We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very , d" n4 w* {# |9 N6 linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ! l9 u9 k; J7 Lwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.5 R" x. Z+ }1 r
( d6 C3 _' ?) I* SIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ; W) H" v) e% S. L30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in5 r+ v8 R! E5 Z, T9 a
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as4 b$ J# G/ [ A4 g+ t0 ^
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort " H2 y3 ?4 P/ z% g( T- G2 U& }' qshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep; V4 _# ]& K% D/ o. t) P+ [' F
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the , H* T; `9 \8 H0 |. i7 }lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, : o8 Z- q( x1 f N/ N. ?/ l9 u- Ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ( |6 V( g% V, w% o* O* ^: O People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but' }$ r7 W) i0 o5 t4 K/ q$ ^* P |: c( u
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not/ B$ \3 J1 O3 j$ d
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our* e# {7 D* F7 p- s
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 6 ^$ |2 u( P! y6 S7 b. g; L; g3 [" a) va roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.9 G/ d8 i* f) ]9 b
& P; h0 ?% [0 N; Z, ZThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, . a; A! F, [) |2 N J0 n2 Ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ C" `3 j# q+ `2 G
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top - O* G E Y1 G5 q8 Fof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the # o" t, n; D( N/ ustars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 2 i" \& ?- e2 ?0 k! \49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes5 T; O, L- l6 m; F& ~+ N6 U
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ' }- q7 H' L, v7 _* U' Pfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.& A+ w$ o& J1 Q0 w3 `
. j) N- I) A# M/ F8 n# B" O
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are - D0 h: A! E# M8 Y* n/ Jjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 3 Z a+ q2 A' }7 Gfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' B7 M: O* S1 r( }* V. q
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having, \# j8 s1 j* b% v5 y2 F6 `
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China9 W4 b" y v& P& W h
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 6 S( `* `# r) vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 [2 U! Z2 e" N: x( W
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, : X% T4 F2 b! m1 l3 J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 7 S- {) V/ M3 e/ y, xanswers to our pointed questions. & |- `6 `0 W" T8 f ) _( s5 b3 r. N0 [4 @# DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( b: z/ H; Y$ f. \0 L& l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ' n9 C2 |& R/ _/ l' zout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" B9 l: p9 V4 M1 v4 F0 ~0 l+ C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 0 m% [/ G0 c' Dto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / E- E l4 L+ G: C+ w3 N# z3 Emedical schools. - f( L; {2 s' G4 K: |4 w& @1 a * N1 I+ C, {' \Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 G5 q \ q2 n/ g7 ]) }& q$ k# Q
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants5 L' `7 S( Q3 l* }# W" |# y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ! o% \. \' k. a* I' e$ W D# ~7 oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 q$ u8 J; k3 y2 l* C; qis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 C" q$ O. R4 ~( L+ W1 q V$ \
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. [7 y1 d6 R; Q2 Z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and " s7 d H% U1 I" C N7 nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk3 B& C1 p# y& ?5 p/ r7 b' n# g% p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ; A' [% F. ?3 Lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. C: h$ c/ o+ q, a' s* b4 j
# p" K8 D+ c4 ^) i, ZThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no # h8 r3 a; {, W d7 Q b, Y; t" Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! d4 q" e- B& Z2 s" F" }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people - u9 J8 `' l6 B$ v3 _( K# C1 {' Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good- e4 | f" W$ X) X i) l
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' L2 D# Z+ I# w4 G1 Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! W* n8 J- _* W; D3 b! C
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ' D; Y( ]! Z. D% n: zDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 2 ~; N+ v% X4 \a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only i$ ?6 s! Q$ K7 ^: x% Ucharge the fee defined by the state. ( |, x( D2 @0 p/ P4 o # W6 T1 A, q- Z$ h9 k. nThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get & q5 c8 _& v5 H6 kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type * E3 t8 o7 l% D, pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big " ^) ]3 O2 q( Z) rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel / ]: h6 R: L+ d7 r2 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the / W) Z$ f, m5 S u9 Z% M, f7 E0 Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 T4 Y; h2 C+ m- v D1 m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if " s9 u2 V& X# Y# t5 Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people; |1 L5 |" n3 K% K* Q0 D9 j. h
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch & w. E. H! F7 K2 [9 R/ ^9 Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that - ~# ~) j c1 \: Fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 y+ ?0 g) G3 w m7 W. u; ]+ X% w
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) e" _+ ^, j6 _buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; A% v; N( Q' {) `" r
are spaces.- P4 @' ?3 d! n. E: M; {2 M8 e
- t. i' |' u p8 E& R4 J: J& hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' V$ L9 q( G" {" G
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# r: k8 ?5 u/ r* P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! g( M& I% I0 o/ Y3 g1 r; o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 Z r2 k* ^7 }, m7 E- [: ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ( a2 q2 s( r2 \0 P9 ]best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* V; b5 t. C2 }5 b+ x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of / n9 J* U# S- Z* @# dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 5 i; b( ]+ k8 [" A4 D( J3 sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& n: K2 V& u% t% p% D6 i
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, f4 D$ C6 Z" m7 `6 m' v8 {
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all$ e% H$ y+ K$ ?) Q X+ d. s
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very3 v7 b3 @4 N; i/ ~
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 7 ]3 z5 r2 [3 x" U: w! Trecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day1 V- t' a# |1 ^! s3 A: G) a+ s
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of $ j* S- @0 L Hthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms , f# a% a1 Y5 G$ a0 d# k- Ahave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the( f3 |% M* x! h* g5 t: d9 F
tourist area.+ b( ]; Y1 A. k+ k+ U1 p2 X
, T* U& k3 N' u. }% c' y' z3 G
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 b5 ^/ ]+ X2 G1 d# c1 S. p; X
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ( J4 f, w1 Z+ l O3 _Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were8 c* w. z+ ?8 c, G, s, H6 w, H
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * h( p4 K4 R- F& [, qless leader-religious. $ z' x, a! y) z/ S! @0 l9 r & T: S/ a8 H* Y8 YAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ( @) L. g$ ~, ?# z! V6 ?5 u! Hgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 8 U5 c1 k+ q+ J' \) d Lblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 3 ]5 h4 z8 f3 Bembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). & B& g( ?. k @) U7 ? ) ^8 ]4 w4 J0 l, U9 _1 j7 SWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the + T7 R6 j5 d+ r8 [0 x% Vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not( K" v7 q f" z$ e+ g
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 J2 G/ H. y9 g7 H3 ]7 Yconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for, z% c b! z. C) F# r
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ' f# B8 j( r* k- N4 m: ?/ L(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we - G7 g) D9 ], E" x" u- iprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the + T. q+ a l5 G; k! Wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going., J7 t) |7 u. M* D$ y! J/ B Z
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! j! D% V# `1 f: k h; P; d
or visitors. & M+ s Z, ~3 C+ k/ h+ l ; `$ R5 p% {9 i-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
