We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ~) S& o. A$ O8 Y
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we+ R2 E. P6 C7 _+ Q0 a& ^
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.4 S3 ]; S. h. P M
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ; P6 Y- I$ a4 r6 o3 i30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' J' l5 u- B# h+ K6 x$ A7 La very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as8 h, }& }' |7 N7 ?
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort / o6 G. G; `. |! c, \2 H1 @$ zshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep" Y, S9 j/ W; M' y6 }7 l; X3 g
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the- U" U- O1 E: F3 L
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,/ K) o( C) L6 q8 h
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. * K- w. s$ h% b' T People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but , @9 T9 l$ n: B$ a3 V+ B+ Q2 a qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not" h/ @1 H% z. N
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our1 |# U# R4 W$ j; K* F" w5 o
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through * |8 p7 ^8 I) D; w1 _( \! Ba roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. k$ q7 u5 ? V* t( `" E
2 q# S" |' e7 p5 ]+ RThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 8 i$ m. W- [9 K' _low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 7 a8 n: s8 W! Q3 `" D. m; m- A$ [4 L7 D(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top1 b7 d0 G j0 e* K; t0 N: T$ x
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the# F2 M& E* t8 O! r
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from - t+ k) _+ I9 z* d6 i49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ( |. ?1 V1 n! ?( Y, J; ^6 jCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with* H7 L e4 ^2 q) P
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. % C" [7 r. F; j) e7 u& {( _8 S! M4 {3 ^* P( w, s& {
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are / e5 K' m: u) x8 t5 @just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made * l5 z8 i7 r' L4 j+ _" E" X; ~for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba. |! T' k# [7 ?+ E4 f# z1 J: A
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having+ }0 O/ _0 b1 t! w0 \" C5 l
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 8 S2 Z& U6 x( Y# a0 Z# ldaily 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 # {1 t2 b7 G" O; I, [; j: S/ O# vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went/ I h2 J4 s4 N6 w+ j7 @1 J' ^
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, " P$ ~8 E0 f! R- k$ Z"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 L& f/ T& a7 L5 M" j
answers to our pointed questions.% M& M$ h- x% I* W
9 ~2 R" T# e8 E
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 7 x$ Y$ _6 J: r7 M w" d& _45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) U/ r8 W2 Z3 x, |% j2 ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ' r, a: _( y8 \/ @' {* e. i4 \$ Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 5 x6 `+ }9 V/ _# }- W! o9 ]to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ j% p& u, N; t, [. i# j' I8 m" g4 a
medical schools. 9 A& i2 {, s- Z+ w. t/ M7 \ 5 @5 i' J) @3 ]" C# KEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the' {% P- O; }! I" S
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants x3 N! s. o/ b( c' Q( u1 @
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - w- O0 B+ O0 R" [1 Cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! y1 x1 I: c, W2 q: x `
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 S9 Y$ g0 K8 K' }& K) h4 F
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& q& w! p/ _4 I& a4 E
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 7 h+ d, q6 q) n4 t' W1 ^6 J8 |0 amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" t$ D/ y. l) D6 ]7 F2 b z
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ' S4 I& Q! H9 y9 msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.$ o3 x7 r4 U- a/ m4 A. B% \
4 Y! r0 m; B. X5 n. {The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no : x' I! f8 R/ |5 b1 D6 H1 cprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: O% S3 Y- l6 W) ?7 \4 i8 _; \ W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ; P8 }" i- k2 b/ ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 7 q/ h6 u9 \( ~8 ?# K& Kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# [, y: J( c, t# w& O' Q0 D* K/ g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 9 E; s, F. `6 j, s- Y: \. Q bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. / L+ ?( H& w( {% x) JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When$ R) L" H- l+ B" \& \
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ) b& @ g3 L X6 U6 T" ]charge the fee defined by the state. + U- P8 J+ @: Y' Y# J; e9 U) V2 ~9 W5 ?
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) B/ n: H" T( E6 Y* d# q: e2 i
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 z" x" P4 n+ D0 {: }2 r* ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! _/ t+ I' x! e0 G$ k1 ~+ mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel4 E7 s9 F$ A) G8 B \* j) f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! }; S8 q- }% I+ n: ]. M' G$ o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" l* d4 r, a d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% M* m% t \! s$ ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 6 i+ f0 F/ r$ y3 M/ W5 J: c' ^: Strying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch " W/ J" L1 l/ y1 V, Lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 1 @+ v7 U$ M$ f) d; Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* ~) X; h+ Z3 n$ I1 k- {5 [) ?
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 3 W. ]" U/ p8 b# j; m; ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( v2 w- B1 z# I
are spaces. ' K& A" N/ ` W' Y/ J# a9 n% x4 r3 R/ l
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi * |5 p6 v. U9 T R1 eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they r9 B- H# K& k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: M! j0 T8 b( Y" m6 w9 b! A; K) [
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ! }% k& ]- O7 D; Q; L0 dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ; A1 [; M( k6 X( V% h( cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 1 M# t. C3 H$ gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of, |! C) c) N6 o% {3 ^! [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it Y; E5 u1 ^3 u3 z3 D8 q- c6 g% {0 ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 z) U) N8 y4 Q- g
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 ( w6 K$ }! G* C6 L& o+ y# e1 Wspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all! C9 C- Z+ K5 j b8 _3 y9 }
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 0 q& Y9 h- a, @5 ^" F; K! t$ n1 Wlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep5 i6 |7 D- a( E
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 2 a7 i a; A! @# H* O7 c1 p' Fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of5 k9 u, f# H+ Q! j3 v1 E
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms1 A L8 ?0 D) l2 \. T9 h# n" k
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the* z4 ?4 j" ^" I% t, q, b# B' r
tourist area.! m2 m# }" l% X8 W
" v% m3 X3 u" P, ?One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's* S& ^2 G( z) |
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).# p( r! S% _5 E# q* D0 [" R& v% r
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ( U7 t$ i5 N% z% ^ |everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ' X% A# C( z3 @% \ h) X8 Y9 lless leader-religious.9 B4 B# g8 k- j( q
. c0 E3 ^4 H. O1 |3 p7 f. X9 VAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba6 L8 k, E' P Z9 m3 y) d
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 4 p/ _6 f$ k2 r5 N! t7 hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US) Q1 k7 X6 x* Q% A( g
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 8 y% j( b5 w0 v% @- {! n& H5 d# V0 @# i
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 5 ?9 Y8 \+ c. N( v, m hparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not + B5 \6 @: ~& a" m) B1 S& }the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1; _3 P7 B1 C4 Y: V* T* P; H3 x
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for0 C' Z" L0 Y0 O! j: l1 `
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars E+ n. d: C7 Z5 O(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( U# `* {. N- [& y# k/ ^
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% t1 z+ H$ l- v% `
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. S) ?$ B+ n2 W
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local$ N' `3 Z7 j0 N/ B
or visitors. ( U3 T. Q( J6 Z( b; w3 o$ X. N& |+ h, O$ R* R2 I' R7 ]
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 . O }2 B* S6 M% E- V' Q6 r. p Y2 k
