We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & e# d. ~8 b; Sinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 9 W; O+ y) t$ |- S$ Z Bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. _3 D: P. n" d7 f$ F* |) j/ I
7 L7 ~4 W" ?: G7 @1 O
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, " h& [6 J2 ~6 l$ K2 g1 U9 \$ a30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in5 }1 b0 J3 A" {% {/ D
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( B* `6 J( R% R A
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort' W2 b% W- v5 ~9 O& O/ C
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep % I H/ m1 _$ O6 Jbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( A9 H% C* [4 }' R* e2 y
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, Q4 N, R& k, D5 Mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / \3 F4 W$ _8 k, }$ l9 d People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 5 T4 X, L' f0 @1 Qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not) I( b6 ^1 J. z' A9 [8 l9 s
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our, H' N' |4 F6 x) O! B5 K
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. |& o; H2 K1 k# C* b+ t% v; `, X
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. % _% }) C5 M: I* [+ P : D J$ ~# T5 M2 k. r, PThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,/ X) k2 ?& L) o! G" e$ e6 G- {& A
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 5 i- `. g: @3 H5 ~(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 0 C0 z/ ^3 y6 `9 m+ K% s. Y. pof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the2 K, p* g0 u/ }0 a2 m: I$ e+ Q
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from9 r8 C* g" x0 U( Z6 H5 n
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes5 q+ {/ G+ ~5 O
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 6 s4 c( p7 ~: a. R: Y( w4 Afingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 4 H5 U8 v( B0 W; k; H1 ~% w* O' t2 X* j$ c% t8 m' B# L
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 4 }1 h$ S3 r* |7 Y) g- \just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made+ x7 a }7 Q. V7 R8 Q7 o% U
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 V; V9 m6 R& Q% c5 c
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having6 G% m$ M8 ^$ U) C2 \( c7 d9 M
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ! ^* a( R! p6 n7 y! adaily 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 * ?: P& u7 y, `) p0 ?, jstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went9 {' v$ D4 l. Y$ `1 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- [) e7 J- l% M* L+ C( r! e- {" U! \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# O/ ]5 i) [8 g8 `$ c
answers to our pointed questions.. ?- q @& @/ r, x# F. {( m
6 W1 p3 k: \' ]
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# O b1 C+ n# D2 w) g
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ) w4 I* y; |7 V/ l- C+ O" u8 \1 ?1 kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / G; M+ }. o8 h- e" Dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 5 F R, ]% f% l9 H, dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are " Q. u2 A: X3 I6 Vmedical schools. 7 u2 z; h% \! l& c0 D 5 y0 w" A. g) j* T0 Z: J' oEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 2 f+ n5 J3 C0 h# X- e& tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants + ~4 I. E2 P# E4 N" i0 N/ _: a/ Xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ( H9 ?9 N0 O7 O6 t; I" I9 k8 Aassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 W H( A( t% F; [- M# O5 \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to & n5 o9 T B6 j) H5 v6 m% g9 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( Y& n/ N" ?7 \# t' r/ qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and $ y/ X6 M. t! [7 amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ H, {$ C$ t6 k6 z8 x
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some / i: o" K4 f$ J3 _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# `0 Q1 D: E9 d! z7 Q# I
+ f3 U* x( E! G8 f9 ?( a
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 5 N1 z* L# y& a1 Q9 N1 xprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and * _$ y. c$ J( B8 b+ ?supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people2 A2 w! }' A+ n7 F' K& n
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 1 X7 s- A! I2 `7 u* ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- M, _1 E% M, H
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high * r$ }' B/ Q8 J, g' y( P/ jdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." s9 Z. w; N$ `- D, `- c( Y7 b$ ]* \& i) x
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 K) |. x* `& y7 g* S- P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 6 {- ^% @* l' D( i ~, Y- J% gcharge the fee defined by the state." a& z" w3 w1 P3 F! t6 {1 K
0 `; T8 t* s5 p( Y. U7 t
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 9 V3 i9 o1 l/ s$ ^7 ~on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type o2 W/ n3 g% m D
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ( ?# L8 z) R; ^* D) ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel " o- m# ]' j" J" }: x$ g1 @+ Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 ` _1 ]- {8 ^: ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 ^, X$ ?) h9 Q
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if + ]; T, s# t* @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 6 `4 x. {& f( h. ^2 K0 ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. q e6 ?4 R @) P& g
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' @4 L. D3 n1 n' @- H
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) b' |3 V8 O) j' [( b4 |& b
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or; t" {$ f7 L- x: M+ `6 D
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& J1 [5 [& M3 D" d' z
are spaces. , m' b Q: h" F: a% S, e* [( {6 ?% [; X" U0 H8 r T ^
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, t, f- F, f1 L7 }! r3 |: I( V. l
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 N+ z5 |9 o4 V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 5 G# |" `1 Z3 M. `: H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different , K/ O- i4 j6 s% c# V gparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 d q/ ?$ y# z8 D! w* F" t
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - r$ n4 l; d3 k8 r# k; c& B8 h4 mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of + s* a2 z/ U$ P J: i: Q! Hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' \3 s6 x$ T: s0 [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& a- `$ U& y( J$ s
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& H/ c$ z( c6 P. g& m; U$ r( ^- ~
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all % P* W; ` J/ \. t) x+ qthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 1 g: F* L" J2 `+ alimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 4 X# u& E) P8 jrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day * H4 {0 j8 m4 [; g8 _1 ]( Q5 a8 V4 k$ A9 Jsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of: t. j/ l: I. m4 C
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 9 G6 ?" v2 O$ w& t7 C7 ]have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 F) l4 i% r* h' i7 k9 [0 z/ C7 Q( qtourist area.7 ]7 P' O7 ?6 w4 a. y6 W3 A, d$ @
7 g3 {+ u, e1 l$ U3 aOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; R4 {2 j, F5 {' Y& D# Xpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). : E, Q4 c* z& e8 G) g# ] \Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - @6 a1 c* f' W+ ueverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ p3 l1 f8 W4 N3 E. d, kless leader-religious.! S& `& Y) q3 ] `8 \/ K" h
- g4 P3 U4 T+ @0 W9 O/ _0 e
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ ~8 G- v$ L9 S8 h
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big, Y$ K# Q( L4 M& ], \% h8 [- I3 w
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US % p) O3 ~9 r8 L: u- Fembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). a6 X8 y* G' `" P( t0 }
0 T1 W% B( D; y7 SWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 4 e3 K: ]- \) a" Nparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / H6 a }6 |/ A1 u/ W% S6 ythe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ y2 J( I5 {% W! O! G
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* r! g# Q o1 r4 Z l1 q
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) ]1 Y; T, ~2 r& m
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 9 e* F+ }% ^! Q6 Xprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the) C4 m6 Y6 S( q5 e2 U4 s F* P. z
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going., E9 V6 J# M( [1 z; u! O# O% G7 B
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local6 E7 l/ p4 U. ]* d% M" g% o
or visitors. & A& } F# n n- H8 Z+ s) `* T1 h; s4 T) k! M2 Z: s) o
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
