We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ) {( h5 r7 v% l8 X9 b8 p. I9 @interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ' |: E4 J, V3 G8 x3 Uwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.8 k) R c7 `& H7 m/ \
8 t2 x# M: C9 X* k/ e6 nIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,, Z! {8 v v( v& s; a, f
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ; ^0 J5 N* _* k' c @3 O U% T2 Wa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as: n6 p7 w) @' s
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort/ ?) c% l( D" W$ T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ) A* A# ]6 X R: mbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 |1 t2 c* G$ }' M% Olobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,6 X: }) H N1 X4 U' k
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ; x: n: Q4 x2 J& `0 ~8 w3 X+ F7 Y People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ' `1 n+ z2 K% Dnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not3 \6 |# z9 t# G+ q# C$ i
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our1 d6 r1 Q4 M/ ~* g5 m
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through & J; v! u! o$ b; x; e* a% @a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 3 _* Q& H5 j% F! G% T8 G" u: i2 |, g1 T1 ^5 l) Y, z: K- K. x3 D
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,; @* L1 v$ b3 \# V2 J
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ A2 O& [- V$ q( P0 Y6 Q& N1 \! }
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top T8 ~* N; d I7 p$ ~( |
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the% b# d# j4 O: K. ~( V
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from; O2 D* r4 M1 u* C3 f, d: b
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes% t& c5 I. F. w. ?
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with' v5 m6 r, x6 D
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. : ]; s7 o H5 C4 Z( R% A8 O5 P* F( [: P) J
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are8 N7 j3 ]' {- D, @3 p
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 8 T3 @: g1 w3 Afor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba8 P# r8 G, b3 v
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 5 z3 m3 e/ n# i- b# X) D! }a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China# }# Y$ ~4 B& s3 k
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 5 E( J& |7 W3 O& F2 t$ g( Xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ( P D: R* J" d0 Q. {8 gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, m5 U R; r: g1 v' u% W& |: V
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 0 P! h: V" L' ?$ Banswers to our pointed questions. ' I% g+ `5 @7 ~ : i6 y: ?! G. l+ S" `+ vThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," |% P% n G6 Q7 }& E% R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand , d. ^/ x# V3 b: _; N- bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is + ~# h- K0 u( x0 \3 K9 A7 {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams + r# d* s" T r8 rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are - N& C+ S4 r0 C3 lmedical schools. - p* Q: R5 ^9 n3 a2 d) Q; L, f. L d) W( `
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! z% k! H* X0 L8 x; d( i
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ! B+ y ~- q- N. _/ Q5 vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 3 K- Z- D+ H! Rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba - V) k. J: x8 Z jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 i7 _. s7 h) ]! F' {8 ? H
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 K0 E2 ^5 _% q V0 Z# Q# H' G
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ c6 b& _6 A: o
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk + q0 }# t2 q' D1 a% m, Tshortage which the government is addressing by converting some : L: @) o) z$ W) q3 {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 3 j* A6 P- D, ^8 I) m: g" y/ |+ M. _ 9 X+ E1 L4 b. O8 F, fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no( m, f- n4 ~6 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and # y/ p- Q' c6 msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) c$ R k" x0 C/ k, `
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; @% D: q- l# j! d4 T
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 o+ T7 Y9 B, @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high - k* G2 Z: f( B' H" ]& s! L! edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 5 Q, C& z$ X0 hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 1 I1 f# b' W6 f% Y2 Ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only; n6 P }! \. a6 D5 p
charge the fee defined by the state.9 H0 k3 g. U, N' P
& }8 j# F9 t6 W- p/ H/ ]There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 {5 R4 k' _ J% q- kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 5 X$ u, i' u' Aof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 S5 i, n7 q ]$ H9 _4 B# L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% B }6 K* q- Y! w! }8 P2 _* U
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ ?( J/ s6 P& X9 D6 M E/ i
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 I2 e( c$ y" ^8 p1 H( S8 _- a/ _
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 i/ r5 o% C7 U0 ?9 a7 d4 V
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people $ ]2 v$ k5 y% F* ~$ X+ R4 ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch % z8 ]- j4 M6 k. U' X0 U nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that / e$ p! {! S m) ~people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 4 s& H/ U/ _3 g( Y! A! \% Dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 5 s& j5 b" L: P" r1 _, p! vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 z/ o0 ]) k/ X5 g J
are spaces. ' _ E1 N/ B7 U# \7 Q1 B) l9 d0 f5 |. f
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 5 I6 o$ ]( n8 y# S9 a: Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! K/ i" Q$ v: M5 E! T/ W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 7 L8 K) `/ w6 y) l0 t5 t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 Y) r, _1 w$ A1 ~+ v
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 Z7 `; E* v, h6 L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* [ R6 Y% [7 b+ h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of - i$ ?6 o P/ H. q5 _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 1 _4 C4 \# x5 f. iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 5 b9 d, }: D* D: H3 V7 i" T 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* r" B) b( L3 S2 }7 S1 ~
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & V' E) [, H: B& M6 jthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 8 v8 R6 h$ A# k l4 Z+ zlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # D! k3 e1 o' l2 Irecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day H1 w* q- ^/ J6 _+ n1 |9 h) q
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) K, E" W! z5 T
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms% x( g: r0 [% z% w H9 \
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 7 f* k5 V4 N$ wtourist area. ( a( J& W5 V9 X2 M# P y0 Q6 H% g! {- t7 S. J4 K+ v
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's & S/ a0 E# Y W- K/ J# Zpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 c1 H/ v- ?7 T1 m8 t
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were1 p6 G- b$ I6 M5 K
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & }; @1 F |) N& a) c
less leader-religious.% y- A" g( J2 Y( G
/ d9 q- j9 x7 l! C3 g$ WAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 8 `6 t% `% u9 m# a. t6 n zgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 4 Q* f- z" W9 q1 t1 Hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US- ]5 `- r" D* H9 R8 ^
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).4 b' z* _+ N2 [0 J" o$ Q, ~( M: D
) s* I0 m5 e" ?6 I/ g3 a, l/ g
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the$ y2 n8 Z2 o7 w4 M N5 t
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 0 L3 v* c4 W- b9 y* A" u& o: Athe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 A% g0 K: h" K
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for8 }5 I- P) v+ z- E$ a$ Q
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 6 B6 J* Z/ O7 D+ O9 b(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we3 ]$ o7 f, |) s& }# S- x
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 B# b8 j0 s1 U+ ~$ B5 R/ E
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. & j0 N$ W% ^0 AAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 3 H8 L. p6 r* f- p6 @% Q$ R kor visitors.4 j( t: u1 S, u
2 V( w1 B H4 X' j
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
