We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very- D, Y* Q* D, `2 c
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 f. u0 z' d, Z5 ]" }2 X
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.- I+ I$ y1 `/ e' u
/ e9 x! h/ `) A# N
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,( l$ k7 |% H( ~0 x
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ( D" W$ S* K7 N- U. t( ua very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 8 L. v) A& I! M. `2 xpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 6 g; u- G8 P7 g! L. y4 C, G0 Oshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 ?7 y3 E# c2 E1 s8 S, t: M
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the9 Z0 U- o, s- C+ J
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, - s5 ?7 `: l' I, D. g& \with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.! Z+ I0 W3 [: Z2 t( y: A7 ~
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ' T$ b! z# b5 W: H2 Z ~) x7 Onames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not, |4 M9 \) f! m3 L! S9 z: z
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; {( m2 i# P: {1 o2 C2 \
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through# E6 _5 T* E. Y6 W k9 Z
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards., a: _$ M5 _" p
% S& q& k% w& F& d z8 n
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, / S. u; {* q+ @+ i( S- Alow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ( W5 _+ n2 X; w(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( X# \# Q- Y' e5 Fof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ G) f7 Y3 f. ~# Qstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from / m1 }5 c8 c" K4 O. f* b49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 2 x% d" O% o3 s, {. [7 Z* ECuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with0 C; k; }& I6 V0 Z0 h
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.2 i, f& ^* ]( @6 S
& B& t2 K. D. k M) J( zThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 M0 Y0 ]4 [6 d7 g* |6 v% K
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ( g; G0 @* s! Ofor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& p3 W, C7 M- H5 x: |! J
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having! B' _$ M- X& P+ Q: Z t% M
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" c' T7 A, Q a7 _; H% b
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 4 S5 V9 R0 z' E4 x5 n% _standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went " |2 K" \1 R" d! J. Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. k3 Z3 d& W0 j X% c- h! \5 Y4 I. |
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. P- m/ \: m- T/ f. W: }
answers to our pointed questions. 1 i% }5 u1 n3 X1 ?+ x. ^$ G% w$ O7 M! D% K3 M5 W8 K2 o; P
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' R) Y; d% z& W: C1 r2 R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ' [3 Z. I$ o3 Z5 D1 \5 l, dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is $ Q0 D1 \* E; r. hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams + p: i4 B4 g' jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ X0 k: X8 @8 a1 m* @8 i/ Y
medical schools. ) U: {, I* c' }; _% }" S F i! A- ]" n8 a. n
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the - x8 a# e# ~ jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants + W$ C/ V( M! M" `/ `0 I: ato go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years / w7 S: F, I4 D5 O( y3 q2 z, nassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% `$ F; s) E0 M5 b6 z I$ k1 v
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ; C- j s, F! c, r# Z- @% w& ?! kover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; `/ I, ?# C a- b" O0 r( }
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 2 f" k$ n n) Y8 r$ kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk $ x1 x, j8 M# {! v1 Nshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 2 j; { a5 W/ Ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ E( k0 O7 M+ L+ P1 x" h' q
: S+ J# r3 r. n% H$ NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 b# U3 O" Z: y( a: G3 s
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and & ?* o7 v4 p D% K+ {1 n. H8 k wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ n) f' R, V& Z0 q) ~
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good * C. e3 Z$ Z6 m& Z4 o: S7 fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 m8 C4 F5 H4 L: u
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& r% A# E" L9 I' A4 y, p4 O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% [% d5 p: o9 D! {. i8 W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 q/ ^6 V2 } B6 y9 P) i* Q5 g
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only . x* x/ M2 V7 Pcharge the fee defined by the state. 5 {1 U! `6 A' x: S9 b( ^ " a% H# _ o2 X% e1 PThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get * l5 f& T: ^, u+ k/ P$ z6 F3 z+ Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 8 h# N& n* ]4 vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big Q- M& M+ D4 l8 v" v" o; jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ' j/ c, H% \, g7 N7 J/ E7 @2 _+ }9 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- ~0 r: {' f' ^# O" e3 x
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& n" c1 e( w, q1 K/ Z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if s' k0 Z5 M6 _: u2 T1 ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people * P' b- L$ R4 \trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch * }* G2 N8 T7 `9 Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ s o) K& j) K& v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ) U a& O- V- y2 Gto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; F% Q3 T/ P3 o) o( P( _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there/ N# l6 `: o0 N+ ]. j/ s) [% x ~
are spaces. , q6 z! f0 E7 i4 c; ? 5 p$ h0 t# k2 U3 Y/ fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi / K6 W" b8 r! G S1 bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; s' \4 C. i, Q! J1 \( B1 k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( c9 h2 x# B; ?" d8 b
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 N! h( d4 D+ j( ^9 v. W2 b
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ) \7 X! h% ~' ?( Jbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few : b W2 u) z( S1 Jnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' d% ]0 ?. N8 M% k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# g6 c$ k) r- c, O G
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. / ^5 }( y6 a1 K$ d: D) W. q! l 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% x. G3 P2 t* r, P* g: G
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 3 c5 F, p' L: C3 J. W: i; _the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 6 I; m/ F! L9 ^& e3 olimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep1 X( C+ m! D% [; C+ m
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day. f# B' A1 w7 J
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of4 U1 p: r, K5 ?: \/ k, j' m ^% m
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 9 c. H; l% ^. `- S# D$ Q& W2 Ohave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 ~ T3 ?( c9 E( [! v, v* a+ ztourist area. + y! G1 Y' X+ O2 W6 x- e& [ # |# }1 J: E; ]/ A8 {One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ) G) k/ r- C3 ^; spictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). h8 |: h6 g/ D8 i1 ] x# `
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were& N% O8 h4 A% ~! J K$ U
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ; c( b5 `, U% X1 Pless leader-religious. 7 w- Z% Z5 M k/ f3 m4 {- M9 W/ H& E) x) @! [1 T9 v E
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba2 o! C7 y7 g6 T% F( z* k D
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big3 p& p7 z& J: w
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. O+ _% \3 R$ D/ m7 `: i
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).3 N& B f) d+ v( }& L
2 Q2 w/ `6 Z! ~% yWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . }2 b5 E2 Z. oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not. H' B. _3 A! {6 x" c
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 " N" |0 l5 k! @- H' nconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 9 I/ x+ y n2 p9 c4 } dforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 6 V& _# A+ X5 L5 U(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 3 J: Q/ u% c9 z; _$ kprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the v' T6 L4 F, breal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. " P& ]8 D' g4 I% [# [6 w- w0 wAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- Q( S3 t- n1 z/ A2 b
or visitors.$ p- V" G% ]! |2 w( a
, \% K/ X. t/ I9 b2 ^3 V# J-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
