We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very" t! E$ n% I' L6 a
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we8 `/ j ?( x- w% E. v- @$ k' X R
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ! f, ~2 j% t. r* F+ E 1 G* l& m8 Q3 \8 p$ i. M! X3 jIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 T+ v3 X7 W* B& L30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in9 J$ V* y- V# F+ }
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as . k! L5 c/ L) S+ n3 Qpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 3 d% C {. R& ?7 l( p) S* D* [5 z$ H+ @show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep & n) u8 Y3 G* H- Sbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the # v/ w* ?$ r9 `, W v+ w$ H8 Olobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,2 m# s) M2 x' B9 O f
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. % r( n# N9 ~/ ]/ n People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 2 \1 u0 @: q, Jnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not . j' k: n0 f3 S9 y( |/ @! Zexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ( L* }" `! O, p/ ^" t5 H1 @$ Bflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through# w- ~$ ]5 p" r6 Y, u, Z
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 5 E, ?- B$ d( _- ]5 H 3 K0 E7 n1 q; C! F5 b; w& O9 PThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,( r$ u5 }, v! R/ @6 y4 R) V
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 3 U* g3 g3 [1 j% ^" S(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top( R2 f& Z- p& U, R8 j* T
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the" \ H5 u% T+ }
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from; y1 Y; u. W8 ?0 {7 C3 O
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes [" a$ [$ l+ Z1 j* P! x9 f1 eCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! O, p* i# _& P3 t
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. . H' d; f& \' x% r % K& \ _: I& y$ J# P/ ?( N0 FThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 L0 _" ~; q4 g L1 V/ ~* O
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made5 U" C0 U6 D$ z2 N" |
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& ^6 s" F- S# b1 N: i1 I
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having # f0 n' ]2 x% F) _* |1 f# v6 Na staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 8 T/ |" ?: x$ F$ ~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, living0 m" b/ T$ g3 _2 {% c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% |; m$ r; K- }7 K7 X
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 O5 X% i# x9 I0 m# o5 b
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give Z# y- E1 n$ h; v* g2 m- m
answers to our pointed questions.' M* q4 P7 m/ o b) q
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ( f( O. @4 d! L( z) b( Z' I/ p0 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ T7 C$ F# q U `# U
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is Z. [" H ?; }3 }4 b2 @
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 s; Z, q- C# v- t7 L6 ~8 k! s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are : X+ ?# {& O2 Y) t0 Xmedical schools. 1 E. g! q/ i6 I% L9 G1 r7 i4 R! R5 _7 A
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% r7 I2 S g" n' M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 L5 Z* r$ \2 j# t8 d1 ~
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years % U$ a0 G% r! [8 h$ U, uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba / ]4 `5 r4 R! M1 M' bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to U v* l/ Y, U: n2 y9 eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 9 x6 t* c. R* {* c5 h3 v6 s8 Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" L+ A) F3 m a" s& R
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( Z, F+ ?4 G7 u
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 s. z M3 ^+ y; B1 M
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 B2 J$ {, O* _) y7 M1 h
, l0 d" S' \& G6 S* f K
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ! A P( L; q. i0 Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 |$ E9 d) m$ J
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ' v' N8 h$ j5 q0 p' j/ R* Ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 z1 J% W V4 ~3 G* U2 u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 3 a) I- o$ ~0 P" u9 z2 F# o. Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high / T; c% S6 q& Z. E# I6 K A+ N* Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& L& v& b' O) _/ P' h/ m5 \) x
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 9 d0 q( C" R) m+ Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + W( _! ]0 H4 O3 scharge the fee defined by the state. # d/ D) u: c! x0 u, ]/ J 4 @3 X4 X/ E3 \+ _4 ~4 Z# p3 W$ xThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 n, V. u, m$ ?* ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ( x/ w4 |6 |( P- Oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big / x5 s+ p* D( B5 l3 z) T) U, }( s* struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel [ Y z4 Y8 b# f0 q( o
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the / w6 Q7 v& Z/ i: H) ]working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on % k! T# r- G$ u* O8 X( i( k& K% m0 Jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. U1 l3 r8 l/ R9 F( v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people + c, R4 p( K3 q; j: Q# R% x/ Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. D: a* X" d& L0 m
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ e! y' `. }& N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, s" p; Q: w+ S4 u% k8 b1 ?% [+ Q& N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 `& m2 O/ M. f) I( W1 S" ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% D: V7 c$ V% a% W( O
are spaces.# k9 d% h3 A8 ~! Y0 O
1 e0 D: Y1 A3 c
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi : U& ]& d& I. E! }/ Oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ! t% y& G/ e- b4 H0 f% c, r8 g( ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the & F# F U7 w% S5 ?& S40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different - ], ~: j2 w' a; U ~) u# ?/ gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 |9 Z3 d7 ]5 E& _+ x6 T
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ' f, Y: j- d# p6 `; ]4 @) Bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ |% o d. H* u7 n0 M, G2 {7 [5 Y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) W0 O7 n: G3 I9 _6 b" t' X) l
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." c% b1 \/ \( S0 {+ P
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) ]7 F. @- ^& }) }1 f% y
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 l* B+ W1 ]* s. \5 n: V
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very . x/ }4 C3 k2 L' c& N& [limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 1 |! X a) Z' S$ g# m jrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day * @- r4 S* l6 I! Fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 i/ b5 {& ]8 s m$ ^
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms; L, d+ T# }' ?; q4 l
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 S6 F% @4 x' P/ l, Itourist area. ! K' X8 p/ Z. P$ W6 b4 K - t7 |! Q7 Z- K' X' A: C( SOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's/ r) t/ \, V8 t. `4 @
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ A/ z3 I" r& H$ Q
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were+ c' K$ h z8 G2 L* U
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ( s& X' s% L, A, c# fless leader-religious.1 [2 ]+ k- w( _' T1 {
6 T; S4 G `' K0 NAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ S! t% P% Z% l8 }6 A4 p
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ {7 e- g1 w5 qblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US% q+ u& ~0 d$ b# U
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 9 w6 ?* R( e% X' e) ]* b* a . ?$ E; ~. I: b% R) ~# |We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ M3 W$ i# \; q2 Q6 F4 p
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not4 E0 N4 Y) i2 D( o% r* U0 g
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1" q% y: g0 t+ h7 Z( ^, ~
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for7 H# h+ @" W4 }6 G( P1 B) n3 E; P3 C
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars : D! I6 B& @1 r' ](less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we/ L: h9 s% @4 N z
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 3 H# I* y( X6 Creal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. - D l" O3 ^9 d G3 |5 iAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; e8 z c% p0 G) n T3 Q
or visitors.; e* _6 i' i! X! R# h
9 h6 U+ Q3 f" P-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 : b) t8 P* @3 W& D$ a, o
