We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very: r2 G/ U8 g; G, ?) Z9 x$ o, |1 t
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- v4 \9 G! K6 t" t- c& d5 q2 R0 Q
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. + \* i, ]4 K& j1 H& I+ f& b 1 J& W3 j: B/ wIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 2 A: t1 m! B2 H; z7 H30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in " |8 H' o0 _ Y! K% Ia very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as7 N8 R1 m5 l" |
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort* b8 _; M" D! r; M% S4 e: V$ p2 @
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / C9 h$ D. t/ s9 c; gbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 2 v) c9 F' p n6 p* Xlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, & Y. x' A4 Q: S) x2 g, k& P: swith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 6 L5 {$ x$ ~/ g! l$ W9 R People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ; v/ v" o& A8 J; [) L5 C! mnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ; W+ X9 i. { [1 H$ h7 ^exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 7 C2 R: Z& [6 O/ K) Fflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through + @2 O& H0 @ j6 G, z4 oa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. . c [9 a. y; \( _; e , k" Q, v% s1 O: }; K% b- w1 Q# TThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, h4 s2 G* D" a7 R4 H5 blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool- a2 J( t, P4 R' i( Y# ]
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ) J/ h! n1 T/ i' @4 Aof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the( a0 `1 T2 c7 X2 H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ( E, C7 _9 t/ e6 J/ Y# m; ]49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes8 K6 J6 m0 u9 |/ \% g+ K2 A
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 6 E6 G" U; _0 }& M4 nfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 3 b2 C8 H$ O+ l9 e m$ c% y 3 w- a p* r. t" yThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are # S/ Y* J8 A+ h1 ~just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made7 j n* ~: W& O# I' p$ c
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba4 G) t( Z, J0 y7 [5 P- r
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having + |4 o( @) M U9 V* u9 Ya staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China + ~, {/ l4 K' o) N" \- g ldaily political studies. 作者: freedom_2008 时间: 2011-1-15 13:28 标题: 我们2006年的古巴游记 (二)
Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living & A; b2 i2 X" Q1 q; {7 Bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 8 j( ^& c/ \) Y3 Z% Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 4 p0 x! I: O1 d7 M5 g) Y p"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 i2 E6 }2 T$ ]* A
answers to our pointed questions. 5 X8 U7 u# i E# s/ ] # ~# X9 S& h1 T% }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. Z# w3 ^7 P0 m4 h
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand, H1 Y) Q9 G( y2 i
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 2 k' T( m' T4 E$ Q" }$ lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams # F: R+ P) \" N9 _4 C' Y/ Z0 rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 4 R z8 B# w( f( q6 cmedical schools. ' k, q' U3 U. ? 8 m8 p- E- M w( i& V4 M4 PEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. x' m4 J! ^9 ^8 e5 @) a) U
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 8 f2 Q( |# r+ ~to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 8 y) _* K3 z: N; d& K8 uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ x% [9 O( Q* P2 K' D& c
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, S" s3 ~ s/ @0 K
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' \6 {: Q% d) a( E" `+ U
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 g. j4 F9 S ~0 m" Q& N* K
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 2 Z8 {2 c0 c7 v4 y2 g' n2 jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some ) w* u8 p1 g# e+ csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 y/ E4 E% m4 b0 C1 k0 y: p
& P7 l: N" B6 Z3 A& R9 q6 J
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ S$ U0 g: z0 |4 P
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 4 @. |/ f& R. ^# S8 j9 H3 q7 Psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people # V; C! z: y3 U# S0 E1 }have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good , `1 k: S( Q' Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# K+ `: C" i4 o, `5 n6 _: S- v1 P
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 R+ _" v. E: k4 m2 H( j$ W+ E# ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. / l- e6 F# r; s. w0 l. dDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ! X% [' n" J$ s+ i+ F6 v/ ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 @+ W' Q* e' n% F
charge the fee defined by the state. , x; }' {7 g# ]1 B# r 8 B4 H( N# _; x; a+ G3 |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 2 ~8 X0 G, s& l$ ^: M3 y1 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ E' P$ f8 S" g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 P3 g# ]- t$ r- j- e; D1 y+ o* L, I
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel , u' m3 k$ A$ F- L7 F5 fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# O6 x: @) O6 z {% D
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on $ S- V1 ]% v) p) B uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if * P4 M8 J7 o ~0 {, r9 m; dyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, A. k* ?$ ?) Q& T
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ j% I3 ?) P) _" D" w* n+ e2 d# K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 b7 W# K9 E: O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 7 E9 S+ p4 g5 {to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) Q8 y" d2 J5 u) X7 \1 ~buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 6 ?0 ^9 F6 T% \; C0 W4 g- C$ Care spaces.2 M& M( J5 b6 {
+ u& Y; e! z3 Y& ^0 e2 ZThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 9 |' ?- Q$ {8 D/ P; M& dto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they . J' y1 p5 w Aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! t( C$ n' G t# y2 I" w. ~9 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 h$ h3 y' w; b
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: m5 O" g a, c: Z. N! r1 C2 W) N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 9 O) `/ B4 }7 j' y( }; ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of & x& S6 s9 z( f; h7 {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ! k: ^5 A, L7 A! m1 A: M1 gis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: ~' _7 l" y# i& Q T6 N
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 }& ]* T1 a# W' H% j0 vspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all # B3 a/ ?# s' m/ h# j* I4 Gthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ! @) G9 R3 k. x; Q7 H& Rlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep" J2 f$ u# @4 v+ D. P0 F8 r
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ^ p0 Z# J9 e$ Z# Bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of " i% h9 @% K( c7 sthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms* a4 u& F7 M- G" y
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 6 U# R- P; A( V3 B1 @' rtourist area. $ G1 v0 m7 p# j. ?' C7 c- h' o: f " l. m2 @' G1 e( x, c* g# vOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 7 _. ]& a% z0 ?3 @" }pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 2 e* e7 W+ ]& T; vCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were5 d% N7 ]* I* C6 m; c
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , | | G. s0 R$ vless leader-religious. 9 H1 Y5 \8 m+ l" E# R: ] , a& t& W$ g1 c* Z. ]About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba / q9 N! @$ W, n& e$ ygovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big " e9 W# u* T/ ?( K2 P( H/ s% Nblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US! E9 p, _- N5 `
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)./ h6 H# t) E& u* L2 x1 T& L7 q
- F2 k( p' Z& ^We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the( g* v* e$ s% k! c' c; L
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not/ c+ O0 o3 U' r& W7 \, {
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ; X& y( w( W$ O. a3 Bconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for$ e2 Q' J. |/ |% _6 g
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars " ]) _. s$ }3 V0 Y( G. q(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 u1 q) ?8 z4 j' L" [probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the M h4 ~/ C$ Jreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : {3 r- w, M7 B0 U$ f+ ~& fAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local% ?, i2 {7 A( _6 f% Y4 u, G
or visitors. # M3 g$ j2 I, k( H. z, b. g9 \$ k) ]) J& X6 y- ]
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
