We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very : [7 z6 ]* S+ Pinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ' A6 G6 p: k* U: H0 R v) K3 n9 ~wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ! l: F: n! l0 X( S5 k! N' }" E) _& D. x: T+ s
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,1 i) c+ o8 Y& C) P, {7 i
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in, b, b) q, @% `3 x- e
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as0 n7 o/ ?/ d$ m1 S0 h
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort P7 f% K3 y% \3 a
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep, b/ ]8 H9 V8 I% ?' }
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 u( ]9 @6 N1 S
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,( K# ?. f. A r, h
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ) L0 t: n1 P$ O0 l7 ^ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but % J0 J, t( }9 ?- g4 N( qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not * `6 q1 I7 D* x+ nexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our # g: E6 O; ]6 O' M! U/ z2 `; ?flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through$ Z8 t$ B7 `2 E7 f% `4 d' ?' q
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. " o, P4 Z) }' w+ S4 { 5 {! H; ^& Y7 ]" R+ AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ T: y: U4 Q# Y& ]$ E: {- B# ?low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ' {4 ]7 C6 i- M" X. p5 t( X(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ! [4 d6 C$ b3 j5 W3 A/ hof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the9 M% ]9 K" W' x
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from/ F7 x2 _ `/ e% o) K4 }" w( y. }) D' s
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes3 E! g0 ~* T/ Q6 |% K& W( ]& v
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! O) ?* `: E0 m R; i3 |- o
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.8 f- A+ a' `$ S" M8 @! d( R- d& @
3 I$ F2 {& h* I; B( u$ z. B3 ]. q+ \
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are: `$ @2 g: ^, c. ^
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made & ^/ P$ F/ S' p( Nfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba / r' x. k5 `2 O h$ Q. Stourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having6 g7 G* V- _6 Q+ c& k1 B: Y
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 h- h H; 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 8 {2 S+ E: {0 \7 u3 x: ]5 W6 j! Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went % X! Y) ]9 a# S! j' C; ?5 D4 q1 J" Won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, - R4 T& r5 h& k! S+ ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give + h6 P+ ?& ?/ d# `9 T: e# wanswers to our pointed questions. ( C; `! O" f" H9 ]8 ` 2 K4 F( r* ^# W l# e5 YThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 8 F, ?8 \( l6 J- Y6 C |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 C& Q. b5 c1 M3 Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 C1 w9 v3 l S! z1 m7 M
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams : |; V" W y2 ?. eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are \- x' c& @$ V5 ~+ z$ R) L [+ ?5 Hmedical schools. 1 Q' d5 {6 f; E" b: |/ {$ V" _% `9 t& X" x1 r/ _1 x
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 v- D$ f8 w- F# c: ^5 D+ i% |$ ~
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 8 r& j- X3 y8 `2 I& F( {2 [+ mto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. O$ {/ y# { ]# N# B
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba % Q7 |( h3 n, ~. Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to . m$ q9 `' L) eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 5 Y' o9 }1 G% G+ Kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . ~( {9 Y. V5 e( G4 g1 e* n hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk % d. h5 p; D; v! I: k' q7 T: ishortage which the government is addressing by converting some: _' m, J$ ?% h' l. u/ I
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ' f1 y8 k* N' `! Q5 Z, ~9 O2 W: j% @; ~5 \7 L6 O. p, F. \. P, g
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, W; C! J" k/ W7 L
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 N+ ?! [% [ u) C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ u( Z; [: `9 n5 U9 g1 w3 d
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; ~: o% X8 y- l4 }0 W
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 N& q M# H, X |* L, e; H/ z
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high n) A+ G) l( s
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ! F) R" x9 M3 y: L& C" v; yDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( V8 N8 x% k! |% l9 X, q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 9 e" e; }, K; y. K t8 Ocharge the fee defined by the state.6 T# [# K' T- o- z5 p; M, U
\: T/ K, f. u$ u5 r0 R
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ! F& Y6 e3 j6 X1 fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type& [/ B# b1 O# _! @3 I* U
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 [4 ^$ K0 a( O5 ^& R( r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 7 b0 @: k1 [5 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the " {4 h8 s0 Z6 y6 A/ Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ P. t; ]& _4 G1 H9 |1 l. y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- f6 E, _8 W8 e4 ]
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people & z& q: z F3 F1 ~0 s0 E, Itrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 8 G( N# q# f! _- w$ s/ Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 H! o* h1 ^+ |. F. w( f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 9 b9 Q$ I! [0 B9 lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or L; N$ ?8 `! K+ F. E( |buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! ?7 w! [% F7 `) v V* M+ b! S" }
are spaces.) P! Z9 [8 A/ v. g
4 r* y0 h! o2 @0 w% Z: iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 3 } K, W# E/ ]$ s5 r' o) \7 Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 D. E8 p+ j3 `1 M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 C( U. B0 j$ B6 q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ( b; F: h" ]. a# r$ o, Mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 K# t0 _7 j9 w1 O; P2 E
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 7 Q2 }: M B g. D5 `nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ) ]8 a! U5 Q0 z0 ]- Kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 j( E! B2 k! i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: T; Q" j. n3 ] A( `
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 4 l$ T a/ D, v0 E# R, [spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all& L# O* _* I2 N" d
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 5 n1 Z9 ~% c/ u! W! [( r2 @limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep / x, e: Q& k+ d) p l8 [recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ( b7 e4 X C! j% x. Q5 esupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 F. s5 n. C2 V' Z9 |
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms+ e$ }, \; e8 P; [4 J
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the. w% k( ^9 \& W
tourist area. H% f) ^6 }. @* ^
) H* Q9 l* O! UOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; W3 I8 B* t# x" o- G/ ~pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). / V/ x/ d1 Y. }7 n' @ e8 z6 \Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were' A v8 D% u T$ z* K: y; m. E. ?# Q
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 P2 ^: t) d/ \; T! ^, b
less leader-religious.- c3 [7 {/ `/ Z; O1 ?; T
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba . T4 U% _+ @6 V! ?" d, E/ Cgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ( m+ L* W: _% Nblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US- `" n# N4 a1 z0 o7 y8 B
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( X% N+ N' N2 C6 j& x , e* t) N) d9 {1 E8 gWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 2 [5 I% K8 [* p" y: Aparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 9 c3 ^9 ~# Q- wthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 % y, n/ [2 J4 o! F* Fconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for - \5 e; w, _' nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars% o+ y1 @: N, V3 q6 Y c
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we9 C' b& B# {7 A! S
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the' Q* n$ t- Q6 G
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.9 y. B- E* X/ x
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 9 H0 d2 [ Y$ ~/ x3 e. q8 t3 Xor visitors. 8 |% S, t1 a$ d! d: H1 Q1 ^0 v+ _0 Q. Q! @- @
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
