We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 3 m3 u- Y, i" Tinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 2 ^! P$ |7 V6 n a7 L& bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible., f( B& i, j6 M) \8 Z4 I
' d( }, B3 e& IIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,1 i4 A% y3 B: p+ N6 Y! @+ Y
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in" j8 g, ^; H T
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as $ }2 n, L; r) K) w# Upossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ) J( K4 Q: R! N( x8 ashow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep * ? j) Y* Y- ?4 u: nbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 5 \2 Y: B5 A6 plobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,# C {9 k1 k2 m% h# u
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. t; h! n$ Q5 ` O: |6 B0 c
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# \, J& \, b( r% u# B8 Y0 I3 L6 t. i
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not5 E F- I& R6 r7 h
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our' B9 e8 q- m0 ]0 w0 X: d
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through: Q4 y' w+ R- b1 ?3 g
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.( w# ~4 a- m3 Y8 m( A) S0 F
B% n2 r7 B- @The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 Y' I ~4 E% B: ^" Q. @low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ! m7 L* B* Y# k) R(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 6 E" \5 R- c C1 j+ d4 c/ B% D ^of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the * z! b& g' M$ ]* Z5 ~# O0 ^stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ! j8 N5 }) B) ?) x6 a* J3 p5 f6 p- j$ Z49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 1 s: I( G4 I: b A: |& X" ~0 SCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with . k7 s3 r4 N* jfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.. o; i5 H4 L: K- {
$ a8 T/ [6 C! l7 s
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ! b3 E9 i9 q2 Y8 djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 N5 [' t9 c# S! {for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! _6 p3 _+ ~: d$ y6 u3 _tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having : Y0 x c# g+ U8 N z$ ea staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ) o! A; o8 N' ddaily 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 : k5 y0 |. N6 Qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went" i: N! S, f1 E+ [1 L* _" A
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,! O% J5 v8 f& `) Y2 S* H: z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give s) [* J! D) ^+ M( {
answers to our pointed questions. ( X( }6 E9 J0 _! s* }# f+ i$ A7 z7 g4 j
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 _* b" g( i1 x: a$ |
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# ~( d" c7 Q6 s. p- W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 1 G& B) j1 R8 |# N- ~! k3 }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% o2 Z; k3 C: c+ Q* `% Y/ v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ' f+ }# m2 x/ d# b' a# Z$ v# ^medical schools.5 c: l6 U7 K' Q! x9 q" ?5 @: {
! G, G1 U" J. j. P) D) zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 G. D' r+ V& |( m/ Y$ t1 Z/ q% m
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ n( E" s9 ~6 e/ R p( n. Y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years % e' `& ]) X- {# _7 x- wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba3 C! a$ U% `: H9 W- Z/ w6 e% @
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - t! R& T& S$ w8 {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 e* H& \6 K! R/ f
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) i, j* Z6 X, d* `% P! q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 V+ e( \( _+ p/ p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# M% y! c x* {+ ]& Q' l
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ! J; }) E' O: Y1 w$ | k0 ?: \& d: n! K
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no9 w2 g" d- R; Y: o$ B
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 ~! C5 S2 Q/ \! K. G4 `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people $ r5 _: T! J8 I* p- ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 2 P$ J0 e1 X+ Sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 @8 ^2 j9 C( |; `, }% [
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ' q2 R: |# n z* C0 O6 s. T* a$ Ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. - q( j8 C+ j7 V. VDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ p9 @8 k' K" _/ y
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* _ _! l+ I+ ?. f
charge the fee defined by the state./ `' b- o4 }, c6 t: n4 P' ]& o
2 o, i8 s' T$ O* N/ `) TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! ~( f. f$ ^- M
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type7 A1 h+ a$ E0 s
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 1 b+ B$ @1 _9 k4 a$ D4 @0 i, T" Ftruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& C9 [& j" F% O8 |; `$ h! ~
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 P+ M5 X! l0 P3 c% R; a" n
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ' K! Q+ z# R9 r5 ~' z, oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - ^6 V5 t% ]% ^6 Y% K! tyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; m0 l, [& N" F5 x
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch - ^; s' \, T& ^' Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 8 F. w( d' r0 Mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want8 C6 N: D3 B1 B: I, H
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 O. w0 e4 K! O
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there L o: U- r4 l7 p( care spaces. $ W" A/ E9 v) C / F, P9 F2 p3 O; h+ O; B3 YThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi $ C6 Q' A4 G8 T% R, yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 V! g3 ]+ A: ^- i5 V. E. z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* u5 Z- q- w6 k: B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% b7 D. T$ |) k/ [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- l; R4 }. u' _) W
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' Y6 x; T/ j- m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of , W A D( b+ d' x+ f1 Qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 5 I9 K7 H7 d7 @+ s" wis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. " B7 t3 R9 k! ` \ 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 $ ]# o6 e% X' ]2 h ?spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all+ x1 H6 ~7 }: G( p3 k
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very8 v2 c5 d0 r# F( R6 c& n
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # p/ W6 h) g- E+ ~8 crecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 0 U: x! Q( q) G6 psupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 1 y1 i8 m, C2 j5 @/ ~3 p- F8 ^them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ @( c+ i8 |' u% |. _# _, V
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 6 p$ C' L8 |; a/ W) N) Atourist area. . w4 @) E. K' W, ?6 i0 ?7 a' r% ?, x! z, b
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's( |+ X3 X! k7 O! c
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 1 }/ I1 D; c$ M* D- zCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ( T" j" [4 @, ?everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * v- c: F. _, N% c: O q0 _3 [& u& x6 iless leader-religious. o% h' P6 l2 N+ a% T5 V
* b) l- c2 q" c! d0 \# v( Z! N$ gAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba # N, T. a2 R& U3 r2 Fgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big9 A: V# M1 T9 Y" I4 a( u& _/ P
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 0 ] {% h, G8 r4 c: [; D* c$ hembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). , n! W0 q) X( R1 r2 c! q3 u / u) d: @4 [) s. VWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the - m7 s+ A$ M& P* _. s7 m! H' f5 iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not, Y& a0 ?1 Z/ V# ^) ]
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1# d% K! r3 y3 |% y, ? F! N
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 3 ~# y! Q F5 }; M, t$ uforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars4 Z0 t$ o& s" T) D* J0 n
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we# F0 j- i1 Z; B! F" @0 R) k( s
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% C2 K* G0 u8 t' i- l$ i4 U
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 ]% ?9 a0 _9 z# d0 I! G% F
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local# I0 Q$ o+ L- q: C7 n5 K
or visitors.( o4 ~2 W! ^/ A1 q& |4 o; @
7 P6 u6 X0 ^7 l/ Q8 ^0 x9 E
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
