We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& u& N7 x7 F8 `# J. k; O
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 8 }( h n7 A" _4 uwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. # K, D; T& I+ [6 v: b ! W5 Q- f( P, \% e% \It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, + \/ e; {1 f# s* X+ Y# j) I30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in0 n6 u: k. V7 b
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as - o: o& O4 [/ I# T7 jpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort3 `/ J% Y a8 D" T6 ~ `
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 2 m# h( `- G5 N, u1 ^* Wbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 A" o' r9 d: ?/ Z. G% i& V
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ P" f" \% i6 g: F8 P) Swith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. % E* S% t, | o* `$ f People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 5 C+ q. ]' {- c7 W2 wnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not / [. I! f3 n* o+ [exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our0 \& @$ O) X) k5 X' ^$ p( W
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through % `( B! _9 B3 i" Ja roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.. R5 u9 W9 w1 ?# m ~
1 f4 G+ ~# R4 h1 ]; VThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, / ], S2 F( E! b' ]1 f7 u0 P# s6 zlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ( g7 z/ T5 X2 ?) r: {(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 @: S, N- h6 X( f
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, V e; @1 |1 l$ \7 W1 ~( p3 F
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 e8 a+ Y1 S- ~5 C" h
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes " r$ m5 S& Z2 l* t, h7 H5 cCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 5 y. X6 G/ c! `% t! V3 Y3 [0 mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ' j7 @6 j T1 Y# ^3 I0 O . z/ p4 L! }& d4 h" {# PThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ( i1 ?' W% @- j& _6 i- ]; p2 d3 S( Qjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 7 h7 k" W# b7 H/ f) Y1 Jfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba3 f1 e7 _- s9 U, f0 }, Z; ?( m
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having. J; |7 F+ |2 H; e6 ^
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China % H8 E6 m* P1 l9 N6 i1 ^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 / @, v# J- T, A. d& ^! ^. H" o: A e2 Tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went + E6 j3 L. T/ N& a0 x& kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 9 l+ B) q2 ?, q% P"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 I3 P# J0 W; Z& Z2 ^! Q9 c$ O' L
answers to our pointed questions.: k+ f+ A+ _, \: D
- ^" V6 g) L& z
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 3 @4 ~, F) q/ D% L" P; T45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand: s7 k. ? R! l! [: u
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is & V* S5 ?+ V6 L: M) V9 Yfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams , i, o8 m1 B% L2 z1 mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 6 P1 t2 ?% S* r* o+ `8 Xmedical schools.9 b; U, E% m% H' d, n
' H" p( f0 j7 d7 |) s4 HEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ! a$ g+ Z O& d+ S3 j. Q4 }! Lgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; Z- A7 r/ V$ a) t. ~4 T( V
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) s6 M3 L G, f Lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* b( W, o% j/ c
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! x! n1 U- t6 O5 R" Y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There * B3 ]8 H$ F9 n% D3 _seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- J+ P4 f3 o! ]: X8 H3 M
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk . K: b1 E& [* W8 ]6 s* Lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some , M) ]: w5 L& U+ \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 6 V7 W. T6 w+ ^' h' o6 O6 `3 ?5 n# f L3 S
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no1 l! t) V) I- g; g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and4 n' J' K, B7 T. j. V1 |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ) @/ p% D% R, j$ {& o" Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good8 F8 G) ]" O3 U T( ~; s9 @
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' u0 m) W5 f; `: l3 ` Y1 _
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& R; M6 ]0 M5 O$ t- F) s9 o
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 Z0 n& k" n$ }. E4 B+ u& EDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 w% r2 G3 n( B; i8 i. E, x
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 D, f9 A4 Z5 c; L
charge the fee defined by the state.+ _3 A' C- v0 {+ f5 o d$ m
/ p3 H& p/ A+ d9 n
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% R4 @% z, _# \4 t; n/ Z5 }/ O; J# b
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 F/ X5 f( H+ f0 o4 ]" ~8 X4 P( g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # W* E/ y; ?& S. r4 } `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel : h4 ` w( w$ M) L6 {0 Bseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the & P: D5 s/ f& \8 ]- R* L Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# J; N3 b" z9 P6 _3 B
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 f4 }/ _: U2 M% _) x4 f, z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people * f; W6 p& z0 r: O* |$ x4 Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, D9 U6 J; Q0 t! m9 W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' ]: Z3 W4 k7 c" k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) q* z4 o, t6 S) k0 e1 ?1 D: ^0 S
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ x8 u; F, Q; T- U
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& N' Y3 P& G2 Q
are spaces. % V8 r# `7 M, Y $ Y5 Y& J- V+ Z9 `There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi , d& x$ F- D5 i2 K9 H3 X; vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 1 z- I. Y. ^5 I" Fown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ i+ ~: V0 r. S) w0 ~0 i
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 `0 v: x0 t5 ]+ M! C/ p
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 f$ {9 p' m6 f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few \4 V! g3 [' D- p
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' D7 e; k- q# Q$ ^: j4 A4 B4 o! {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 {1 ?" o" {, G4 u8 [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ! e& G2 Z1 i5 H( q( z" r( j- E 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 beautiful6 Y; c" M% Z: B" [( }" e# `
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all * O, H! p$ Q: E$ Sthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very0 M+ K3 K$ m4 ^3 F% F- H
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep - z( {9 ~8 _) |1 Z- v+ C4 [recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day c, e0 O; T0 W% a9 P4 i; h
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 0 |! i: S! l0 M, ethem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms & H+ P: l1 p" `: P+ s# o0 p( z4 u* ^/ |have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' ^- ` `! N& }# E Q
tourist area. & p* G" I+ @1 L3 ?5 q2 @ ! \# n, x! S) z9 cOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's# |4 b+ k3 |+ {; [2 r' ?/ |2 v
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).3 y1 d U' Y; m- t* V
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were" K% v! W* G/ Z8 c7 B7 p
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ j2 j( I. T" D* h6 P. w
less leader-religious.* G1 w9 g6 l& `7 ?. G3 v
& B: A9 L8 [, p5 y' y" }9 BAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba * b8 H- _ v$ | w. B% |5 g" Ggovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big k4 w; p" t* @black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US" j1 o& [- [; u; D# Q; n) Z: C
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). V/ B' @+ f5 [- s! D5 d+ [) k$ D; b" c3 d0 h! C# N. m( k4 p
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the, C0 s3 p }8 E. F- }
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not * o$ c# O) x, c# M! wthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 % H1 N8 C6 i! q7 B! }0 O3 kconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for + a1 R& ^( S# e- J9 G2 b3 I5 xforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars( \% T$ V$ Q" j6 y% q- l; S4 q: z
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we' x( B4 U' y- A! [* S) E
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the! B4 n8 l* L9 s! l3 L; D/ G% [
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. . c* y5 [( w7 x, Q2 q/ B% f+ R9 gAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local, H+ Q0 a* C; \3 j. b( ^- ]
or visitors.' }! J; B, l* K2 u2 g5 C7 C- g1 W' Z
6 }7 f/ f( T( g' K7 R6 m-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
