We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 K8 f6 N9 S$ N* a6 l6 t1 |5 winteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we/ G: Y4 O3 b# o
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ; t3 n" _ s$ n# y " ~5 }1 z3 H0 r. m, {It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young," K s4 p; ^: i" h( |1 N
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in : Y" e7 K" d) H7 `1 _$ y6 ra very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as $ K( B! {% x4 y- }6 Y% o: Z' r4 _possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 3 i+ L8 m, |7 k6 O) M; Qshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 {5 Y H% v9 i @1 J+ C+ lbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the8 o& _/ e( n1 W+ F- h
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ B; q! {4 Z$ l$ J* iwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & v; Z* h; o0 J6 d- ^) s People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but" ]3 j. d* t* c% @2 F
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 6 M" z, ~0 Q7 Bexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our1 ~% V. E' i; F
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through' |; T2 R' O7 J( N( O- ~% w8 {" i) |
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.2 Y4 W5 Q5 `. m# Z" ]$ `; ^
f8 z2 G9 @+ m( wThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, " v3 |# w% t: K7 |/ ilow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool / U# S- T) A; H( ~(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 ^- p, L7 m; A0 t2 \ Vof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 1 b% e0 i3 l- h! s8 j/ bstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from% X1 ~; l8 T2 v8 w$ q, z6 x4 j! L
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes # u: e) `& l* V4 W) c, YCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with: _; b$ Y! F: S: C
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.9 J& ^1 m8 p- ^
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are . ]6 s4 _2 T+ n$ R7 njust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 Z- G# g9 T1 {4 j
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba+ u' Y) Y/ @% J: V
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having; h( Z* M/ s; t! V. g3 Q
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China* C$ E$ n3 \* G) N4 B1 R/ I
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 1 r8 V% t+ o& @5 i3 Kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went + ~5 d9 `( z D. @on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, * P: p7 ]% G0 ~3 y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 f |- v4 I/ Z, U. v
answers to our pointed questions.) I6 J v2 {6 ?5 V8 w, b
# n$ d- W6 T' g+ z4 U0 E4 w4 f
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, / e* _5 i- M* M: V" @' i. O45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand - g$ x3 Y, B0 _6 t6 tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 v9 P9 p6 s/ m
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) N6 r- ]! k# ]/ h
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 @3 G9 M' F+ s6 l1 Y0 Q
medical schools.+ r% H$ G3 ~9 b' {& l# n+ M
+ ]: e/ J, y7 h0 D$ N& A
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 9 J5 W2 ^; L; O! tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants d. f2 n! H* ^! y, {
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ' S3 |7 {$ q; T2 o+ o: I! X5 C( ]assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba& f1 M% G+ r F( P8 {) G) s: T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to4 {! Y/ Z2 w( }$ M$ i) N. y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 8 \/ h) K6 Z( ~3 Q2 ]2 @) Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and0 [1 A2 s. J& A& |0 T3 ]! V% k9 v8 q$ f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk $ ^- Y: r- c/ L0 p2 O1 w0 Q0 _# [/ cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 {: }" d# L( }7 ? Y) z) I' c
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. " x5 a8 [& }0 \7 q; N9 w3 @3 N9 ] ) E# h/ w. }- U4 e) A6 i# tThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ) z$ ^8 p" y5 r7 l! m7 [1 Z7 zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and) @0 E+ s: N$ B! ~! {5 C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people / J3 O3 j% L8 L3 V9 Mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 1 ]6 R! x* G( x5 A* O! P4 y5 t+ Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 A& Y v1 K7 s! j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high9 R2 u6 Z8 p/ k$ d! d7 W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' l @5 q0 R$ }- q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 M# y) g3 W5 W9 S
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only j' y4 T% Q2 M" j
charge the fee defined by the state. ' s! d" S3 `3 J A8 ~3 B1 m0 D7 l5 @; _5 A' r; ]! p
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get * y* q9 A& e% F4 y. hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) V; N4 H8 Z* O2 r
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 5 n! u/ M4 Q0 y- ^+ n1 Ztruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ {. r! V l* _ a4 p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 m; D9 F: ~ W0 R) E) d* p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on : G& ~. `6 e: O6 Bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if4 @# O$ {/ ]3 n
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 {6 ] A4 X$ C; w5 [% U
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, x6 F9 G, i/ J% ~% h
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' [ x! A0 C- [( o" B' G3 {/ {. a- _
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want $ Y( L1 [ d% i, j" tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 4 v: G) `" r9 w+ o/ pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 y, L" _* A7 X! \
are spaces.# f9 f8 O4 L2 v. J) a1 J
0 C- ~. g1 e. b* z* o9 C& ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' ~. X/ `3 m9 K M# L0 M3 o
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 `* F& K5 @; k$ U: W9 r3 O/ K; W
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the& x( c- j1 q, w. j: Q* E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 p5 u5 h9 P! p* v* J
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, f# l! t( f! h8 ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few" q7 l: l" I; U1 N7 g
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; o3 g" X# n# `9 z
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it * v4 u# a3 S# b/ @" H9 Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. + }3 b- R/ F) O: E" F4 ~ 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* c* [" e* a/ Y+ k- f0 L
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all- o' Y; \+ Q& O8 y% {. U- M2 G0 Z
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very+ d4 x( {. ]' q3 Z+ @" w3 v
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep" r( x+ v# H* h5 Q `9 X
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 6 }. Y+ l; S' e0 S/ T2 ]4 xsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of / I8 K2 r; g' P, q1 dthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 2 Z# O' {" t* P G: W4 |' ~: Qhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 1 E H# o& |) `. p# _6 ?tourist area./ j: m* a. `/ i: `7 x
. }" {( N/ d2 q+ K( {9 s
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 8 `. k5 y% T2 fpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).) G6 O/ V# ~. T [ b
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were , I6 k7 u; j: @. D% G S0 x/ Meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + _: t5 K8 Y a! w
less leader-religious.9 X8 x7 x [ [# `4 f1 q0 m7 f$ a" A
, Y2 J x: l" s! R* r# U, T' L9 zAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba" `1 D4 y Y& ?
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big " N! f$ ^* F9 O F" Oblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US : `/ U. X5 v$ h9 J) n" k' C. Dembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 3 \6 t, T$ G# r" {6 i3 e! E+ z) ?1 c" G/ }4 d6 `
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the $ s$ `+ u* t* e( u* S! Rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not! H; B! j- q; Q
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) F$ J! ^, A+ g# @* o6 q
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for/ B. l! S4 z4 A E. v7 K
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars # _ q4 j3 h$ r0 s2 \(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ) S. ~0 o# B( s' f4 P' S: _probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 e. a# j T; U: P# E9 j1 ^
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. ! ~7 l' F; m) ^And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local1 y1 W7 |7 p! [) c
or visitors.! i$ g6 M3 u3 I" l
+ Y) Z1 |5 v- O- j5 V, X
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
