We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very- o; H8 @( P+ J) u, R- J
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we! N+ _+ U+ v( c4 p, F3 q4 V
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible., H% ~& Y8 T; ~7 u2 g& ^
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, - a1 K& p J) O( m30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in" Z5 U8 U. }$ e: x% K- Z7 v; j
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as$ y8 B+ x; _; E, N
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 X3 }7 ]. u! X; e7 H
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ) x6 Z' K2 J8 X) G2 Tbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 R4 c3 d, L5 g! rlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, - E2 `* `/ r- U* m. A- Gwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. , n Y( v( n) j9 c2 V4 T! n6 j8 N People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 r; W* H8 K' C! P# m1 W% Knames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 C8 o( [$ U: e8 f) `8 Oexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our Y" }9 _! c, pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 9 u3 _0 r l% U1 F$ s- k4 za roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. . m/ g+ Z6 r& }7 {. Q8 _9 V . ^ H ]& G5 A5 I4 WThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ! F: s0 d8 T' H4 _+ q; t1 ?- Alow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool W8 A% }5 K3 A' X$ F# R2 x+ p w
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 4 q0 a5 d- O5 `9 rof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 y. I% {! ]3 v! k" Q+ n
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from - r3 L) s- W% a+ m9 s3 R# {49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes $ h' F- h8 R4 I% zCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 I/ t7 o- M& u) L! D7 p6 \; C9 c# w/ Mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 4 v- G" {, U Q- \( _. e8 e ?3 ?6 H, J3 A2 |' D k
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are! G, J9 M' c- M M0 S/ M
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 9 [- p0 o- r# ]* c6 yfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 M9 C3 S Q7 C, N- V2 W
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having, o8 z, i7 @- I
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ; O2 A O7 V4 O/ cdaily 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% Z% D; u4 `% [+ w" |/ @' x- k
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went + g* O8 l, Z j3 con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 o+ I" r( l# _( _6 F
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ ^7 w/ w1 p8 b0 b
answers to our pointed questions. V! ~8 X5 }# p/ h H2 e t+ Z" i$ Y0 x$ N J! R
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ! f. S" S% u* v6 i: Y4 V% r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand d5 b9 t6 ?7 g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( t& ]) H! M) T# l4 j* c; a
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( i3 b7 i, b3 j; J. G* S* s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ V; |/ Z* A1 L$ d* s( @
medical schools.; T3 }& z$ d; ~1 G) s( ^) T5 B3 q+ t
/ [& S& V5 Z b5 s7 O5 F& p3 `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 2 W3 S( W3 i/ P- z+ Xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 G d% c- ?& P# l: u( a
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . I8 J- X- Y3 Gassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba. N3 r( l% D. c: f9 x
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ) V: H4 M7 F, d# K, oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 0 O+ I* F0 A- a4 }! E5 @seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . [- q! [3 L: H% G) [mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& @% Y* o( D$ w& @4 s& j7 w
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ Y8 _. D* }$ U! I* O) }+ ]2 c
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 8 H$ X7 E/ `% ~* n) I2 e3 I2 U5 |7 f, e
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 d0 S7 w) G8 m- W/ M6 @
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 v2 A+ J7 Q+ L1 I' G! Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 Q! f; V/ o( z# m9 l5 q. p
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" ]8 r3 a0 a9 [% t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 F6 ^0 E$ q# ]% o a
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high " C$ E7 A" H5 {) R6 [( }divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.; [$ s- F6 I" Z5 E, Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When z# D/ h: K* W8 aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 6 a9 |) k) M( Y2 `* q. ucharge the fee defined by the state. % y9 `0 n' E& j) K# A5 N5 X: H' X' Q/ @' b2 W; o: E
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get# a$ c d! p1 L" F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type $ `7 f5 f6 C3 ~" e4 W, Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* t& O9 p2 v# x6 X' v/ S* E1 g
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ! {+ K6 W% d0 `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! q" q; H J' R. N3 I9 t, i1 ~( P
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 6 Q, Q' Z* I# uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ' g1 K$ b6 n, B1 f3 D3 g7 S8 Pyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ) [+ i& T3 v* u1 E; |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 9 W7 U2 @' Q9 C3 c' _% i" H8 Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ; L( e# f* Z& m. wpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: n" E s- _+ e0 A
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- O0 ?- k2 i2 a4 B6 s8 o, I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 l S8 I3 g4 f9 l
are spaces. H/ I* ]! c+ d) p2 K- @7 ^+ N6 L; h7 R$ z
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi - w Q b; o- N8 V" X. }to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; B+ l' ]: J/ I: z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ) J, a! E' E& ~# N40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) K3 ~8 \1 o# p! g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the / a$ Y; B/ @% M7 v) jbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( w0 x8 X; ^8 X, W2 U# T
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of , e5 [: j+ ]$ _* x6 q. b. _car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 I" `* _; F: U! d* c' q" Z' l
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& x6 G4 H5 B ^! a0 ^* P
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. @. @ T( \& J4 Y4 m0 `
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & M% }" W( @" hthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ' A2 a/ { T5 u6 y& C% ~5 H# Elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ( s. l. ?/ S/ R- W" W' p$ zrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 5 k- q2 [# d) s, i) zsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ; F- W9 Y( _+ h- O4 v2 i9 Pthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) v1 L7 a. r6 F. i% ~ n1 I
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 {/ P8 \# o& H6 P( Otourist area.: {4 ^6 W& u( U+ H: [4 ^
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's1 c4 y }) @2 g
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). : H( {1 X9 f: R7 O) B6 R9 vCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 7 M# M8 q. H$ C1 B& ^' Z3 `9 Peverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : b" ^. X' `% b
less leader-religious. : B6 ]5 c( ?- b 2 s0 v% W1 M) M; T" E) nAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 3 w' I# J0 r7 n; I; i% { mgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 4 q# `$ ~, b7 J4 B2 }: ]+ Bblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US , N$ L, q, }9 Nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).5 i5 f% d E# Y* G% P' S
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the& A: ~2 t, ]( }3 ]
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not - u% d( H1 m$ f; c2 @5 i; ?, Mthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $17 b$ O v9 Q$ [* B! ~
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for . K5 k G! y/ z0 y; n: nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 1 \( E1 o, d7 A0 G; G' L/ W9 X: c(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we; [& L9 D0 Y6 |
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 3 g6 s% b2 H+ z A% g R3 [real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. # k' t$ k x( q' U% P$ ^3 [$ hAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local # M& ?6 v* c9 Z( c3 [or visitors.3 n7 ~4 [8 |. x/ [ I! S
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
