We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very4 r9 D: [; y7 A0 P! ~4 y8 }
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we+ R8 r8 `. L$ B$ y& y
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. & G/ b' h! S/ a2 x; V, \! ]* W1 |4 ^
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,, `2 S7 h3 E/ J- ?
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in3 g4 P0 f G0 s0 k1 J: g
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as* Y) o' j6 {8 J" Q" m2 b
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort& |/ G& u% p1 m: s3 W6 K
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / D7 X* `$ [- m5 P) M( g/ O% m; ~between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 7 B4 e2 I; S8 @lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 2 x; \/ n) E! G3 b+ y2 hwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.9 p" c8 [$ y$ f4 r( r ~' J
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ( ^% X( Z. z" f0 `3 Bnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not; @. `4 B8 v4 }# p. _
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our" D: \* i; h2 O2 s8 }
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through' b! X% e: ]+ T$ Z0 @& \( [
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ( R& L! ]9 H6 @( W % ?% I: H( `. H+ T1 AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, d" F. m7 Q# Y" Q, dlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool : T. u7 s1 ]- |+ j$ \- u6 L(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 N% ?$ @. u7 F+ D/ P
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the , ]. |% r. I1 Q# _0 Gstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from - S1 f/ q; V% z$ b# t49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes! G0 k& m3 b3 C
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with- C; L, m1 ^1 i7 X9 ?7 r
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ! }- h8 O+ ^7 H8 v2 A2 {1 o( g' l1 ]6 K
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are) Q4 F* W3 |( v, \9 w/ [
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made. o+ }) Q, F; Y* k. @3 k( i4 P* Q
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 6 a/ o! G4 R( stourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having! @1 }4 _$ G% I' {6 x- Z
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China- B2 e* s% G8 N" J j
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 : Q o1 R' k4 G) Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went # L. F% m( v; X7 v# n' Uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 9 R# d( H* H' E1 b) K"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 ]# d" p9 v W' U! D
answers to our pointed questions.5 a: z! g. Q z6 a( `8 x
$ W7 D* c2 ^. u7 @/ L6 u7 W2 }The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, / O* N' h! P1 n( N9 c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 6 ~/ J7 J, t5 {& I; f5 Q$ Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is' @) O. j; K1 O/ n3 t
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% R3 P8 x a( Q6 k" l5 M6 s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) N# q1 N+ G% p$ H4 ?6 e" g: q
medical schools.6 l! Z" m3 n$ Z
) A9 C8 g- X- G, G) {8 A0 [5 K
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) e7 ]* h; @6 Y# ~: J1 e3 x
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& ^5 G& q& z8 {2 L" w. J3 F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 3 c$ M; ~! l$ Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, N; D+ V+ }" ?( s4 O" ]
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to % h+ r8 Q% p; b5 D, tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There & H: L5 o7 E7 T& S) i. W w6 {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 @7 v G7 E) K; N: n7 g+ q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk " i4 w) {1 b; w7 e+ [* f3 ]shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 3 Z5 Y9 U' |8 O6 x) m7 b2 R" psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' L( t {- }4 e1 J
! n% u- }' c3 D" a: l7 E
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# S; q; d* F: J! j7 K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 2 W6 Q0 p% F) z8 X4 s5 a* psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) U" f! ]# m/ o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% ^; `! B1 T q( {! W M8 Z0 \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby . H" M, m7 T7 Ositting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high / q6 l: X) D' g/ sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 I, ~& b# v7 P- Z: bDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; G* d& i% y9 Z1 A6 n) f- M8 x- q( r
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" H1 I3 ^( H3 d( m8 @
charge the fee defined by the state.+ ~ m1 V! o, S# }
. L g* _/ D3 H# q8 E; p
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get $ G5 ]) r) w; `$ T0 u; Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 A9 @2 I! K0 T! Q: A4 [3 @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big / B8 ^4 F1 w* t2 htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 P2 h1 s$ j+ u
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the , N1 {6 P: S2 w L, ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- k a. y7 H/ ]9 n
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 4 m( o: S( a0 I2 u5 @4 I5 R% cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* O1 L( D4 `- R$ m/ q, {, v
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 C1 G$ [# V2 f2 i8 k- r
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that . s7 g( v7 ]0 I' I$ X# Lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ! ]3 t% `9 n* C( V! Pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 5 Y) @6 _9 g! k% Ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there - l5 m% q$ T$ }3 I0 W9 @" V& Kare spaces." P( N6 E: F8 g1 D- b9 ~/ G; G
( \- U7 m# i0 r+ m! ?( V5 U0 u: ], |
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi - J. `+ {1 c( hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 4 [4 m8 F; t+ G1 Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the " q- b$ D1 L! e- t2 L% O" `3 }7 s40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different & i' v. q) `6 B1 vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the / e% \5 }1 I* U9 U" l( N2 r* Hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 3 {; m* `4 F% [+ M/ m! I+ cnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' \. ]" J# a! {, g: S8 Q/ I( P
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. s+ j7 \) o M! w
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 3 h- E6 \/ d) L+ x" { z- @ 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 ' ^ ]7 E$ y" p, d R$ zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ; s3 v3 n: R7 L2 @; u9 A" D" |9 Ethe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 4 ] _0 ?. d/ g) j0 [/ _: u! [limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep " q0 w7 A9 t2 @/ |5 W( P) orecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day& ^' X2 t: C0 U/ C, z. E
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of# h' u6 E8 b2 Y* P+ j9 p
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ) b0 O6 j4 Y! \7 ~have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the * s" s9 w( T0 e& Itourist area.1 Q$ ~1 F& ]8 o o8 Y
I3 `! `7 N9 Y+ g% ]! @One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- Q C, q/ m6 @
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 C0 f( }7 \/ c- w- f
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were2 M7 H( ^8 u& i& M& _" Z
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 t- @, {" H. T8 b6 ?* N$ v- H0 I
less leader-religious.. w V. a# o E, a# H
! b% F8 Q+ T& B, H/ L3 o1 d
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 ]# M! B) g# x, {
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big/ g, t& F' ^3 L; J0 [( d
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US% X' W3 p, w; {- P# W2 `( |
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).0 J& P) `) Z5 C& X& H7 [8 q
8 C. D: \) a; OWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 3 d7 _' O6 }, \4 }) B& yparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 5 _4 P. ~+ Q' x1 |& w& tthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 y. F- |( |; q. V# T
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 4 l- j$ e! A# C* iforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars % w* b9 g( e* a2 H(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we . F7 {+ O5 R7 m. d0 H& a6 `probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 8 B* b. y5 f/ x: { d; dreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. * A; H0 j- Z W* n+ W: ~$ a% YAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local , X' p7 Q4 c, L7 @or visitors. 0 Y" c5 S! b5 r O2 `. s5 D7 Z , u; V( [& u/ T+ A-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
