We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very+ Q. S5 Z& |& E5 Y6 j
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we1 _" L1 d: V" Z4 K/ i( o& j
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. , a% w, I! W3 l . S- ^5 z! O- d/ h; s, C$ gIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,& w( P4 _3 }& }6 h7 _* l
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 4 u4 I- V" c6 J* ], ja very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as $ n3 m7 A7 L4 U3 Bpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort1 h4 a! h- |6 L/ R
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 5 |1 Y6 _; s5 R" D6 A( vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the* z! M! y. S C' ]2 m
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, . R0 t; V3 v4 x0 I+ J( [; uwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. " c$ N: L3 P# v/ C- d5 [, D% s! Z1 }9 f5 |# P People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but& J& `0 `* @* [1 `5 C$ g
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not # I8 u" d. R3 |/ S) y6 q9 x/ Dexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our, @, v, ?# I& g6 F; k! s0 r' P4 b
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through : [7 P7 [/ W4 d, y! x: T5 g7 ca roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. # W* j+ @2 T* A + ]1 w$ P* e7 T* b5 SThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,$ l- |. e+ I! w6 ?; C% ~& g
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ' g. i4 v0 o& J9 A(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 7 T2 L) j: J, G* r# f, p& |of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ; i4 _2 Y5 K5 e' m# u1 Pstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from V' d6 {# t: a U49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes / c X9 Z0 R3 P8 \- A4 ~! wCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ! u n" ~* O H% m6 ofingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 6 O, d) c' Z. r* d' R8 x+ T2 V |- T2 v- a5 P# L/ U- @3 h H
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 4 N' ~# V: P+ rjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made2 D) o; {3 R; |: w2 }3 e
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba2 O, V; T, Q5 \
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having% d' a5 Y( I8 H; |1 O6 f* @
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China1 f4 x3 s. x# ~. q; \: O
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 % X( \3 c! S% ]5 n% O% sstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 4 x& U5 i; O9 B0 B$ A5 uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, : d9 J H: |! f0 a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give $ [1 m& a4 {0 h) S3 d( Sanswers to our pointed questions. + m$ W, V+ U. B; K2 C' c x q & S6 a/ F$ G0 t8 j9 |, ~9 AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, g1 d& `+ ?2 @0 Z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ) e4 [' e' @( W6 h7 }( u) E. d1 i# O- vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 C$ P7 \- V1 ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 _6 J" b3 J) V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 0 Z7 @5 ^+ Z$ X# J1 f7 F3 Mmedical schools./ |$ o( B5 Z+ M c0 p
2 ~- P: u# A! S( v, Q9 t$ G2 R# w/ _
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% v1 a: A6 F& C' V' i* s
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants H2 F$ e( O7 g- D0 i+ \) { ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 I4 p3 }7 g5 Q! P4 Z2 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, o: e& n" Q+ F- Z) m% O. U; ?- E
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to1 f6 z& ?& D I& H: g4 j1 r
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 a( W0 R9 V: r" ?/ k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ) S7 {; N6 ^1 ?6 @. dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk : F- S: F* `6 g! Mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some# W7 L3 ?4 A7 J: V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ' `; r" C) X! I( e( X& n; s8 I4 Z: M/ \9 B+ q5 v1 `
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ g9 p0 c3 f& b' A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / y! Y) W4 U. G' ^0 Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ' R5 M$ [* ~5 f) r! L& `( Yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 n5 a9 L- P7 b R: }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ; d* C+ a2 ^3 e7 S% @* asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high : M6 E; k4 r3 }divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 l3 Z2 O' ^1 p8 g+ @Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When - H& K+ K9 |. va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: O, }( m0 k) v- o& T: i, G0 J
charge the fee defined by the state.8 m; Q3 S( E) J, Z
: D2 \* I. X+ f, ]% D
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get $ T6 R' V% R4 I& K+ Q0 X& ?- lon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ) Y, L3 F/ U j; j- q: H9 _of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# [& ?; E2 P3 H8 T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel; ~ m; ?/ ~) b! I+ C
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the : R5 n. t6 E6 E5 b4 u6 C ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" S! r( n3 x9 _/ X2 }2 j4 k- R
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: S$ }+ l4 m- h3 V
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people6 a4 f g3 C8 o
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ Y' x9 O" Z" m( ^
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 r5 h+ R1 v4 P2 g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 j1 [7 ]8 l% P: X4 H
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 6 [1 [1 j$ R5 ~% xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 8 i; G8 X- Z, N2 E; F2 U: ^are spaces. ' t# I! j/ Q) L2 U , g, Q5 x# R% [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ) z' q# `- S% u1 C7 O- s# k" ?to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 e; A4 A& Z( [7 u% l
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the & I5 {6 b1 P: z: l6 P) U40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 5 N' O! T: v# p7 U$ j: S1 V0 gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, J, H& x8 o7 |: u) j$ `$ e3 W# Y/ h
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few , L- ?- D. a& S: G: z5 c( znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of : H; u7 M( H4 ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* u7 p7 u3 h. y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 I% ^$ O* ]: ?( W7 _
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 f4 Z6 D+ N+ F0 X/ H6 n
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all( ?# Q7 n" l+ Y; q- o! k5 i+ N
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very; c9 x& M: o* p* \
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep; `% _$ H& |/ d& Z& f
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 5 H1 n# N% g8 K7 y, y3 ?supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 q4 E( ?' m' O" M
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms8 k0 [1 B# N0 G9 x$ w9 ]% S
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the; J9 U$ P3 ? J U1 I4 x/ M
tourist area. 9 g8 l2 w4 W( D( S $ P6 W4 ` n6 K- U+ LOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's3 {3 R0 c* F2 S. n' ^+ n& s
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 w6 r4 U) m3 ]. I# q
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were9 }4 h* _7 [- u8 {/ X( V5 h5 ?
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + t9 ~4 Y$ y- y# d( b( h/ V& ^: r
less leader-religious.1 S$ {0 T. F( l9 {* ~
$ t- e" j; t6 N4 @8 y; F" PAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba. Y0 f0 L& M. Y( Z8 Y- p
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big # B+ V" D W ~0 B& X" ^2 ?black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US $ y, C0 n* l. S2 K+ U/ @* j; kembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).4 v3 S3 k2 c2 U9 z d% A
1 j6 ]: `5 t. zWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the# j' C. T) t0 M
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not' S9 M. L2 b, Y; Y, u3 Y9 ^
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 c; d+ N. Y' q; e! }( N5 h2 V
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* M$ T. G! T: I/ e' ]1 M" a) w
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars- z) y0 u2 J( p; U+ H0 v- C
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ' @, A, Z8 M) p1 z) C& ?2 f Sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the1 K, ^; i% [, G. Q6 a' n$ v
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.& _* J7 i' `- R
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( @' y2 C7 ]8 o& Jor visitors. , K6 K4 l7 `& T9 \% T# ~! |- `( J0 g; _. {3 b% h0 Y
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
