We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very $ T% A0 w6 K' m9 @interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 8 A/ `* Y- H8 _wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.$ r# e4 G/ c k) a% D0 B$ H8 K
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,/ E$ j( j2 W. A# }7 m: v+ R; X
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in - ?3 {* ~. y' Q; Pa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / B( Q: q8 {* F5 k3 {9 u/ }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort! Q+ V! j; X4 m ]9 R8 z7 m
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep + d2 o4 S; M. E( y \7 q+ ebetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the % o( _% c/ h, T" K6 \lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% W6 i4 T5 c! F9 n- ~/ O9 q
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.# i4 l' D4 d" H5 b( e8 N
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but " R$ |" ^+ Z! E" lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not8 \1 o2 }. K+ j% ?( x6 g6 U
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our " G( w3 ?0 |& n* ]- c5 e7 Gflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through" S; w5 \: U. |" {
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. % |, q: y$ n) E, q r- p n1 _ 0 g. o, e- X6 ^# b. \+ _" `: VThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ y- V2 W- G9 a" ~ o& ]low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool " U8 K8 J; d- i(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top # V4 F/ v) ?" w0 y" p' H+ bof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the % ^0 {9 m+ c N6 B: B! Ostars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , g7 t$ a; S7 x+ k49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes- Q& b; I: [9 C, N
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with + J8 Q- t6 H! u3 n+ W6 Xfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 0 l7 C& ]) k* g" A7 `8 f/ ]! M5 c. F, X* `5 f6 X- ^
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are3 T$ l* s6 s( v0 u" c
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 3 i; M, z' m y9 Vfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 5 e2 v/ C W; `" htourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having + |, e' O }5 x; `' `% r4 oa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China/ I4 c2 m" q% v2 d
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 8 D/ x1 z, o4 R! kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ( F1 J1 }1 _* |7 P& `: q; Son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ L* p7 D& {; U6 s% S
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give $ ?: s) X0 Y. H. |+ ?/ E3 Q+ Eanswers to our pointed questions./ K2 ]0 k& a7 U/ S
/ b. S* w) d+ M/ w* l3 UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 2 @9 R* [7 U9 v1 L' t8 x# l. W45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( s3 q! d1 z# \1 K+ G, t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 w7 f8 Z: U4 t/ z9 d+ v5 s# q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# l" H0 N( x( X
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / X7 v# }* V \: ^. e! F& ?- ~medical schools. 0 B, g1 p: f2 t; i; i 2 j8 f3 q% R; i5 Y4 FEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the - T8 |) m) e7 c% `. ?+ egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants * Z% E4 L1 R9 v2 x0 E bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# p1 y* j/ z1 L( e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, w& c3 R M8 p9 H5 _! }( L% F
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; P; f2 x% T8 v2 V1 q
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There J' j: S% Q3 `3 y+ {! L3 k" nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and; E* y6 ?5 A& q9 v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 b& ?3 i, ?8 ^' T5 ^- S8 a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 5 d1 _* y( d9 e8 F; k. Jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. - J3 F3 `3 `0 w/ f! t& [5 M9 v0 G4 q1 r( o
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no : [7 F1 [( v$ h& ]* g9 Jprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ J) Z; w' h& S$ D
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people" [( b% z0 ~0 @- [; Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good % r$ k5 R$ S) }, Y$ d5 j0 othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ r2 R& l6 i3 i- ?9 `! r n5 n
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high : F+ R6 a0 V3 `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. / `; `4 v4 L4 sDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( F$ w+ a* z* o( l `, j7 v0 da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ) E8 V5 P2 M* w7 O" X8 L5 wcharge the fee defined by the state. ' N2 A; V1 T- R$ C 2 e ~, D" M. ~& {5 O6 D1 T* S6 I- u$ kThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' u: d: t+ J/ i) p& \8 Z _0 k0 B3 J
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 ?/ J4 y- e/ Y- f- n3 D% t
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- P/ y+ I" Z$ \3 w/ }/ `* L" V
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( B; A# y% ?% l0 w5 n- Z6 D
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 2 f5 A8 j3 n" j; kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ?( _0 E$ d% s& p3 Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- T! \ Q0 d' w# w
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 7 t7 q+ M. K' D+ J- J9 z' ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch4 X% ^/ _: _- x. o! `( X6 ~
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that * R/ p( V# g2 w2 o4 ?; [5 lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; c) C+ r/ g3 ~
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 0 y( ^5 [4 p0 l5 B! G% f+ Xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 7 z2 W$ A- g2 Yare spaces.$ y, O% x# j! l$ M/ M+ T
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 M6 b( M5 W6 A' { U
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they % c. ?) ]2 Z/ Y8 V. Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ! A' ~; i: j* |. X" P4 K+ m5 I40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& |+ j3 O7 D' J# g+ K
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the # \8 S9 T3 f0 b/ v Ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 3 u, h8 j. {% u7 N8 x9 bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( h9 k. g: q# B% q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 ]- O4 Z% H4 v+ h7 s3 i- x$ F/ |0 @
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# S8 B. ]2 ]- H. j
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 beautiful9 V) s7 e7 ]% m9 y5 g, S. j; k
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all# S. m" j. W* a+ H) Z) u
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ' S4 C# h' ?& h- X3 llimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# B, \" j ~; c' \3 l
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day% ~5 U1 L) O/ l8 U3 v/ J
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of : @! g2 ~, W' ]; Uthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 5 [" k, \: f7 I% W/ n' u4 y4 {have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the$ a) q& C0 ?, Z+ s) L5 f2 D
tourist area. n( y/ A C; K& M% W- ^1 w
# P b1 D4 E9 V0 ]; b5 b# q
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 2 o+ Z* _, B0 }pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). # L! i8 Z% I) c% ^( SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were " Q" h8 p- O$ Ueverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * r9 ]; a2 a% T" N* k: ~# u9 Z: i6 O
less leader-religious. . ^$ \6 d0 J W% j2 F4 N , W: @% C2 `; U3 ?% \About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, L5 @% b) o+ m6 u& M6 {4 l. _
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ) c* j, {) ~. _/ _black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US/ ^# {5 P; q! o
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). . I- [3 P. ? W* c+ w2 \/ ^+ r+ [( c, C V- }0 a p5 r( I) j0 T
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the9 N+ H& e9 `: n2 q- x0 j! ^
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not2 m2 L8 I$ }, x- X; O; a1 d$ i9 E
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ \1 g2 N2 `2 n0 Q7 Y, r7 Y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for/ m" s$ h5 ^7 a7 ~ K0 ^% E# m
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ( H/ k0 T4 {' N! \" w(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 p1 ^( o/ o s# O0 N! x D& _( ~
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 7 {: P0 t( Y* A b4 {6 Preal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 x* ]& X$ d' q+ F) C0 M* n, YAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ! F( A5 J& S! e* Xor visitors. ! W) y3 M: y; ^+ w$ L. m8 ?& \/ A8 q0 A
-- 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 8 a2 h6 z. b' t' L# |* W) {. `
