We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very$ \5 ^" Z/ s4 n/ n# J8 s% V: X( X
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we# j4 u' X& Z' ^6 C
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. k7 l4 Y9 W, u* b
, ?) p, B( ?* p# N% ~: l X5 NIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, + X& ~+ z, E, f) |5 X30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in $ M. E+ t ?) k/ g+ A- U8 na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 5 Y& _9 x+ @9 {3 vpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ' B( |. ~3 I/ O9 L1 O2 w2 yshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep" {7 F" J& J2 g, S; X$ c
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ! H6 ?9 o, X" v, L) e$ clobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 8 ?( M6 @ Y% `. }7 w fwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.* Q5 O1 P% T" p0 ]) g
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but; ^8 w% }! a. q( C' q
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not, K* k) _8 V3 O+ J- t
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our3 C' ]& G+ }8 c3 Q& k/ v6 @# N) j
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ' {' Z7 ?( a3 Fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. # F# t: O) b6 s 9 i/ _2 e% w! N6 e/ }1 lThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,! G) m" h" \# m2 p
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool" n/ s- t! q* ~' A0 T- E& U
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 9 P w; [) ?% n( E( E a3 Pof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ l8 O( _* ~( H2 Gstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from1 ^8 d8 N; e' `
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 r0 A* p4 ?' n' u y4 n' {
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with' ~. d! n7 w' L _2 u
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 6 Y! i, E: H0 }# b" s: p" C9 g5 e K. [7 ?9 O4 X
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are: w) G+ N9 ]* n+ x. D
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made( H. W J g& w! F
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba : ]8 p) X& c" G& j8 xtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having U. E7 l p* u( }9 @% ha staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China( e' B, s! H/ i; I; s+ |6 L) ?
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, living9 b0 O% t- S# r8 ]/ n! h
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( `( _- }* V l+ d3 V( i" }
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 r J. g- ?$ X6 O
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give . M7 _8 Z/ j u% d+ i# x; ]answers to our pointed questions.$ ?# ?2 r2 f% x8 Y1 D. X" A, [
* ^: l# R3 n. z3 O; U: L+ `! DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 8 f" c2 `. F2 l% M! W: N; d& ?* ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand # b' v: q6 S7 Y' ^. f9 rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - u/ H: u. E* H5 nfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 8 P3 i5 T! L1 t# d/ jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 4 [# `& U" f7 wmedical schools. 4 d" s4 W9 v6 g f8 q0 r+ R g : A5 N5 H5 h' N4 L6 dEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 M+ S4 u& J$ f3 ~, q3 r. _
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants( i2 s9 k& b1 M* c' m$ o$ r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years + W9 N+ u+ I3 w4 G3 cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 ?/ w- ^ |( m3 ?/ bis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. D, a* H; l8 r" C( V, b1 D9 j9 Y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There - Q% C$ y8 p) Wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 5 ^8 ?% Q. `# fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! N# j0 ?, ]; I: P; [. R' Y
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ( X% Q5 o$ i! v8 I7 V) l- b: Rsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 d# I1 L6 I* g) |, Y, }
# `. u; D0 }2 f3 l
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ r7 g' ~8 k5 } Q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& X: o+ S5 F5 g$ J
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people . \& a3 Y1 N1 S" `% ohave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good . T' _2 g/ ]% K& K$ Lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; F1 f- L6 d8 L" |7 v$ c, {* }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 4 g+ D3 T2 J0 A+ O. h- g) Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ( `1 H% E7 K1 Z! N) ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 7 D; w3 o3 O! Pa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only - X7 H2 \7 J2 ]: y7 }charge the fee defined by the state. 6 C# |* ?; Z, \7 w3 G* e! X$ h% \ P7 W+ A, `
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ \" v: B# v( | [" m
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type [2 @' x) L/ V3 g2 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ q+ [6 h+ H, V$ U
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel5 e0 ]( [- [3 g6 b# N5 b- E" c5 O
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 P! R- x! p6 {/ S
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 D. z$ K; ^) W* \% s% M5 X/ D0 ~* o
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 u H. o, t* @9 w; w" m+ C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ; o6 _* a$ W% P, ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ! E! J/ v0 H9 b- b- m( @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 Q; N% @; I0 j; n c* A: C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 i. y+ I& O; k/ I+ h; }$ d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or $ q+ O) a, r) l4 a+ [6 ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ V1 R8 e) R8 Z; k& O1 C
are spaces.' ?$ u: ~+ y7 T
7 y% l; U' X3 f( wThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 3 ^1 c/ U1 e N& Y7 g% @) [1 i. tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ A/ q9 a3 t) ]- a0 P# @
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: E5 C- ?: o$ L6 G+ T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 l6 l3 K6 @9 ?
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 c/ i A7 U3 ]; Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ } d5 ]! C, j) S/ d% A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 5 f) {# \/ V" _& D+ f) T5 vcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it + [6 ?/ m$ H# y& o2 J9 r' His a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 3 j2 Y4 a6 M- ^) S" a7 v# i$ e 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) J3 Y0 n4 e9 ~/ ~+ f3 G
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all) O+ D! M8 W# e: [$ R) W @( }! s
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very; \, Q: ~! Y7 O0 b+ I$ T4 W
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep2 |3 c# O9 Q& C2 h* }
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day . C8 J* \8 p* b" C4 Lsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ O6 p+ G2 A! a% p; u1 P
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms / L6 f9 J/ M: d* V3 ?' a. Fhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the) \: S: u) D2 \8 m- Q( S3 A; [
tourist area. & ]8 s8 _8 c1 z- P ( C ~% s/ V6 W+ d, i4 Q1 ROne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's1 o1 p( c6 g5 }9 n( Z9 J
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 j& f [0 @* |, Z/ _8 \ I! e3 F
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were+ c- f" o5 J0 a; q
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ! f! x+ [3 A7 H$ B4 Z' j: Sless leader-religious. - J1 o2 h4 I3 F* g4 k/ J V n' @9 A8 e4 r: y6 N
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba! |" j3 f* G, M+ Q+ u3 a b
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big - I& w/ c7 Z1 \1 gblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ; T0 X) W9 E. x8 F f! fembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* X ?) { o0 e9 f5 x& A
* b: i S+ Y% Z7 }
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the& b" z4 {0 A! V$ C. d
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not c+ N9 V- R5 I% L: pthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 |# R: b( I! h- S4 e# Dconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 r" l I/ ~8 x: |- b
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ( y0 f0 J2 }) @# n2 V1 g6 [(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( v: E6 T5 f; } T% v
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 9 }1 Q2 ` k, A e9 Rreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. * K# f7 P/ b1 m8 j2 C: BAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local - G3 _" ?4 K' u$ H2 `( {3 {or visitors.4 N7 V; L& d5 B+ g+ Y% X* X; r/ @
' p" s* P9 y2 W1 k5 L8 `: ?
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
