 ^2 L
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 7 u3 Z- X/ J; o3 D' t7 V2 p' `' Na roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. $ _4 V# h0 d" z/ U ]( l4 ^1 D5 |The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 U$ }/ [+ R. v2 j# S2 mlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 7 @/ Z0 n: q5 l+ \$ u( j5 I; z(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' g- ~3 t0 @2 ~+ L
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 |, y% S0 w( u: d* A
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from $ a5 F9 r- ~ b49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes. d' L9 ]% k9 G+ I
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with2 E& R" h2 U; o! E
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! S3 ?" n. D/ p4 S; Y3 \4 {; u
8 k( b. t6 K" H2 n4 C g9 E% G
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are! O1 l/ Y$ ?! c( @3 {
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made3 s+ m6 }5 M/ n% X( o5 g: f+ T. X
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 g" p9 m! M4 L3 D8 [; z2 s' t
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 8 p6 Y. [" }0 ~; k) \% {a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China4 f7 o' {3 L/ i1 T( C
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 ' F0 O f/ T- S! ~6 f! Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 |; F8 T; u0 U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 k; i. o# l# n! H4 P0 S9 u
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , A, N+ T+ \* j& y! L0 P4 v$ hanswers to our pointed questions. " X! Z0 ^- t9 ] * t* H+ G# J4 z$ v( l- G! R3 TThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 6 x- A6 f. ]* ]/ t: L! G45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 D7 i$ k2 y, z+ i' y, x) A! p( u
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is $ K" Q" r+ t. }8 i. k6 sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams * ?# `, l: \* I" Oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* \2 O2 W) G8 Y" o% T+ [) Z) [
medical schools.: ?! X0 e: x* G
) @; S# ^* [0 I. M9 g0 \Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( \, g1 b6 K/ c4 k7 ]! f
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 8 [* w- M7 k# n* e1 uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 I7 Y6 ^* S6 k" t) ]; n- x
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ) ~5 P1 `' z$ `% l6 a. jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - B5 L; L4 a: \% Q: b4 bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ w1 _+ e' ~+ w. i4 ]
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and V& v: v7 ~0 ~. Omostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% T, y: P/ ` J9 q- K T3 t- V
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. u1 O1 k' I. d" R2 C/ K9 n
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* \; ^ W# ], H' [
7 v: T Q4 d8 s0 M. O' \& `. hThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% j% ~. r- {- g g) ?* G; @& i- t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and/ s0 L I% q' [& _9 P& l
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 j. R3 c! h* E5 y3 n: a5 S- R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* a7 L. G/ ^' M! f; J8 h/ f
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 3 G$ `: A V" Q! Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( L c3 q, d; H% C A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. # t6 p. p5 o) dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 m# Q7 ^) F$ |9 S4 Y& j. P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + E& |, f; H3 N2 }2 o# acharge the fee defined by the state. 3 I- U# B/ e( `* ^- Z+ c5 ]- D+ I' X8 F$ M+ o5 K+ q' t; C% `: ^
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 2 d+ L) Q# X& {: S/ f4 c! @on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: \) @* N4 l" d0 u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, n8 u8 X5 I0 ~0 z. O& e* c$ O
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( ?1 A6 o Q; s6 U8 }7 {3 B
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 y7 T$ q/ s% Y$ \2 h% F' O0 c E" t
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on , g3 R# d5 l: e6 V4 J$ pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 y" z, c: ~( p8 {/ `. i. M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' R( \7 Z2 t4 b, _6 f% F
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 ]3 Y z( j+ b
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 9 _$ l1 K8 n9 b7 ?6 Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 X/ ]7 \' @, X/ A: d M
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or , f. p* ^; I+ E2 P4 F/ dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there r& Y% T! q, {& _' pare spaces. - y) u7 t; s: E4 W) q( d; o0 T) D Z7 I. X' S6 ^0 I5 J& L
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi " m" v; ^( o2 G9 Y5 ^to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they $ ?0 b9 G- Z: H2 z/ Q: D( p6 }own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 d1 n# l% {% h k7 V
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 F8 g& l2 T4 e; c' b
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* F1 v. Y& Y* u7 h2 P4 D$ D2 m# r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% p# C2 c* h+ K1 W! C8 y$ y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of }" F/ E8 r9 y0 O, ^( M+ l% p2 icar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 6 d1 X( }4 i$ L: a4 [/ Nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 V2 {! n6 r6 O# U% F: s; W2 V
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 3 S8 P" m2 ^7 q: K0 lspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ( I1 Y5 D; T8 ?' R) |1 s* Hthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 8 v. Q, l$ ^ Alimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep4 ?6 ]; f) m+ `7 S7 }
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day - n# g3 G- ^! J4 g7 n- a' {6 isupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ Q. N) o, |. A0 f" H1 v4 l
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms$ I9 m6 \( S9 x0 Z
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the * l" Z1 C: F K0 }6 a/ T' Itourist area.1 x3 B' j ~. E7 P3 K$ Q3 W5 `
1 S5 Z+ g# ^% a( Z/ v+ S
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 0 ^$ r- N4 T: r) |5 s/ }pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).( d4 f5 ~- Q# r+ D0 }
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 8 X, R5 W) `2 j i; I g7 \/ @$ Teverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # w# U/ S1 X$ G+ ] A) y$ Q. cless leader-religious. 7 \( e1 Y( Z2 k8 x) {5 c/ s2 M& r/ ] R$ ?% c& e* u
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 7 L0 [/ L8 T6 h( r1 vgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 9 I4 T/ H/ F! z) }: L/ d; iblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ; d* C n' V- U! iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).$ u+ j$ B% e% X. V# q6 Q h. f- l
5 E( L8 o0 C1 M( h# |+ A% _We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the% \1 n7 Y) y! L. u: E
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not $ H- c& N8 R+ I+ Y& ^# Cthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $16 l9 X9 ?6 U) d
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for5 s# L( o: ]" ?! D- Z; j8 r, K) F& W' R
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars & E+ b0 H( e' ~8 d+ ^) {- k(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we2 Z( ^9 k& L" b3 X: E
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 0 B8 I$ t, ]4 j& E7 `/ treal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.; D& n" s% [: t( w
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! f+ l* a+ T' n& }7 }9 p
or visitors. / z L2 r4 D! E9 c& I1 {* ~3 `6 K0 w1 o( \4 K+ ]4 A
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
