We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 `" _, I& D! M, G% ~- Pinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we" X! i% A: @* l9 B% o% l
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.5 F2 R% l3 L- ?2 m6 t
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, , c4 B: f0 B' H$ A& O30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ' r' k( y0 J# p7 `; g2 M6 Da very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as % D; W. K2 L) t5 J0 `( }$ B1 q0 ]3 Apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort u! o9 I% b0 J; W6 a) f
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 4 ?+ @5 X* C+ ^( H/ e; C3 Ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the% V* H' e- V/ z L
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 6 |8 B. I5 C; v }with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.$ p8 h9 F9 j7 W, g, U( [
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but9 m$ L0 C$ u: [9 I3 Y* H# C
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# x# E: M) P' L; Y2 q
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our % H" p, }8 ~& z4 w2 Rflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through6 e" i( q/ _: V' A9 {
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.- |5 a R8 _; ^
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ! j4 m6 r4 v: d. F+ [9 wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool3 X; @' s1 n) z
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top( [- X( }' z0 y! P
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the & S& \' b4 }) P d" A* mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from * R7 L% p, w2 `1 h w49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes " m( T! {2 h1 Z, L& _3 p: ECuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ( R, c) B: d0 K$ E& o" ^6 U8 efingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada." w" [7 ?7 b3 Y# r2 F9 A
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 2 p& @$ d9 S- J# T+ `* [3 u v* Ojust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made/ O& v7 P2 O' c
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba . X" z& J% w7 s. x/ |/ wtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having5 C A- ~* w6 ^# l8 J1 x
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 7 q3 o* `* ~% s/ x) @ M! Hdaily 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, living0 t' ~9 F5 R5 W0 K5 i
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ) g, n1 o6 h: e: R7 f# h5 Aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, * ~, {/ e. @0 w* b7 H. q& E9 @"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give & u; M& E$ D2 Nanswers to our pointed questions. 4 d& g0 i: @+ H6 X! o8 ^2 N) d8 O3 A |6 r+ _( {9 v3 f- tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) L; v% {5 \' k. N% e7 x- w% S
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& J! J( q1 U0 B y8 S
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ e! y2 s7 P9 T3 n% Z& w2 V
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams * t/ ~; k% {) Z0 kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are * V) i" F4 J1 g3 s6 Amedical schools.! ?# [1 |5 s. E8 ^1 H
2 L6 [/ X' a% _- ^6 ZEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 5 ?" v; h5 m3 d9 Cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 y8 y. L8 M3 d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years & J$ Y H8 q' G6 N5 j& | ~" H5 Eassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba / g: i* c8 f& dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. }- G0 [6 Q5 c# o- N: r! \2 w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 3 @0 \7 B3 u' o. q9 c' `5 Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and $ _5 _* n1 o3 R/ vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ( F" H& V! X( Sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 }: x r0 a' U( z; b+ O
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 o# O, H* V0 d8 K% y+ n
: y9 n' Q% t S2 {. wThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ a0 T. W' [4 `; @, T
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / i' j8 d" | k0 |$ @+ ^ nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 8 r1 ^ i6 h" G0 rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good - i( H! q+ O, p7 u! H; ~thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 u# R* f1 d* S; J
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 r0 ^, m, |# J& Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., J, e1 O5 K* o- A- d3 x4 y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 j& U. ]% u8 \0 g9 k
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only / O# f- u" c. mcharge the fee defined by the state. / I' M( g1 ?# M- v 0 q) A) m/ T2 Q V' K# OThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ; _0 k* r, u& Y9 z* I6 ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 E% y) m' N @# U# C; r; }
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big % P" b4 H; [4 z+ H# W o6 ^3 btruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel$ P) I x/ t1 x% U+ R+ H# p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. I% ]( _6 Y; s5 S- d' v
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ' ^0 u. h' C* `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 2 {; Q6 B7 u: R' F v6 h- ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 6 M/ o7 K( r6 t+ a3 utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ) K; M5 [' l/ mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 b% E6 k/ _1 p6 p" A& L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# J" x j0 w7 k( }9 s/ E3 Z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 9 M4 u4 J. U1 y* {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there + D& G# }" k: Fare spaces.3 d+ M. H' [+ B* W2 X$ Y
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi " Y% D% K- `1 U3 U8 v# T% ]/ yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ) r2 s# k/ ?! Nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( l& a9 L- W- ~9 w6 N4 T, {
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different & I. t6 m& p: k. w& |parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the & n; q0 W- k- H9 J5 p9 d' Rbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ) q" j+ Z! E" n& D! q! \; [nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 7 `) @/ l4 a& Q+ _" ^% a- i; x# Z \; Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ! Y5 t3 J2 a3 l8 a9 Eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 X; y" \( M( Q( k% q
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 . A5 x6 t2 G( ]+ Bspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" K2 L6 b) `8 c
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 7 w7 r, V8 P& slimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep / x: R- [% r) T9 H, {recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day$ F! U1 p) {9 m! O. h7 s6 i* ?' F- z
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 9 M$ h1 g. h5 l3 }; Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms' m; A6 k n% H- t, }5 J
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the , A, W/ X0 b Z3 ^& P- Etourist area. 5 w( J/ C4 R5 c6 h& E 1 X# c' A. i* G" c# h* Y* oOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's+ I1 X; {# ~0 c
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ( ^7 j, O+ c& k7 c- n# kCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were! p6 p1 |0 {) F1 ~
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 K! F2 y* L. u
less leader-religious. * h7 j) K# d9 r! s' P- g+ I: R0 H 9 S/ H( m5 f- F( l6 J+ ~About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba0 t& T( a( R1 g7 z7 }
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big/ s1 D: s" O* d9 n! q1 N, R
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 9 b4 Y: }1 J7 i9 S7 K+ xembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* L9 R% g8 a3 G$ c7 P
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . H% v+ F/ n% m+ ]8 p6 rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 7 O2 B7 C8 K& r& M6 w6 D: hthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) U" Q- } @7 n" Z
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for P4 b; W" b6 ^
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars & t' f$ {. V# Z6 [$ K(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 4 L* L/ s2 B& G0 n: q. t I* L8 Wprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ F r3 F, u6 x& J; u( g% O7 ?4 J
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.8 p9 b2 H1 _8 a3 G+ J$ }
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local# N3 ]! p% P2 t4 c- z' F
or visitors. / a, J& ^0 e, ~. V9 q( e) B x& p/ j+ i& b3 k# P0 J5 j
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
