We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very, u3 d% ?" D3 r; A9 O- ~3 F5 Y
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we . [0 A+ V+ e+ n+ P! Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ( A; A$ U2 O. ?2 H ~, P: ]' m3 k' U6 E# U# E2 vIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, , x: s+ Z7 k+ M" @30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' o' m6 P' T" U5 ^* M- g) B j2 e8 Qa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( K O! j7 f V$ N5 B) D- a2 e7 B
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ( I$ e2 H. ]! c% y( P$ {show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ! |! a5 L# ] N, Fbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( o5 p2 o) r {+ h; }2 ?$ f2 K( F
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, : N) A8 A3 H! ^; a. K6 {% awith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.& C" C" k2 [9 Q" Y" A5 y4 F
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 2 y# X7 w5 h, onames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 6 W. V- H7 K7 G# M. |( wexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our % `: W* e) a& t1 |flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 1 V) w s- q- i9 @a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. $ q& u! O+ M) X: Z. s; k- C( E0 }0 T0 z, w. q6 W) c
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, % u0 j0 r) A/ Xlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 T [$ w( `" D- j
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 9 }" i9 z) ^; \of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the % O2 F$ n" E+ P$ o" H$ c8 v2 {stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from1 ^: \- R* q- s9 X3 u
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes % x$ }% ~$ {7 FCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 0 P/ v4 J% I$ k' ffingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.9 V5 a1 t* o& a, M* f
# |: H0 l/ E W1 s5 \* |8 ]The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 p9 E3 f! K+ t' B# K+ P9 ^* s6 n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made# n O) i9 \7 @) \
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba% \# F) |8 t0 i
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 6 |0 h9 E, T4 f: x& r' i" Oa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ; r1 m+ X* Z. J: _& pdaily 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! V& y4 M9 i! ^/ f2 J9 ?6 h# F2 O
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went3 U! w- @( Q! {- g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, _, _! i/ R% M( {& n"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( z" h( N/ Z6 Y4 X+ }
answers to our pointed questions.' M. O( p' J: e2 E
) g4 y) h* A+ OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, m, v4 R) o9 U4 ?' ~
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 _# n; K6 w' n
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( J; \' \0 k K# v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams & A% q2 D( |2 _8 I2 L# `1 mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are( O8 ^: x7 H. Q4 |: Z& A
medical schools.& M9 U/ r" K& x2 y+ D" Y7 p
: Q' a) v- ]1 h/ j" U) \; }! n
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the2 Z$ i# P. S$ i3 }
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ ^# o7 M) R p- ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, W8 }# e/ D/ a4 f6 E) ^
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( c: j! k- J) T) f% x2 o0 H
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ G) v1 r$ D: J, |/ k! {9 A, c* L. E
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 E% S: F1 t4 U. _! E# n
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ l; U, g) V7 _) p v/ L/ Y7 T
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk & i4 C5 @4 y8 `; ^3 q2 K5 Sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some q% P3 R8 j. {
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 0 R9 x" q/ E# f4 s: s- `. X) Y* l2 h, n- j; ^; ] A5 `$ C: N2 R
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 6 Q0 m Y5 T6 O/ L. r3 ]private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. d% [/ t# S4 t; q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; ^( q9 \4 w0 S" s# M" Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good6 W0 C" T9 q- b5 X4 B+ |1 f. H$ Q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: y; x; ~) a+ W) J9 b6 W, X0 c* }. ]+ L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high & u9 n+ `6 p( x0 l. gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 Z: a9 O% Y8 [
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- F- \% e; F5 L* h
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " o# N. D; x7 t$ `8 ycharge the fee defined by the state. : @2 I6 D: l7 l* ?8 ^ 3 d8 r- ?9 Q: g' B T; W& z6 m. QThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get . l' z0 c; b1 y* J+ O2 Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 c4 i- V9 t. ^
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" ~* e) X; x* g J9 Z
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 }2 c' [5 G' o- N% Q; F
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! @- q) o0 q( K; ?4 v1 t0 D
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on $ _, S0 R, p% U+ m/ p4 Jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - r0 J* I; y4 jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people , ]: `- X0 f1 ^- Utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 w! Q# \8 V- \! @- @
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; G F, j( c3 @# K6 \ K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want. z$ q, k- a, i _8 w
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ; @$ c+ k# c0 J" s2 e, Ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 L3 X! K2 c' x6 f M1 `% O
are spaces./ [. V1 r( n/ {/ _* L" C0 B
6 T6 l3 N/ q4 A2 T
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! X; I: Z8 U$ n# Y' M4 ?. } D
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 V! u& E9 P( Q) j2 L$ e @9 O: h1 Z( S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 d+ i- \8 r6 Z7 V: q; C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different K, |2 Z& |9 uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the F: N8 [% A* d
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 3 _+ n2 c5 T+ {/ z! ?9 c7 Pnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- d1 ]: W7 v& x+ L
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 @5 T5 l- i; ?5 Z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 0 N. r/ y( A( x" D* p' b2 T 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 % J2 [+ z/ u6 ]$ w6 q: z3 Ispots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 7 W% U6 m2 `3 Fthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very + r8 ?6 F7 ?$ N/ W6 _limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 1 D8 l7 b7 v: d) ~/ P% B8 ~: zrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day / _6 N( ^7 I m6 I( Qsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 O( T6 l' f+ ?2 h ~8 S
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms( M! ~- w% ~- Q" Z0 M: @5 `0 E
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ! N9 `$ C" W! @tourist area. + v6 {% b! G( B/ Z, N9 W+ T) x " h7 W g' M7 X8 I4 B! H$ C: gOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's" M; M. [& `" M# u' t
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). " J; R8 Q2 G3 Q y% K( h$ R8 g7 nCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 3 y2 n6 p5 X7 U9 h6 }* f4 i7 V$ V0 I2 ieverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " C$ I& N' k# S8 \
less leader-religious. : }: T+ q' w% `5 H8 F4 e, Y5 x ' h# R/ U# T$ l5 d3 r1 O3 ~- D9 ZAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 8 g5 a( B& b1 pgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big4 E) ]( a, _+ ~- O; L
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 3 G, n( |. ` ?: z6 X6 gembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 4 }* e* c2 Z2 J' O3 r7 x( w! A1 c- ]0 \1 A
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the / O" ^$ F) p! w2 |. ?2 R0 ]parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not - L9 t: a+ Y O: r# nthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 1 `6 Y7 N i& Q, w4 C/ gconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 6 N' R5 g' x. h0 c8 Tforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars* Y7 q6 h/ z" i+ Z0 q
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we * T5 d) T: M4 `2 v$ X( M2 f7 dprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the " b, I; w4 w. _, i, E. xreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. $ x; J7 }1 n \And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; a( h1 O% ^+ j [2 U
or visitors. & E( B: @! D6 y5 V& E6 w3 c . W% l2 M Y& v9 J, R" X-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
