We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very! p; m+ W4 Y- [0 Y( w5 e
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we' ]" B" h, L' e$ K9 D3 ]
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. z3 x# n' d5 I( ]9 m+ q! l2 W3 I6 S _: i' G8 { Y- d4 D
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,8 F' N) E# E" ^* G* U
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in# X7 S" H u+ C R1 H% _
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as * q& M! m% [7 ~* L/ a d6 hpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort - n+ ~% q' K. ?0 D7 R0 {6 |show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep. f; P; U+ q3 a7 _) b
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the/ l9 L; e2 m9 H# J6 {9 B( I
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 3 H9 _6 A! ]8 K+ N [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ! v* R' L1 V9 H) u$ v People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 4 z, V$ }/ o. o3 a3 lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not . y! p, {: G) A$ L+ ?4 n3 @exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our - Z& R/ k/ V! ^! {" t" p! L# Dflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ! v5 w r( ^! |# K& t$ La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 }- V$ d; Q1 D7 _1 |
( d6 t8 r( E8 H" y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, v" B+ k" V. w9 v3 \: O
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ; q5 Z# X3 }( c7 R- c) z2 y- a& S- X(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ) G- {3 b& _7 ?! O4 B+ oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 8 E5 j7 W" f" J% Y5 |stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , w! U. }" t6 N" I% z49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ; S; O" {2 \3 n6 ^8 O4 ~4 FCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 1 K* ?$ j& ]" n: x5 Dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. # X. o+ P, v4 w& d) t# x/ @- R4 _! R2 ?
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 2 h- W1 Z' V7 }! m2 ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 ~8 G0 \5 D) K2 r; E1 b7 yfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba* {$ n7 m* v1 V! o- F' K
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having! ~0 z ~9 T) H3 ?" M3 W
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 _7 o; h" W# t" fdaily 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& k- B2 z% _, _0 f+ x
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' ]3 x* L+ Y4 W1 ]+ ~+ j- Q1 w
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 0 \3 W; [. N- | ~# v& a; a0 W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 4 h9 R1 r+ m$ \# R& r$ F' P0 I7 xanswers to our pointed questions.; ^: w' j9 h$ _% b' ]: r2 Z
8 J D: W" O9 {& v/ l* C& |* B* JThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 0 W& m! W( q; O* O45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand * t: G( x# M$ k, |4 xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ B( j4 b3 x' B, L' u. I- c7 Y/ W# S
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& q7 r0 ?% j1 g0 T- ^$ T; x
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 j. E7 D8 b- s! B. Z+ j
medical schools.7 v, Y: C0 f, P5 ~9 r# U
) ?9 e& o; U7 ^ CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ b# P* I1 h0 Q8 a. r8 V
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants # x; d2 \) H0 w4 R8 q4 ~, gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ m, V/ R0 W+ J% j! H) _8 ^- N
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 5 G8 H$ m: o' Y: i( ], y6 K, kis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 x' D0 f8 J2 S) Z8 L
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There! Z$ N. C) Z" q1 y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and . c& r3 [. i5 K) Vmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! u3 o, J8 I9 d8 i6 s( W. N' C
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( h( ]. g7 a: O: v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# {2 S7 L- H6 P5 |
6 o! g3 a2 U1 b! o( G+ a
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: T8 O, j9 q5 t" y4 @' @, k3 o
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and , _) \5 _% V0 D& {# G5 wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people % R# E5 S0 n1 ^+ W( Shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* H% y2 W9 j% C) G
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 5 I, L$ m+ P* E9 d3 e# v# t3 f; ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 d( C. V2 N8 `9 e) w; rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 F2 W3 Q# A" [7 Z) VDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 4 z4 t/ @7 E; p* q) Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only $ d4 r0 T& p; I; `charge the fee defined by the state. # D+ [1 B0 D- E0 @) S) Q* V$ N# e+ ?3 ^. V
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& o3 x: B4 d# ^. Y: J X/ ~* w0 q' }
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ W( \ s& D5 K0 X0 n
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 5 I* X- Q" d/ o' t! D# O; U9 q" s- o7 R! xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 p$ {2 z' F! ^; Z: U4 c- q( `
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ; k- z' R7 E7 i2 G7 h& `working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on $ ~( T$ a3 |9 p% m% R) ^schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 s& A2 Y$ O* t4 s! Y2 |6 z* Y2 z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* U; M5 T: B' z2 b6 P7 n$ p& a
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch - Y* ^) E2 z6 {* D' y4 z3 fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 4 b/ r# i N# Q6 e Q3 ?. }. npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 2 M; f5 a" d7 {to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or, m; h- U' M4 i' ~
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! O# m+ U7 |' Q& T0 s+ J
are spaces.. b/ F3 g# b: O. m. Q$ y
& D: {( A- K4 S2 ?. T3 \There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi( i2 ^5 I/ O6 L# V
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they # _0 i" `% J+ ?2 L1 {0 wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the2 l0 K+ p+ l( c( k, J0 D
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 [% ?, `' B, K& m( cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) A \ _ L4 O$ D& l9 o/ E/ U$ Z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few$ v3 W, l. u1 w, | `
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& y) [8 o: `2 f/ K6 j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. n1 o# ~- Z) Y! D. r$ g9 |3 P( O
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 3 v% a, X+ W4 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 beautiful4 }1 j9 z: ]* f: }: h% Q! Z: T
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 F; ]4 y. ~/ s# ?2 `5 u
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very$ z T/ Z; b% R' r: X" {
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 0 x. M2 f3 b4 ]recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 0 @6 s+ G! x3 S C$ t2 I [1 Fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) d. n- F/ V# S2 B
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms . V0 ^. y' \3 n9 _0 b/ rhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the8 h/ {7 o D. G5 i! x j
tourist area. 4 n$ T) x5 N+ q3 L6 S! C' F( t 9 r# @ L5 @ p# _! }One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 Y8 U% v I' O1 J9 q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)., J7 h1 `1 I- g
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were $ l/ L2 U& j1 v2 t' h0 Veverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps % _. @2 p/ f+ ?/ Hless leader-religious. * U0 v, A! z/ x, t 0 x0 H0 q$ [4 I( g5 CAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba" R6 w" W- L/ N9 ~' E2 V. A! {: W
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big3 a& {& K. q: l1 B
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US! s! i1 R: M( f$ K$ E
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). - v& Q$ C% `7 l4 u ! n5 Q9 Z" f0 R5 n" bWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ) V- F( b$ S* M& e1 l! G- Y3 M% p/ vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not7 e! X: r: R2 [ S/ [: \
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1! r# F; K0 l* c
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for % w/ q' A5 Y9 a! Z" Yforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars % v3 P! M0 P; n& {(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we$ ~, J8 w+ _6 k* W
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the) ^+ @1 r: k5 x& n3 }
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 5 q2 G9 T3 h O& R. z7 ?And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 8 o% P/ P, k, L/ W' V: {or visitors. 0 z, W" K$ P1 H/ U, W# A2 a- t5 U$ e" X) A1 o) M2 D* g
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
