We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 1 g! C3 j1 c4 o' }4 m, m7 `interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we5 N4 Q* [, M3 f3 d5 D9 Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ; [- O5 d$ u: O9 ]2 k5 z2 t9 \* H# ` k" |% t! H6 Y- R Y. P
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, $ ~# k7 R! ?; B! ]5 p, ^6 P30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in& Z& R# H' v5 Y. I, ^; Y3 o
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as# E; V2 i% ~6 J3 L% }
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort# z" m) w+ _ Z# Z# M( ]
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep- z. s3 R5 p2 |4 v& [+ ?" a. L
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 7 B8 Y* {4 i; k8 R& C; [lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, h( q. ~* }4 [3 s- q4 }& r
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. " l1 U& r" J: z8 S People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. b" R& L2 v7 P% ?5 _5 }/ x: ~$ Q4 r
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not : P; H: F |; L$ Gexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our5 L0 i1 d' ^2 n, l
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through f1 {8 N0 F& P# K& |$ k$ r
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.- W6 s7 m0 |1 W8 C" ~* |
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,/ C b$ r1 B0 q. Q
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ' C! D5 k; z; T1 N* I* D; Z(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ q9 p, g4 E6 E7 ]) mof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the / c1 j+ A- Y$ T$ @/ A' jstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ) u5 q; B( Q2 q1 W49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! o7 H9 Y. s' G0 X8 jCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with0 W, F1 V1 w: J0 [
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 5 g4 K4 P4 |# A+ D6 B5 G % {5 m3 p% W; m3 P% ]& wThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 2 u) Z, N) M/ pjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ) _. |( F7 Z/ m c7 tfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& u$ m! L' N; u+ {
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 1 C- n* _6 U8 b" _$ ca staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' D$ {& x& n: v$ M
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) B( d. B1 T% ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 5 S5 {# i# \2 e7 _0 con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, " T- D$ S1 ^1 ]- t: a8 O"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give % r' b% K% z% y4 s9 r) y' eanswers to our pointed questions.; z7 q8 f- w! a3 h0 {
" A6 E1 n5 l1 p& Y$ o3 g ]
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, * F% L1 x' B& c# O9 e1 a8 u& j45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 0 N# P# @, T! C Z( u: m/ Q8 ?4 f( j) K+ ^$ Vout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. n$ s4 b) q9 F: I
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 `) |( ~2 w$ F4 k4 ~* i
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 x) u+ m; w$ G3 ]; r1 `
medical schools. & T6 Z, r/ Z- d' H3 g' z2 ^2 I, z- i1 T R1 P: [
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the: P9 a2 l0 P7 `9 c/ T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ! U( T/ @2 M8 Rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years , Q2 P: o" y1 L7 Jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; e1 e6 D0 O- D- q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to * s0 v* E6 t* p7 {4 h- V% iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 ^' Z4 B. Y4 U* p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and4 @! @7 `9 D! ?: _3 z4 r k3 l
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 8 |* M. \5 P+ w8 R, _. K/ Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 2 o( `* b/ u. e. e- {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 8 w0 E0 c8 m8 F2 S6 z& W1 Y% C 1 L% J# b( w1 D, r; @+ o2 S% aThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) ]/ O1 M& t, p a+ x8 t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 R/ h; h: x a; `' e) [+ B D2 M
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 4 r- j7 H% S. m% D+ n" Rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good [$ B' h: v- B/ w7 c4 ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby + F7 n4 q# u1 \- @* n' z7 |- Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high * m! J) \/ |+ g, Pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% U: x6 x. V# c2 h2 \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ I& [3 g& t! }7 [/ W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- A9 i$ W0 k0 z4 ?- O1 h
charge the fee defined by the state. . F- P5 Y# J) F- _: e& y5 s$ f2 n0 @4 I: ^5 {( N7 C3 l$ C
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 6 E' k3 M) N- _' V/ ^! Ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type _% \' w7 R7 `4 r: ~) q& d$ n4 k
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! G% M" O; R3 F# n1 C% G, T* `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 5 b5 d) k$ h$ n; Q9 P( {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 G+ n$ r3 e. Q! a& f9 Q
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- T( j9 q' q! M; ~# B
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 D' l# G0 F. K( E& O, _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 g+ H! d8 g8 e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& r$ n, ~. l" U2 d5 F
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; R2 l, l6 y& |- A1 M: o
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want # |2 ?+ k/ B- {5 W. }to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 y. V$ A* o5 d/ x8 j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there : W; l4 m$ A4 U2 w5 h: _) Ware spaces. % P/ d0 N. \: W* V6 h4 o3 Z, w2 \. U* I& `, v6 e, X
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ P8 |. \/ Y8 h& |
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. U* `6 F2 K: Z2 X) N: ?6 T3 F
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- f; x& R' N0 T* E7 f4 C- b2 I
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different4 X! s# L9 u2 N: l8 T0 Y' o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; l( D0 @, M) b$ \5 j. b
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few $ {$ t" }1 a& xnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of e# R. N* H! I1 p* y8 A
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ w* U+ a* w2 {4 x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ; |7 O! T+ G) W9 N3 `# d4 U$ B! Y 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 7 Q( ^2 Q+ |# b) mspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 o' K* B5 n3 r
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very5 V' {. c% q# \" m) P X: d
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep+ z8 j# j3 O. M* m4 p$ r% r8 W% i
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day $ d$ V# [6 Z3 e: D1 y o' k- csupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 5 G+ v6 D& I/ c3 F0 U: o+ mthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ; ^4 N d0 x- M. uhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the( a0 B5 t/ q. _/ l+ s
tourist area. : i; X0 N7 K' c: W' U' R) B; y 6 N7 l7 @; |7 H4 m& y& q! }One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's! N4 Z" v5 y# f
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 0 w, \$ h' f* s: i9 t0 [3 CCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were % W& s: h7 t! Eeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # g. X- t) ^4 }6 T7 \6 h* B
less leader-religious.* Z g; o' f( T( [5 V
; X8 g0 l" {- N' E% l
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba $ R6 ^. W* ]" N! Z6 P4 ]( F' \ g1 Y' Lgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big : _" i7 R, [, r' h' Wblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US / J: U9 e: b. M! _# @ Jembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).: e. l( G, a- W9 ?" y4 D; G
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the2 _ _8 i8 M y- U1 O7 t, O
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not + I; C2 @1 Y$ }3 y% ~the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 % h, B6 Q; @$ d( Z v8 Vconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for5 b( o, d4 z: v5 n+ A6 y8 o6 o
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 2 W% t# V! L/ I z(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we & s! y5 x) a# q2 w: yprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 N: ]1 `$ k8 F, a
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.) P, V2 e( H" @& i0 p5 U; p) [6 K
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local7 W n X7 @) ^) } ^
or visitors.& M1 M0 A5 r4 k: P- x
2 L! x% Z6 z6 G-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
