We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 6 X2 Q; g# _7 _- N- }& Dinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we9 L: R7 ~0 W/ z" u! s, p
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 8 d) B, N# A& l+ N3 [$ p, t% s$ s3 b8 M% Q3 I
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % K7 C# z* M( ?6 }30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 4 T+ _$ H0 `5 [0 N2 q4 N. A8 x3 L0 y3 oa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as; K! w5 {" {- \8 _) n; g
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ' a! n2 U- x: u5 Q& e: Hshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep * |- p( e' v. w _. s9 H! O/ L6 ^between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the . X* ]9 W' b1 I1 u7 \lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,& C1 E) n6 c) x) C
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 I7 ?. Z1 x+ `: w1 h6 E People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 1 H9 `" N: H& ]% c% W4 j1 Anames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not, n9 c$ p6 r1 c0 h( V
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 0 D3 @. z& E: V/ l7 |flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through # Q+ O# C' G- La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 4 U; q0 B4 y q) T8 R9 L3 Y7 J/ e8 q: j- s, {" a
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,6 u* g2 s8 Y0 ~7 Q$ f" R
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool. b" [! J& g) L3 q( q; b
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 J* [# x8 G/ ]. x
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 2 u, T* X9 R8 A2 C1 `7 Ostars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from- y+ q5 f1 o7 Z3 u6 Z( U
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ' u" U3 z9 g. t$ k4 z" l+ D; o; pCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ! N, S- W- W% j3 ?. E4 D. a& Cfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. . t I* z, V& {: [* o0 P1 L. W' [ q, o* f1 O
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are x, r1 E6 o) F/ ~) H
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made- f2 R3 `. a+ S3 A
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba" Z1 k0 p) `% e) P2 r1 P! O
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having5 f }! u" P3 e1 b c
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China% n2 T0 V6 _5 E% }+ t m* }9 Q
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, living0 m! O% t- B. K6 @! c* U
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% A& i4 q3 D% a0 }1 a
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. z2 i2 ^3 y* A) a& H
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 9 ]- j' d1 m* H' Ganswers to our pointed questions.: a3 s. G, G6 ` d% G9 ~3 {
6 O& ]. o! ^3 ^) t
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ' k8 n4 e' c4 }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ ^8 A" s% r# D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is : u1 w% s/ x7 y6 T' E4 cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ) k1 G F2 y# _) E$ Fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are , X7 s' s) @( |8 imedical schools. 1 O6 Q) e" c5 Q+ w. ~. w) V& q p' z! d3 s' l
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; a- b( B# h' z' B7 G
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants : z2 M1 x) \3 v1 ~6 f9 r% Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 c6 }; {2 v% n( m/ J/ d6 h
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) }* ^$ h$ @9 O/ e
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to , O7 X a4 u: K. z$ P: Z+ r6 Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There + p2 C7 _+ J% ~% ~% i' u/ w+ S3 Rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 0 u, z( M6 ^ y" s6 j/ y+ I! rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 9 K' W1 R0 j U# mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some% ~# @4 H: _( j, h- p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ( U. v8 m* ^3 w( Z9 F6 Y% n* q7 h6 V0 N$ k
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 r3 A% v! _" H3 |! u: a& c
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 R* Z* }5 f( m& D& Z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; R* s! |) ~. f! y& E
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 1 O" B( V( o' j2 V9 A7 v+ ^. `thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 |+ b& T% r- U5 ]; a! i* v' d- s
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: o F% i. u/ p/ W, o3 y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 P/ a7 w# Y' n$ F: YDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When & C- z- z, v8 ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 3 L" h3 h4 R! K# V6 Pcharge the fee defined by the state.4 J3 \" g( h$ L: F1 c; j! {
' c8 p ~+ P/ r5 y, h0 }
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& Q/ c& j: Q7 H& L1 J h% f
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 8 g3 a2 i( `* I: Q! Q" J/ zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 E( @( a! d) u X' L* V0 c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel & o F3 K) `$ Z! rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ; V6 v6 j$ ^; x* R# jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 1 }- Y0 [+ h" q* Y0 Uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ ]4 d& O! V4 w! _, V7 M. q: q3 ?
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ' o3 C- ^, P9 _: K% j* ?* Ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ' a3 `7 C: V" ]8 zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that - I# q8 c- |( @people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want + U; M: q' ?4 j! f+ u( `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 j l/ [7 j! K9 J
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there : t9 `: L7 R# w' n9 Tare spaces. 8 r) q2 }( w- {& P( _" t7 I) s2 y( | % r; ?4 A" N3 _7 {3 {7 ~There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; j( ^8 O1 D: { k/ o$ W0 J
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 o( q$ _# N b& S7 q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: A1 R1 F& G8 B/ B& K6 q# w
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! F- p9 Z4 g2 z# X: r
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 s; P4 v% P* e2 I; }0 S5 {* S
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few # I" ^! N; l$ C. {# r( |3 `! D. ~3 }nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ( x6 K# m5 Q2 [% J$ z( R- {% Z ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it3 I$ g6 A, m' C" z$ i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.5 T' f, U2 v* M
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 / J, b- o9 v' A0 r/ |! Uspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" r+ |& u ], }5 K* c
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very! n. R: l. T; S, z& g
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep' Y( c+ [/ [- k/ e' [9 h
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day/ b" Y9 Q! j& D& e
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 J+ L( H2 J9 A: u
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms, S6 e* [5 G f8 |& r
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 7 H6 C. e) O8 @* R6 c/ ytourist area. 4 D7 d j' f- R+ B8 { ' F; k5 R T2 S9 W7 Z% kOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's , q# B5 K& r9 m: S ? {pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). " G3 j1 X5 n* |7 U; z! y: UCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were# z5 f3 N7 y& c' Y- W9 U
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 1 L* O+ f3 t/ G% F! \
less leader-religious.# p. x& U3 a0 }5 o- }- @
$ P8 e% U4 ?7 Y6 D) h2 EAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba - z- G2 O% _1 f% T4 {1 r6 [5 b% |0 d! Ogovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big5 d4 J4 ~: T& ^' ]! m+ H5 {
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 5 ?; M. B5 j/ {! iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).; Q8 S- f- Z& K+ l, |, {( v
E) R3 l1 z( Z0 F& L' w0 l) @We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the" [( ~+ Q/ B# l! n; C: _$ i+ v
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / b' M! T- m7 Q7 ]( ^1 qthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 3 Z( d+ ?" ~& U2 Z( | q! wconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for _+ u( x" Y& ^3 X- s0 A* L
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars / \2 ^, P% i5 |5 k2 }(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we/ y) M% _0 F7 e- O0 b
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the# B4 O) l' u. Q K: Z1 ]
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. ( Q9 H( \" U4 Q( n% cAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local5 W6 A: J0 K9 D1 L
or visitors. ) q6 ?" W, V! \, d! A ; Q* O2 |+ O" \5 P9 H-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
