We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very. e: H9 e- ~7 d* `
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- [ G: O9 ]: L/ v. X0 M' \- ^
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.4 f0 d% x$ m: m" W1 Q
@8 l( Z- L6 jIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, - V q7 X9 }7 y T: Y8 s30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in" b0 E; o7 _2 B
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as, q1 k5 l% I6 W- c: X
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort, H2 k ^7 g9 r. q/ W' Z% m
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( ?5 D- W3 c5 J$ P6 r0 x: [$ k! {
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the' |# M( i) i# p7 M! s
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 a1 G1 t1 M& W
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 3 A) j8 c% A( ~' R) t People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. f# x8 l1 y0 h! f, C. o) O
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 8 \4 e# T: S4 m9 a Qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 9 p4 `5 q8 r7 f+ B7 v: \! X/ q# ]flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through7 U+ ^0 Y( N* ~9 j
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.6 V1 k2 Q; o: N7 _9 h
2 t4 C# p( j! g1 K* x* u( ]The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, : q v4 [2 k6 P! I/ b. blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool * P8 a. k# Z# Z0 H6 ~(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 ` @( J; n1 C3 n
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the * C! q6 S- x) @* ~. [stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from( g% t' l- W% [3 ]+ S
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes! E( n L1 h. T% S4 |$ r6 D
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with+ l7 f* m& v% g0 {
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. # D, K. S! T% a' j- ^: k6 b3 W4 V, H: {% }# a
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are* P% b% s f3 g5 q% e2 [
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ! s1 o- f: b+ y4 z9 Q( Ifor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! w" v. W, _+ u6 ?1 X; _$ |" atourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having " p; Y/ R. j& D( ~8 Qa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China / a2 U. f8 {4 i6 u$ o, q) s- @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, living5 w0 \; {/ J9 o' B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ( s9 e5 n1 k0 N! R8 |- Ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 9 w/ l8 t/ {! c) v g W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# c+ |: r) `9 ~& U" @
answers to our pointed questions.& I7 s! ~& v: \: G R4 m
$ o7 A4 l1 k& e2 q9 `3 u% }
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ! e# a: v# q& p5 |9 E- C45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 D1 R0 \; L( T
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 ]9 f4 S8 @1 Q! G7 A0 D+ J1 e9 _
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" L' C5 P! l; n7 o1 G( D8 z% G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / b) C) g1 j1 b* D! ?# {) E5 ^4 amedical schools. , f6 |' q: P9 g- |; n* ~# v( Q$ S% S+ T5 d
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the " W5 D! c" d4 u1 T+ Zgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants3 D1 H E; b! A9 T/ ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - `/ ?: n# N1 c ~ w* zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 Q$ |4 w0 u; [, U1 j8 S$ R% X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 l) ^4 e7 ^; a& ^0 j9 P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ M$ d# I$ d: r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 2 W5 `+ l1 O+ Qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk / ?/ X. G7 q t. b. kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 p3 ~2 `# Z) o j' K9 V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.- H3 u2 d# U2 M
! R! Y: H# s8 q. j/ H
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 U" A$ I6 P( v4 \8 x
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! _* {" H2 n, p
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 6 E+ J& z5 @" ] ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good4 P8 s! i3 i" q% d
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 0 w, H+ a( o% a$ bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 4 U2 B( U; h. ?# C% _divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 8 g+ V! T5 f- K+ RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( P' F! l* H2 R. C2 b! \: x* N( _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( l1 }; D& i& s, r- ^
charge the fee defined by the state. 8 I# w g* `, T- F + ?! V2 d' {7 aThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: I4 V) j" p. J3 [: a5 K; C
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 @8 [: n7 _$ G; D0 v& V! i ^% D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ w- u* E& Q5 T4 ?' |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel & k/ t5 b$ I7 u7 Z9 X5 B2 Aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 8 A K8 a( U& A- `: M8 e9 ]working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ P( c' |" Z3 v: r8 G* t& y. f
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if * n1 ? j3 }, C# f! D" K0 Y3 N! Ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people / o( @% E/ b% }. Q. _8 x9 Etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 8 C+ P0 n/ J& N, F- ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that . V) N& x1 O1 N# L4 a! Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; S' x1 J& D' T0 f
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 0 e; w: X& j) i/ f6 X2 D, Abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) ?# s0 G7 ]7 N3 t7 r( g
are spaces.+ Y' c8 @( W0 p) ^1 d
+ a8 V$ v5 h7 ~9 C- V
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi % m( h H" G1 v5 P+ ]to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# o% `4 Z8 j6 r1 V/ E: T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* q( A# ~, [* L8 n' ]5 e
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 2 i$ W+ g" l$ C/ w0 x, Fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: B% F( T! x4 R m% r) ^6 s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 I0 s+ P4 { z& R9 [0 d$ v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) i' c3 u% m8 h# z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ( L% t$ }% d! ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 7 R1 q# u; A' f$ z# v 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 2 ^4 v) V. m4 w+ gspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all# S" M' o8 f& r; f3 i
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ( }" K& Z3 _, p3 J" k5 ]! ~limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep$ F1 z8 w q4 K ~
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day& y: C9 q( a' X9 G: f# J5 d2 q
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of # t* w: ~1 N; y+ X" Athem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms6 N3 h$ R( J4 ~
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 E( I/ K n' I. I# y. L* rtourist area.1 m) f d) w! m& n& n0 x
; b, w& m1 A, @. K4 T0 C" HOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's& `' j1 t) b6 H% _
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 ]7 ?: K/ l, o R: k* q5 j( X! V" o
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ! @6 e% G( V. H; e; M% Veverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps . g) s# e! i7 x. {
less leader-religious. 6 N" ?/ U% x& S4 T# o* k% B- k+ h- C9 m. @! J0 L
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : C7 A- d8 O5 I: l1 Vgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big2 I% d$ P0 X0 Q) U) q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US + o" I: y8 [% w4 X8 Kembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 8 e" _; y: [& K& l 9 u& }- m$ ^& i8 h6 Q( nWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ; R5 O) b; n' Iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / ~4 s: v u; d- Y0 E* pthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 9 z# z, u( ?- ?6 u, v0 uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for% q$ Y2 b# t$ I6 ]1 d: u
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars6 E n% e' K/ L+ q: p' i
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( [# b( `8 b' Q) o8 ~0 z- z
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # y* a+ }: r4 A2 Freal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.( n5 G; d& @: c, G p
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local( p+ y) V+ i; U5 [, F# T. v
or visitors.5 Z% E) i% i/ d1 G# v
/ W' O! D" c/ F6 {-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
