We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very . r) Z# T+ ]0 x6 I C( ointeresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- q) K' l* p |! }
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 9 U2 X; w: u+ U# H6 |; F5 R2 G+ L0 E* W* F3 J8 h+ i7 ~* s5 H
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 1 U5 q4 Z9 C2 r30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ( U$ ~% C" R+ w3 a( {. Da very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as4 T/ x8 v- B5 B# _
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort3 |! D$ { [, g6 c6 s4 L: `1 T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep' n+ _) b/ M6 X" B& k5 `+ [
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 2 O6 e. P' F$ S0 s( vlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% h3 P8 L6 J) I* q) p2 ]
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 P: [) E n7 a6 w& x- @( ~ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but1 H; X4 u- ^. ^
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 4 Q: l8 y y+ m! Z Z: Cexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our : }# `/ m! v4 O, Z7 u/ s0 @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 1 b4 y. y+ c: ?0 Y, X/ W3 o9 }a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 V+ _1 z- _0 `! o! n
# N: P; V9 j/ Z' {; {" s+ |The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 6 S) U4 v) }2 c- B( e. C0 W) \low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ j. S8 {3 F8 O" D) W
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top8 ~: n2 w" Q( _) z! F: a: o
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the7 `# q9 y- i) {! k& j
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 7 _7 L* Y( B& s/ M& \' ]0 n49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 9 u! C" G( q, |/ F0 S" }( w" [Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with, J& w9 h u. F P5 y0 @% F5 {# W
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ; J" o3 s/ l& }" u7 I; ^ 7 r6 f' `6 }% j. sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : {* u( `2 p- T! _$ `3 X) t# t2 \3 G6 u, Ejust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made- J2 _5 J* S" ^7 |
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba) S/ K5 ]5 S& y4 r2 P
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 9 K2 g% n! R+ e5 E2 la staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China( M) y# k. n# u
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, living4 _* {: `9 J* x- u$ M! N0 V Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went . @7 h8 ]* [2 j! w+ \6 j5 lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 m! y2 \* n. w( c; r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 |* h u2 z2 x1 A' u
answers to our pointed questions. 4 V3 K0 L- p; o k$ G3 J4 Q. M H: D+ p9 k; k: Q
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 c, D/ A4 y) N; f2 Z4 ]3 r/ u
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 l9 g4 h' |$ h- V( ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is) b+ f. V+ b( U# S+ H
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams . k3 H% ]2 g1 Rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 K- n: g( P% ?; [5 n, v- n& G) h
medical schools.) K% P& K% D7 R6 H9 _5 Y1 N" I
: l9 H& E3 O6 L# B) |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 @( Z2 e$ n6 H! S) w8 b, H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ g& X) ^, H& s, w/ z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: e+ N. C* ]' R# U- e0 A R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ; h( n; N% A" S% ^6 E" c- \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* H; c3 _& Z/ j) V) I+ c' A) e9 S' x
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, v) n& ^" D& N5 E
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and # y6 m- L' \+ u( o `- o ]mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 5 J) L. {7 F' M( ^: F+ Fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 5 o' N) @4 z" I. zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: O1 U( J( w$ s/ t( K: @& q
# J- g! V0 Y* _1 k6 ]1 [, D7 BThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 I( j, P3 B" q0 `4 a5 [, R* e( ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and `& o; g' L; W6 `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people # [1 v+ O L& o/ m+ q8 rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good N7 e. o2 U$ ]7 s- _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 |2 P7 l. I4 b, ]& T) g# H( A
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high G2 U3 W( F, K. p! Q3 \# M5 b
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 4 E8 } U+ B u5 X; P( tDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When - h# m3 X9 Q; n) w- _5 ]# f, Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 C+ V( D! t, R8 t/ R5 n6 k
charge the fee defined by the state.) e- ~: L9 W T1 T
+ }. u/ j" e6 F: lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get % C3 s$ M5 l5 ^2 Z4 P* z. son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 u% M+ N# X% I7 u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 7 \) u) m2 _3 s$ r/ D5 {9 l3 a. ~truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( @+ `1 [ K- o& M) r3 ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the S0 `1 U* s! S' b2 @
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 M! F2 Q% k! ]% x N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 U ^ G5 v- Q& k k. ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people # ^# X2 Z4 P7 Y8 q$ s/ [trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. l% I% a- l' H0 K, l+ K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that- Y( |- }1 Y$ T! o' C2 N" N( C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! H4 O9 d4 q) q& o* [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 5 M8 R$ c6 R+ w* Lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ( S4 I! C$ X3 r: w: ]1 Sare spaces./ c( V: v: ^% o/ l
. n4 z6 g a, I0 L( vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi1 x% y8 e: p4 G( A2 @; c
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- U y3 m( q6 R% t7 W2 ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# P) S; |4 e! i$ q6 p
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: e" p H; X1 c; f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* M: T' g% {# X
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) |5 F" N5 y& r0 v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 2 E! ^& D. ?, @, Xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it % i6 F- i2 F+ p" a ois a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. , y* O1 m4 ]% g* ^ 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% u& R$ P* w1 D3 _& g3 V* I
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all% j2 _. {5 n$ m# \
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very # x8 v: k. O/ t$ d3 y; p Vlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ! ^) Y5 S* G" D" E9 A+ ]6 \( rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day, s4 a8 E8 l# {* W: m
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of. k( ?9 R5 Z) o- [4 T+ u
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 C2 d+ i0 w0 P0 ^ T
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the * A) N3 D% j/ M* ?" i8 b8 \ {7 i) ttourist area. + p. m# S- O9 O. @ " b9 B5 W5 V9 _+ v3 H& K( m/ vOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 5 l5 \3 v6 }1 I7 }pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 9 ]9 h) O0 n2 E3 [# zCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were$ f) Q% k# J f' m
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 z( B; p1 s' r3 L/ A% {
less leader-religious. $ ?* X4 X/ ?4 Y9 G9 i9 p) k% w5 Y9 l2 p. N
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba8 @9 x" G. P- Q3 @
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big, I1 t7 Z: b7 j; E* k! `
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US3 K9 f) B& G7 P% ~4 H4 `( S
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).# @7 ^$ {6 x- B0 ]
) H8 ?" k6 U4 l. B7 @1 i
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 8 L* V+ ~: O$ q1 X. @7 a: eparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not " D5 L* B- p p0 E* U! F1 a( xthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) G! O% ^; y' H5 e, C2 [' m! L
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for $ O4 H2 d D4 q0 @5 [/ _foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ P6 R+ ]" f* ]% C) x
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we" P& `3 k3 U: K; X. p
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # ]: x0 ^& ^. q5 w" A2 I& Mreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : u6 C9 d y7 g/ v# v/ \. SAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 6 U- @ [- v' {8 C8 Z+ Mor visitors. : @: d, c# P0 I6 P; h1 C! p+ t3 ^; ^( p! w9 ~4 @- D0 Y) n( T5 T
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
