We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very % K/ B, K' p0 u6 ^/ K& G" ?) qinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we. F0 [ n( U' s5 W
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; n- R: a4 A$ E0 l$ ~3 Y
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,& Z3 G, ]0 P1 k4 e& Y" C. A
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in+ U5 [/ g( Z+ A$ p
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 4 U4 m9 z; L8 I0 ^( v" zpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort " r7 S( x5 O. M1 N" Bshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep% w5 B e2 z, d% q* w% X+ _
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the7 Y$ ?) J: r: D% a- h( U! {
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , i0 H8 g' u* E: I, I- @. [2 xwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there., p% ^7 `, p; [- r9 l
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but! k) I u: h# U* T1 y
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not, C7 R9 K- V# b# r) W
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ' T7 X& U9 D: P: |0 g- Vflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. w! X4 E+ p/ C" s
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.: y$ U3 e% o& {3 u6 u
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ; S, j5 W' g+ R9 A$ H8 { p, }low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ) b+ i) I/ y* L0 W(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top1 F* s( g6 y5 [" e
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the- ]6 E7 `& v0 [: y0 J$ b
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from) x8 A9 B8 e+ {2 p& ?+ T: z; e
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ' u* T5 |1 `4 d! n4 |8 f5 zCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with+ N$ p9 }' |9 w! H' w2 J: {
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.9 H9 e$ ]' C: W+ z
' T7 z1 p8 E# ?6 @* q& v# N zThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 2 H, a4 ~/ X8 Q0 B Qjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made + k# ?, x& s8 Ifor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba3 `3 g7 u# b6 { E/ C
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having % G; ^) {' [0 b1 J, X; aa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China . q1 @, @" f6 Y( m* Odaily 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) b0 n- a7 k- t/ d0 J8 B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: }; Y" \% b0 i. }( ?3 j9 ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 R6 J! T# o0 y% {4 p3 Z. `' G0 \"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ! H$ m- T5 s8 h, S! Zanswers to our pointed questions. : r# l0 d) f4 c5 F; J! z; h: E9 W+ W$ x5 u0 m) U( T$ I
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 6 ?. S7 @. i1 Y5 k- q5 z) Y* I- u45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ) \& |% @+ U, N" g- l* U; Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is : c. Z' c( }! G6 }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams $ y8 v6 K* P" q# v; q7 H1 H* P1 Nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are r5 x/ e% i& }; s6 [/ y8 [
medical schools.( T: x6 p m9 ^: x
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the B; | N+ _8 z( E/ f3 s& N3 b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 i( W8 N9 K/ w) z" ^& Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- O! G# y+ `4 W. J/ c _8 ~- k
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba # H. p& s# q% @$ k, ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to * n- }4 ]0 w; I' Rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There # Z& ^+ i0 r; Z" `: xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . Q5 p- \2 |5 X1 bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 n) l! A# Q- ?* j# ^7 |
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# `) Q2 [+ V1 K1 H* A5 q0 e
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 8 Z+ L& a& k6 r $ N3 x2 u, W7 o; O5 d) y; HThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no - ]% Q! G5 F5 I: |- Vprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ j$ p5 X) `7 E$ R9 S7 \+ k, G
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people / m+ A7 Q9 L5 z. M% }# dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 M- G* K8 x1 }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 R( D! ]& a, j& \+ l% E
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ N7 @! m5 @1 o& R" n) D
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. - d4 L9 e) Y* C* y R" n) RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When * S$ G5 w# j! c1 V/ }/ `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! d5 Z% E7 u0 T! N7 P: r
charge the fee defined by the state. 7 m7 p5 c3 W0 _+ ]0 x2 u9 a % h$ z& K3 Z6 x- u+ RThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 a4 y% j4 }8 b2 r" N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 W- x! r: d: P8 ], w: U' `# `% u
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # t8 P# r- ]* l+ i( M" I8 Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ! J) S0 s; I3 E1 p" Q; Kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the Y0 [, @7 \2 a( {' Z8 z. Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on$ a% e# i0 x% A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ E1 Y+ U8 v% I: S
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people . G( S/ c0 k) gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch " g6 F, @+ e' a) n& q" d2 ghiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% |& K# V, h5 X$ \/ a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want + m. K4 Z8 y( N' p, Y6 x' fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 [" K* P3 {) i7 h8 c+ d- o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 7 s% f8 b! G: y& Pare spaces.# W2 ^9 g% e. t' O
5 c# _9 p o$ R8 i1 Z Q- [1 }There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ }$ I3 d( K: \( h) c* P0 `
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 9 }8 h7 E# l6 H/ |- Town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# w3 e4 z* w- b( h0 J
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 ]8 n4 |3 f0 u/ ^# `$ iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- p1 q8 d& Z8 l" P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ c! W' @/ P9 F' d6 p( b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 c9 l( w. t) d
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 \9 A. G! x; |" `' f d
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. : D8 _7 d9 J+ f4 E& X& E) `* g: t 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/ @4 n% H9 r- Z8 r" {; A
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' _& J8 Z2 p/ i7 H, Z& _7 U) }
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very " _2 p9 _- t; Ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ( J1 g6 u1 {2 i/ yrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day' T x; `/ o z
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ r1 E' s' w- Z) a" p/ J: Z
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ( Z3 x/ f* U$ D! m; s Lhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' F0 I' s6 z2 ~4 [. [
tourist area. 5 k/ T, R4 L0 `3 U' B" r & r/ b6 t( }! E) ]5 @& kOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 1 I: }5 O" Y. L! A' o1 N/ mpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 C/ C- a* w4 n% F" l3 \. g# j2 W
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were0 i9 S1 K9 Y! `
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps H' g1 v6 Z Y$ {8 k; h& y; hless leader-religious./ k7 C/ v$ e/ f! _! g. j* G
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 o$ H L6 n9 P) Y# A. k
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big2 ^- ~9 N& ~; n7 y& I, F5 _! {# \
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US# I6 y4 l: o' M3 s# p
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 V8 \! A" R4 _2 l9 s" w5 q
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the) l3 o/ X. t, S3 s
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not" I( V, L: T4 a: H, U, S! S
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ; T( ?: s* ~3 y& Uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 O4 D7 ~. g' B, s# r" S5 N7 p
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars# R H- ~6 Q1 p
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 8 B% }6 E5 h. D$ J0 bprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the * ~9 V ~4 _ \" Creal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. ! E; @" ]4 M$ mAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local' E, x7 l0 L8 l
or visitors.9 Y, s4 l7 M6 G
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
