We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 9 c! Q0 Y! ?: s$ t9 Jinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we " j9 T/ p( l& n3 b3 ewanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. V3 b: k8 ^3 B1 f) r. k3 K0 `) P
& `3 }% C* ]+ G" h" X! G, l: tIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, \8 b7 W$ T5 f" X30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in! O" k1 W. t& u; S9 o) `) L! R. s
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as & n, T0 T- T/ }1 Y9 A7 Tpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort+ X+ w1 h' h' ?- V
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 d2 z. Q& r! T7 I3 n6 C' [3 K
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the % l5 i6 w; r6 R) k s3 flobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,) u Q8 k6 S, g; i5 T1 [
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 |: k! f- x: O3 K0 m1 e! O
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but3 _' g4 v# t) x) ~
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ; }) _5 d' N6 Aexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ^/ x7 a$ _; s( ~+ h+ q$ f
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 7 S/ R; s/ K* F. Q1 w3 W; g4 ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ~5 J! Y2 @! O0 V2 S3 |3 f: r: z s- D' R/ b
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,+ i; L9 @, q& T3 z0 b( v" _! w
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 3 h- H+ J* [$ C' h+ J& W(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 6 \- \( _0 ]- y; v/ q6 O+ U! Sof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 6 ]3 m7 e) u! A. d- Fstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from6 S9 x& ]7 b( Z) D
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 0 u' z2 \; |% ]5 ^Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 `) ^: Y" x0 K* f. N3 k; Efingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 5 g3 K- r. L q+ |( |; v0 ?, I) U* L
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are + k4 R- L6 J& E+ m! F) ?just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 |& Y) Q! S. C5 }6 O
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 3 ^6 \% K, b& E' xtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having% ^9 Q/ R+ x: Y; ^* f4 A8 f
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China3 L$ J6 f$ ^4 R$ h6 l! B" X
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 f7 S' k3 t) e5 y6 S
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ m# c" t- r7 U" Q% ]& `: P) E( A
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 6 g& s8 L0 r2 e"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 4 q) o* C2 O8 a+ A5 ]answers to our pointed questions. 7 F: l7 @. B |$ @( C& B7 Y+ A' E
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, S$ L6 T- x+ o5 ?7 k# I# I
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 2 u! _7 K& ~4 F0 M3 Rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" m& f" X8 b" C7 f. C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. i. h/ E& X6 Y9 l7 G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ U/ A. R+ C' L! R
medical schools.9 E! e# C1 T' c9 @; j
" T9 f- ?' Y% j
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the & m! Q$ P! Q" h) Q7 l+ Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ |: x2 x2 ^3 [ k" V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years : q. s J& o* H4 h8 u q. g& xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ [' X* x1 X, b$ a: l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 1 U/ @' t s% d% m6 W7 _& A2 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 G3 n& T* H/ {6 k# g9 i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% D& P8 f- W$ O, O) B* |. z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 } q5 t: W( m
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 B) x1 z+ m, P# p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ C# V, ~, r ?1 _7 V& D
, N/ z$ h2 M. |1 V1 J2 _0 A" E" }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no + z* L: n4 c5 x- rprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and " T( e8 ]: t4 u3 r8 F1 Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# s( Y4 |( m, ]5 I+ u# k R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good : O- |8 _4 t) s1 V1 Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 6 L( q6 i! i1 [% S+ Isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 5 b7 r6 y0 f5 p' o+ ]divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. # G% c! E Z1 p7 W. z2 LDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , i, n; m% d' ~$ F Ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 1 W* ?( v9 Z+ f% B8 M; q' `charge the fee defined by the state./ p; e! Z5 r* w) |0 `% `5 U2 W
; [$ a8 {2 b/ |4 _& j+ }+ d- GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get * Y: E2 g, R% P5 }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 w( i' i$ G2 j F8 `$ Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # r, S5 S4 i+ F2 k) s6 Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ( o" k3 i* E/ Mseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 1 @0 }" Y' c. |/ w/ V; U1 n2 Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: c, W$ q# q. @8 ~" ~3 I6 i& ~9 U( g
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ A+ P( h5 \& l8 E+ _6 r
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people + e8 m# H/ O- L4 q9 g) z) Ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 s5 x- t: I/ ]( Z5 Q5 w
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 v' |7 o" [* |' d7 M0 R9 N
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want - M4 R5 c, M8 |' W, ?( pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or * r5 Z( N$ u y6 u/ u& Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 ~6 C- t& y" m( w0 k* g! g
are spaces. I* A( b4 g3 X E0 X" p3 J 2 r1 _. C" H1 W( I) v1 X. fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: N3 Q5 Q2 o; |! } T }5 \
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 3 Z. g/ s M& ~( T; W( E/ } c8 jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the : t, f* F& T. V/ W" H8 Y5 j2 x40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 e4 a& b$ I+ a( c
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the Q' n; \4 O& ~8 w3 o( K. z* ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 5 v5 `5 e2 }* _1 T: Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of - T, o2 k/ a8 U% W/ i' _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 ]8 d P2 M, n' N; D
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. z! O% s; ?- l* 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; V# j. Z t8 t
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 2 G8 q$ G) D9 uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ( _. B1 k, }- A! Ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep+ o# {% W! W: `7 l
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day" J$ Q4 N5 ], h: O! |3 u- B
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 1 }, n1 q9 i0 K" p7 J& Zthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms & I& a2 X5 x8 x6 `" ]$ N% Mhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 U) Y8 B& `( A* T; s7 }9 M3 ltourist area. " u- y% L' \* i! E * q- V8 v( u0 |& {One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 3 |/ p3 b; k& h; T! ]pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 C6 q2 h# X! C( v" u/ a
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 8 {+ ?2 y5 N. J4 i0 |" ieverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 O: J+ ?% w% ^less leader-religious.; Z; e& ^" A. c; o! d6 O$ J" K( \
; R3 s# d. ^3 U2 j# h' L+ `About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba4 a4 `1 m* \3 E$ R6 t) P
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big% G5 k' A- ]' H1 L
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US / V: _8 u/ x+ M: U T1 H* dembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ; u2 o- p& O" V; ^0 J) Q, l! C3 F6 L2 B/ F! Z: r) V
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the" _% k& t8 y$ X( f; L' ?
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not @( I6 q4 q, L8 N/ |* ?* A
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 $ @, X) F+ M& I' _6 U5 i0 b. C; Pconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for; \ i5 w7 J3 m' {) b
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars : [1 T, J4 d: B4 ^(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we , z# R- q! ?+ N7 O, P0 vprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # F" E' d1 k- x Zreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 _/ t. l5 a% V- n; K3 zAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local - Q7 N' |( n2 Q7 L7 M$ Z2 wor visitors./ y* y, h) l: ]* R9 `2 k
- S" i; j& W( s" W+ }
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
