We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very9 {7 u& K. W2 D" H1 l
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 1 G: |1 O- D* ~+ f% Ewanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. % F4 u& M+ A" ~# Q y1 M/ }% A' I! o7 C' y5 q# `
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,) j. p E! B" W3 m' |4 ^
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in' V* I. I% g: R+ a" o/ n) \
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as/ \7 c4 l& T* i% E: K
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 4 m0 X, i9 l b* B/ Nshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep, p3 p( i6 y, `* g
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the # J% q1 z8 H Q A: q6 E4 klobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 I, J) A% m, i0 z6 C6 rwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / r, @3 V0 k; ~* m1 a2 s People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 J( ^( Y9 @! M: k X
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not - r1 y3 C8 b6 dexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our. o7 F6 {6 ]) e* M& B$ [
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through & }* `5 v& d/ }# g3 e" A4 c1 ka roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. & E6 |, J9 Z8 ?* C/ y% F: @! f& p7 h& T6 x. ]; L; ~4 r+ u! O
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, % t6 Q1 F- e3 @6 F) A: |- Flow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool' U, ?) r! C' c4 w( x& p
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top . B6 ~- i1 f8 t; Jof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the0 i/ E* V" A0 Z2 c% |8 K3 X
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from6 W( q; x" D( V2 P
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes% J# M2 E+ z/ A9 A; W+ S q6 j
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 0 e$ Z# p* D c: cfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 e& {. W3 n2 r4 } n
5 c2 _# Y, W& c( E7 B) RThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : g9 S: l4 ]0 C3 r3 l% s# [just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made% b$ t9 G" V! B9 U, |2 l& K
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba t* d' r, f7 [( |/ R. n% { Xtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having a" K$ N2 _1 M
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China , W1 {6 k* ?. K- D6 Udaily 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* F$ D5 E' t) [5 t' j
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: r5 @7 o. k0 R9 L \' y& `- i% [
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, + H# H" N+ U: a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ! t2 V9 D( s% s" X1 s1 oanswers to our pointed questions. 8 L. J. d) u1 r/ J1 v9 x- l$ o: o0 O1 g: D
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- y: H; C( G: e/ p/ Q. `+ n$ c
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand , w- _/ i! I/ D7 C# ^. J' u" Gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is * z" _0 M, a/ Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams # |. i- h* u: i* h9 nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are . W! X$ U6 b. A, ^8 umedical schools. " w, n. g2 h4 w' j) D# h4 Z* E6 u7 t/ h u+ P
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% F2 C Z1 d$ l) i
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 7 `- d; l& Z6 m; q0 Vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . R- D$ d& G7 H! x4 B$ N, Hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba , H+ \: p- g5 m0 G1 Gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 T) _6 y( C% y# _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) p3 R, M9 f1 H: I: c
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and % l9 s& V/ Y, B) |mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) o! h3 `, y5 U7 Z; q' s6 X- U: a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 K' w- `' k6 _4 d" O: g" ?% w
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. / Y: L x9 B4 K4 n( ]4 q* A / b. y& h, f0 h2 O4 UThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ( @- W' `3 t: ~private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' Q: C+ P' m3 u# i! h# K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people $ x* b) `( z0 n# c3 A Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good m! x/ q- @$ K d" \: wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 6 s, v+ @" [% b8 J* Vsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 5 e/ p$ D" x0 D4 }divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ; e; @3 f0 |) W* q: y! ?Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When8 z6 s" t$ ? F* s
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 4 W( h1 [( b% ~! z! J+ ^& I' }charge the fee defined by the state." `9 s) _3 H) j) Y! Q0 q
8 V& `" ^% n2 n
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 q3 i' `: e" @$ c8 g' h
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type $ Y7 u& n- [+ k4 n( Z/ Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big " O! W+ T) z5 J- C1 {8 etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! I3 V0 d6 E( s$ R( ?4 `. X! G' Z* ]
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& D0 r: {2 M. ?3 ^* ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# `4 y8 ?# s6 j( S: H! _4 Y1 G3 ?
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 6 y, E+ H* F9 L' \, a! byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) r' Z9 n# z* F- z& W
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 d. ~2 y Z3 c$ ^( N' R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& ?4 {1 Z% Y* x. g- M
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want $ M# R, H0 X: Sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 6 ] t' a1 x" o( j) v cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) c( b" ]: ~1 x; c1 z: z4 Q2 i
are spaces.7 i* d0 n9 H9 o4 e. i ?* ^9 C1 Z
2 u* C t9 Z* C) N( V/ Z: FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . y: [0 ~8 Y( }+ ]8 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) U6 ]: j! w( I, B) K+ v. ~ J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- X! ~- M/ A4 _; O& M' d4 a h
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 q: a2 H- y' }! L: T
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( G# N8 _- U- T0 h3 T' r2 D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 M4 N) F6 x+ a+ r( ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of : H: c; i4 X R( T. f Acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ) r* h; K/ f! x C. ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 M) C" u7 z1 X
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" |) y' K9 p4 P; v) e; e f% ~. ^
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' s8 w" r- @, q% {' P. y; y
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very / Y: t V h, u; o+ Y3 v1 climited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep * i/ T/ _4 s% g. Qrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 q: ?, u8 F4 D. `* w3 psupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ' d0 x8 l) w* b$ Cthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms % p" o u" ^/ g+ E1 v2 q3 @+ m1 Qhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ( {. l; @0 }0 p1 l5 Ftourist area.( ~) Z+ |% s4 l" ?: Z9 p
( R5 s8 N2 A4 a. y! T- `
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 z- ]3 v* B7 R7 l! |/ V! G0 gpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). - @, d6 @/ i3 yCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were k" k' F+ X% b6 U
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 a- C0 z! R+ _+ O- p. _less leader-religious. * u) D6 t/ {) P$ W7 k $ q" O% y \0 _/ r" \About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba - F2 `, _' Y P$ R0 @government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big6 j y0 P8 Q8 D
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 0 E6 M0 B: ^5 ]& q& E' Q: W3 ]embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( P% f) a3 j% z0 ^/ z& @ g' F# I, H# q9 [( D1 {6 [We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 4 ^1 A7 G! G5 A5 Oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not& y# n. l* I, X: p8 B/ C1 o5 a: {
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 # g1 l5 J7 ]1 N* ]9 n8 {# C! \convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 0 P/ n: G W7 X( s7 nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) \# O) m# r# ]' F: h) z) g
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ( z# t+ Y9 c2 x( b0 C5 yprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the / O: O4 i1 t. j9 Preal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 B* f6 l# h# Y. r8 ^0 ?And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local4 s% o- `1 \# `; j1 C* h
or visitors.; l4 Y, z5 U9 R. c6 Z' c1 d& d
1 u, S3 s: O7 [* i# O-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
