We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very4 Z' z: `! Y. g* v+ B/ {6 J
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we % f& X [( m9 {. vwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. X% l ?2 o- E% p" y. W/ n
/ G# [( Z- c. l, V- b1 L9 C
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,6 x1 J4 G6 R Y+ b9 k2 G2 j
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in$ j) Z; N8 v: l0 [. f D
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as: f% z8 h0 y4 N& N1 l/ ~* j
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort `5 S4 l% ~, k3 A) |- q8 I9 G5 J
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 x; }1 _. Z' `& n
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( j8 B) Z5 I: i; A o6 V9 M6 S
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% x& @; m8 E+ h; G
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. $ e6 {$ P& p- K People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 _( @- ?& A2 |( A8 Z1 p3 X9 K
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not l/ X2 w8 U# G
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our $ F2 i! E; ^; }% | hflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through: q2 t2 m5 Z2 c8 m. n! e! x
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.+ K# ?" Q9 J8 \: u1 K- x6 [, ?9 D! d
3 y, \4 z2 i& z2 S5 w! Q/ }The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,2 n, [' d0 m$ K
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool c/ ~ `. {1 x& Y(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 X6 p) p3 N2 d" }* J! C* Bof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the! B, {! G0 x) v+ t+ H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 2 x; M* S/ i+ F49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! U6 u% o# S; k, _ A8 dCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ( v) k# ]* f7 i4 d+ N; d [fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada." A1 b- M8 e) e. k; z9 h; ]
& Q6 a6 c+ F1 m, y" K% y; V% | \The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 2 i! S0 n+ q: ljust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 7 _2 N& ^0 K1 Q3 {* ?8 [5 B2 v- ^for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ; {. T& a$ W6 q! \) k+ P; utourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having $ I) ? ]" C9 z. p# m; ea staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China8 _' f1 X6 K9 @7 X0 l( p
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 Y6 y6 O( d# _/ m' Q; m. {
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, `6 Z4 c# Z" T/ l3 }6 T; Y& h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( m# f# G4 x* a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give% R+ J; F/ G: U+ C/ w' X
answers to our pointed questions.+ A5 m0 N- x; T9 E1 T6 s, ? M
! s3 N" d$ Q4 b: tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 K9 {/ F5 B8 D- t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand & s8 b* ^! f+ ~8 Zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 7 u$ J* A6 u2 U5 F* |# mfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams : @$ r# M+ T( Gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 }% I9 |, r* Q9 z7 e4 @
medical schools. Q3 ]6 a4 i9 L( X# g7 g+ e( O1 i
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 2 r, q+ j+ s4 q# Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 t2 j, w- ^! u3 R0 Q5 Uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 2 G. T6 g6 c" Vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 F2 _+ J# @# N3 r. {6 Y) e$ ~" C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 7 V( A% i% A& m% J+ c' fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There8 t" O0 S, Q/ C) E- @) L* @' h
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 1 A4 n% V: U$ k7 F' e5 \mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 Y% J9 j9 w8 p. ?. ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some : V) W" N x4 b5 U0 N+ G9 Msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. % X+ ^$ f* _5 X7 i0 n8 _8 K' e9 ~ u1 |8 j1 K ~
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 2 u' O8 L9 k- S( j) m1 @private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 L9 b2 Y9 ~% j3 s1 `% w% a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ; d# w' Y u/ S+ Ehave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ) L+ l4 @! N' ^, j1 r8 Y \thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 ~3 ~5 ?' l5 H8 V2 ~
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ b1 r/ ?, T f! {- w3 V
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 Q% r7 ~& m: f0 P5 `, ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When # Q9 g5 b! p. z: ea lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 u* ^0 o2 \! P1 r/ j
charge the fee defined by the state. ; z( I) e9 W3 T6 k k 2 N8 c& A7 }7 R9 S( }; A7 iThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ( b0 K0 y7 y4 R, oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type * m2 Y$ W+ K s1 L- I- Q# vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- a% d; H( Z' L) ?2 ^
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 k9 _1 s2 B5 I+ a. I4 W
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the , w3 D: [. ]6 Mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# x: p/ P% L1 R. S% c* U0 L
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 F0 ]1 H8 K& T0 T! c% C& a4 kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ; A4 q! _% G3 d9 Z9 Dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 P! O! p9 s% q5 _
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 X, }% i, l; K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want Y5 S8 k& i n8 F; ?( h* I8 A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: g$ Q. A3 I/ g# U1 ^
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ' E3 h$ C8 y0 Z9 B4 i/ Hare spaces.2 }; t4 R, E2 F
9 U) X+ i5 a B' p3 Q) ~There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi - `8 R1 v- x% _* Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 3 }+ ~: e# V% Z- ~own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ( I5 p- N" ~! q( a: J! U40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 6 w4 g8 O; y; J3 Wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 1 P' m+ C2 l" Fbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few * Y! u! V' o: {; f- d+ }3 \nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ U1 w) D# R2 R9 g& n/ x
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it : G* M/ V: E* @is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. $ \! ~% K5 q& L0 G3 J- V, Q 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, K7 p4 j; O$ \. Z9 ^0 m9 b, x
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all! t* e% `* V7 _# q1 k
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 7 U8 n: `8 c' D+ _, W* xlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 3 e) m% w' p2 b* @! b6 rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ( E6 ^( u3 G+ `) L; @& Usupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of- N7 S! V( J+ l. d
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 y6 t. m: t0 u* s, g/ q
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 t. u6 b5 v% Y* gtourist area. 4 Q" j+ V4 n' J! [, |0 J. a& b9 q0 p5 m, d
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's% p( T: b& | f6 J! u
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 8 N" e- d3 ] i3 m7 ICompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 g0 z4 ~* `. I! A
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ g3 q% o# K1 [less leader-religious., f/ ]; m/ q! _, q9 R" a5 | [
# `6 H; m3 U8 r- SAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba6 G8 J! x! A: B. K$ S$ L
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big) b! n: ~" }( D. k# T/ l* j
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US( d* l) ~0 W1 U; X. \
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).7 J, b9 r$ b7 w0 ^6 e9 F
4 B5 d: P T8 |; W) V# CWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 5 L. f" u+ R8 K% W& Bparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 v |) I C) d3 k( R: v
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ) T/ N G" x! Q Econvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for& |( F2 K3 x, s9 `
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars % j7 N& D: M; E; i. H' c+ h' M( G(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ) v0 o7 A5 R# [probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the; D8 O5 o, e; B' D2 K
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going./ L' s" i$ d+ N; D" P9 M S8 S7 e
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local : o2 K- {. n8 h# eor visitors.( q! k" y) l0 ]9 @1 p6 [
5 R- q8 {+ c& X5 K$ X8 x2 D
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
