We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very : ]& Z4 V* j; `interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 e* y' K) J, |* @ Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.( k* m& y9 l. d
& \" ]6 }9 B( { c" dIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 8 S/ `# B8 q5 {% d3 M; C( A30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in # {) V/ \& P& e0 a8 I3 ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 5 g7 s2 e# L+ h L2 L& Jpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort: h/ m* R! I. K0 N
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep & O I+ u" v3 t! @5 R/ Dbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the " J0 R$ @9 L5 u2 `9 b0 C+ ulobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% b. k- l! j" h4 x$ s; R5 H( f
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.8 `9 R. S" p5 m7 w
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# p/ W1 m0 p8 }! y1 x- f" j
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not " n& _; i Z- w, Kexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our + [' s! @8 C( ~* \flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through # y4 Y6 s G& Ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards., }; f I& V0 @% H; q: o, u# s# L4 d
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 A# B& w# a8 b+ n& \6 Wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool6 x6 W. ]4 k0 b& C: s
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( a" D8 T4 D: R0 `) Zof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the : W% j7 G+ s, I0 M+ e- ?stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from, Y$ e* S9 v" ^( U
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ) U2 s0 y$ M6 @8 U1 ZCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with+ B, O" o- a0 s, \% |% X# s
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., ?' @6 y2 Z$ E% M& H
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are: b- g+ T$ L' @3 o
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made . C% {+ a7 _, T; t; ]for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba! n z; y2 q/ {+ X8 ]
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ' g4 p+ M" D( N3 Q2 _* K7 @% `" a4 J( Pa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China( S, s2 I8 H# q
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 # C; |: {; R$ rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ! V# h( @# j" U9 U* pon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ( e) O$ M) U/ A% {( W! c"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' T: b5 M# |$ \
answers to our pointed questions. ( d7 P; H# H3 C) h4 b& C$ H 3 s* k7 K n( }# T. G: F# f# b5 \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, : M/ E) P) A, z: X45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand % N: Q$ R& \3 D5 \ g5 E. wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 c+ v$ Z. E3 R8 v. L: a9 q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 f; x# Y# x% H& D4 C0 z# M% t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 2 N0 W1 G7 H ^0 t7 o- S! emedical schools.* J6 {7 r/ s: e% t( f
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ) Q1 L! X- _6 w+ @, A9 h/ Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 E1 u( |, ?/ Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years1 E/ r& k$ A) S, x5 w# K
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 O( [& k7 G* o1 U
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: [0 s% r" Q. y* M; ?- d
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 3 X, D8 W! h' L O- [seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 6 G# z3 q; J% [7 Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ) Z" A S4 ^) t( M, \: I( M+ a; C, ^shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% L& J( y/ f* H P
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. # d& D6 X I; K# ~: p; f0 T" [5 `, l( M3 R0 U# h! E
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 7 S/ ]5 w6 N6 H6 L& Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 6 I: ?6 T$ J3 ^1 i$ U9 D u8 ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. B* Y) j7 n, {. P# g" Z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" _% m' m2 z+ ]$ Y4 d" V
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby # @7 @9 v+ D& O2 ^9 k; `sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high - q4 T! b( n1 u& ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. l; E& f2 H5 v* e$ g" QDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When J/ ?4 _. @' T! B7 G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 2 Z1 S( h" Y) |2 p c% Icharge the fee defined by the state.0 ?& N) T" r- I" `9 i* X! \
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 0 _! k7 ?* x+ M8 k1 Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ e/ y. a) h6 O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 2 g, N7 S, D+ y ~truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 }3 O: _ M. s5 w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& X$ Q* t! `( b |( E. ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! B8 P4 c2 d5 h
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - w" y( ~9 Z) p7 z( J2 j1 }you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 B0 C3 D# R% y1 x2 j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' k2 D5 W( ]; v# I" }8 p
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 5 V5 U# h- Z5 y0 x% r, J" I% A8 Upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, D$ \8 l3 X5 q3 Z$ V- j8 O
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ! t% l8 d \" P& `( lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 O, h: e1 a) s' G. s* x. m8 J
are spaces.% k' G+ `: q" K$ N
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 1 c9 b- B8 P# B$ _8 lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they , G; C' i2 u% P" Q: d5 T( Zown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the & _2 U% X1 i+ |2 C. _6 J0 ]40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 1 V6 u9 {; D7 _" Zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# L) [# Z ]8 S2 D6 G3 K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, b6 Q7 v/ s9 m+ U7 H1 H8 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of + h D7 ] g6 Dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it# X: U, t( ^1 n: r: @( ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ; j% B1 Z- U% ^9 W: s: w 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) O; U( y0 {/ u5 z' v" H, c
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all, Z: A, ]7 g5 J9 w, _) u6 d
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very * A4 @# m9 z# Klimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # E6 c9 {0 S* I" c7 ?recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day( a9 | S! c/ n7 j. o3 z
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of + B! [& x9 M7 G Tthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 4 z" \0 H2 g4 W; Q! Ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the& o! i5 @5 W3 D- x# R
tourist area. % A( J. ?. L" \1 l$ A3 T {6 t. e/ f) J
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ( f* b; c, x; \3 k& Tpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).* j" J# B& L* ]) Y$ U
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were p9 p5 Y3 a/ j/ x2 severywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 J: g, G0 q1 Iless leader-religious.# v$ ]1 ?& Z. W: M3 l3 c( @
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba * w; k" b8 r! d* `: q8 K6 Rgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big7 b6 g$ D& p- w2 {
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US/ ]' g, N, _% t9 F* u
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).+ [# J7 n2 U9 p6 m* z
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the! R8 @" w3 S( p# s
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not. m! L* _8 D2 z+ Z
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! c. a4 t" I1 R. W. l, T5 x/ ^convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for0 G0 T' v7 z2 v1 ^# t1 M8 i
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars# b8 o; z/ H# L
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we . x( O& S3 k! ~6 A/ Q/ @+ @0 ?. Kprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the/ S: c4 U: k. } `4 B7 g& {% J: P- Q: G
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : X$ W+ R8 u- NAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local. m5 }' Z) n- x9 ?
or visitors.. J3 U8 B: H# l. s& B1 a% ?& j
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
