We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very # a2 C4 X+ l8 Dinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we $ L. K9 o6 d }6 k1 Y+ U: Y: ^wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 7 F( p* O7 W; e/ G: O: d6 \/ z: |$ B( w
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 T- X1 S/ G! {# V( Z30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' C' c4 u( S" w! Ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as4 b8 U0 ^4 |& ]9 k8 |: W- r
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort; y# ^; c# t% |" B8 q/ k2 x$ K
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep: L( f* Z9 |( a) t: _
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 2 T$ M1 H% ^( G3 B! nlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,$ e7 W% J% ?5 F. E( `5 C8 {
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / f+ c) A; `4 f4 r; K/ M People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 4 s; [# Y' h1 _) Y. }3 Nnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not& p+ y [5 x( t2 J
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our * R _1 h- ^6 ~6 V, Uflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 p5 B( W# G, L1 o- H, d
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* L& g- W! [/ L: Q, x; M4 s
0 j/ }$ k Y9 B- mThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 {# \2 L/ |% x$ }7 ilow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 4 M: r. x. A: a$ W j1 Q5 i(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 u' }( Q. z! ~3 M( p# {
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the: P9 _3 h5 C. a* R! M
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ) W2 U' }! Q1 u8 K0 W F49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes, X/ |4 r+ K* g: C9 i2 L C
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with6 ` i; l x4 x6 }% d
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.( V1 c/ Y: w5 y% A- O' T( }
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are / ^/ k, j$ t2 W, J0 i( `just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made0 ?* [9 H0 D! _
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba % L, m' d' X M4 e4 Ytourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having" l+ x& |; i4 _( l5 s
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China3 s( l% q+ b. L. w! X- s
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 ' [7 u' |- ]- J! W4 v l# h! q4 Ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( a( w- o" W$ x, a; R# K7 K
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, : ~0 _) k/ X4 @3 d% ]3 \: r9 t# ?"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give : y: `; s c8 I% o5 l$ @0 zanswers to our pointed questions. 5 o( {+ m6 r! l) ?( ^ Y3 b & s& v' F4 l" E' AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," D- N# e. J. s) B7 c& W0 L6 q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand " i4 M0 u9 r4 A; b7 T& jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 l. {0 f# ~' x: Y+ Y/ A
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 7 y# H9 g, ~- D6 E& S5 g4 jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are # z$ ~# E5 ?& d4 M; Y4 |" m+ \6 umedical schools.' A* r9 \( b8 n: F8 f
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the % f1 o U( H) V( ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& t) L, ]2 x1 f L9 U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - z) S% S, o# k! f: wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 7 W& m- M+ O: gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 L9 _# ^; @& [/ Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( t( n1 E1 P7 @- m& c( s/ } Z |1 t: yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 u3 ~& l& o4 }
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, q& T8 W( M" `3 \8 C7 ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 7 O3 G/ _( Y4 u2 K2 |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! C7 {; H4 z- e6 p2 U
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no * ^$ G, j; ^5 w) P2 dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 ~3 ^) B2 e2 C) Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 4 R, u( g& _9 W, \have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good # c3 n2 U% ?. q/ w" _thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ) a T4 M4 F9 X& Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& j7 F, E/ J1 D( v- l4 O
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ i0 J v; T# P( Q* N1 W9 s% H4 c+ S
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When * I: e* R. J' F/ B$ _, Da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only - e. G! |# e7 @' pcharge the fee defined by the state.0 B8 j& s! D* F. j
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 R5 W8 {6 j0 h u7 Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( d! R4 h p7 l% q- _
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ' Z' Z3 v8 a( Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 4 w+ F0 t. t9 j6 P0 \* p( Xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. Z8 q( E( e6 H0 a- r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on # a( K9 X4 U; Tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& ]# h% O* s( r* U: V
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! Q- _& s5 D; G" W7 D
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch " m" h o) T% ^" H7 f3 z& Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that . l2 M; ^ I9 y% B/ P3 f8 S8 Upeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want5 t' G* L* k( d8 C" _+ E3 p
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ; H5 J( y3 u3 F9 Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' @. _! S7 ^7 l* M# g; S/ _) }
are spaces. 5 I: s# C* A9 P9 Q- N& F ' s" s7 [2 O& u" CThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 c: N5 M; b1 ~' J0 S# W% _
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they . x8 A' l% g* B5 P7 Vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 j% H" E# w5 G0 z$ B/ Q. f) h1 \40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 4 k% {, T5 ~& Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 ~5 D4 I) n$ i* Q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, O# f4 i! n- m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ! r( b. h- J! Q( O V hcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; ]1 G! T/ q9 Q7 n% _is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. - e5 R+ m2 o6 U4 O @" 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 / I9 I1 \/ |. H+ qspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 1 @# n! _4 Z3 i6 p5 B+ g4 Bthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very n0 ?9 A- S q( e; G3 y" d1 z
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep' A$ f# s5 V$ o6 c- {" T* g+ H. N8 h
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ' G2 n }! ]6 j. e4 ^supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of $ J: E$ R/ o2 f! @them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) D& ^& @7 l8 w; n3 X. T% N2 z0 m
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 2 u$ L" }! c0 G) _) o0 ]. x qtourist area. x( `$ O+ e3 k% R2 H! A- Y
& N" W8 }1 j/ O) Q6 y) |. I0 U9 dOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's9 K$ H5 w( Y3 A4 }& a
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ! v5 Q; M: M$ F4 X$ y; pCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ' w& j9 ~( q+ U8 d# O% k' G: E# heverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 0 {5 \# Y) V9 H6 Z. m: {9 u
less leader-religious.+ h; H0 X6 c3 K2 A. Y; a0 F7 M8 W3 r
' K8 k- V1 w5 Y- @$ f; zAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 3 c9 H! X0 J" I i; ^government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 5 }7 R6 k' e0 `3 c! F: G( i2 iblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US * d/ r: T# j9 ] n8 Tembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).( S" D/ @- Z [- ?/ ^+ L
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the f, v! f/ Y9 r: a" a# d
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not : O2 s R2 ?+ ]+ l: e, Cthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1. E& |- T) l0 v
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for : D; y1 X( q) C8 G- D: B2 x' Tforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars - l" Y N. s# N; P# L; ?$ S9 v(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( E' l' x _2 b
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the , r6 U. k# h! Z; u Zreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.) C @+ a' @; u
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 3 R0 z4 D) ^& D9 C! G2 u( Xor visitors. P7 t% f: j% R* ~: l 3 V9 T3 h2 j1 w U7 T5 i-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
