We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ) W% } w0 y; i: p# `4 T7 d- Sinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we / O, k& x" Q; z6 bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. " ]4 _, V7 _: S / \* R) r* R+ L: T6 SIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,( W5 F& O& c) j) |4 n% l7 D
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in " S: c, b" b3 O# K) q+ D# ua very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( ?) z1 A+ H& \
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort * k/ ]0 }( D, L0 ?( j3 Nshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep# L" j. |' A! A$ Y) U. Y$ x% g# Z
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the! A4 T; f( n# m
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ! A& E5 ~. l* A6 A; t% y, Lwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ; ^# U. N) D: V& P People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but5 O t7 o7 C" M, F% O
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not/ M9 x5 u. ]9 |
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ( I1 T. u6 U- z) f+ x# q# H; Jflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 4 |5 D/ g0 X2 b- |- [% xa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. : F2 Z" _+ H' e& q' }- K% z: Q; w I
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 4 i9 ?/ L; \6 B& f, U" blow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ Y9 |5 n/ @( H" {8 t& w* ~" f$ C
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top3 f; g6 B" P9 K8 u
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the; Y3 ^ l# p8 ^& k! \) A3 {
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from. [+ X2 Y& @! V, U0 `
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes% d" h7 j+ `# ?- g$ n# v; Z
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with9 n5 ]9 ] Q# H p: j, K8 e7 n9 o: L+ p( }
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ! N$ q" E, |$ D2 w1 \ . U" i$ t X! J$ i9 VThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are7 ?7 J$ b% w2 a8 I- l+ C, ~$ e
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made : ?* c7 M/ }# \; `9 mfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba * c% }' x/ J. l8 K B" p; E! htourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having# ?9 a, \9 ]; t/ f5 i! Y+ U
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 |8 j' i1 X. V9 @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, living4 f; F. g! u% C$ L2 t
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 8 u* s- n5 x' } u, {$ v; Q0 @$ lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, + b+ @2 O- P R/ ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give : V8 i2 P8 V# O1 k# W1 Ianswers to our pointed questions. , E" c' |9 U& v/ U & q Z* [& {2 N e3 N/ _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! G1 E3 g% X. T
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& S2 p9 T7 O5 R# ~0 i! d8 s4 K9 H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is : _: I& W( X' D$ |3 q* d3 `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. h9 @3 f6 R7 Y/ u5 a0 k' ^
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 U `0 [* [+ U+ X/ u
medical schools. + m$ r& u- I' W, c8 A' s1 s( S- J+ d( ] k8 \ {
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the n) U9 H& Z# }) S- Q9 X5 x% }0 @
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants : W- q% x# Q5 Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 6 p/ C; y9 `# passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 }4 L: i; }. Y5 ~
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 9 ~& `; k$ }6 r% B, T6 Fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There / v/ z! _8 h2 A5 {- gseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and - ^' X! f- W2 N+ ~5 `* Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk # W" T& S, u1 S- h$ ]8 g4 Lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some% o% b# F' j, _! u) b m7 \. v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. & D2 y0 c5 a8 L' y/ p6 {4 \; E- F5 Q% K3 T; b
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: R* Q2 C8 H. y& K0 \
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; ?0 c" g2 [2 k/ l7 g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people . r5 P5 w4 ^, } x! i, D# Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 v4 j& V7 l9 b8 T; U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ! \' g8 s+ Q$ E0 G) lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# J$ Q% h6 m$ B! m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., |" {- L5 W9 z K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When " x, l- C$ W1 R P' l1 K+ o9 |a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 |9 _2 Z4 b3 X! _/ u9 }
charge the fee defined by the state.9 C7 L2 H% @# O+ P3 R. H
4 T z9 h4 `& S3 w" X
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get$ V# ^% o K3 ?. X2 b" D: R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ! G5 j) {; N5 }% J; `5 _9 K6 Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 2 A* Y+ u2 h' [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel z) f) T I' ?3 m% n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. l' d: J0 L2 y( D- d# ?
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 9 d! ^# b% Z$ q% Pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; Y: d) B0 J# @: t
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 3 @8 }2 }2 H! z4 W6 w4 Xtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch : b: ~) u `$ I2 f1 N/ Lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that & b; S q# q% _1 r8 j$ v- Ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want & x! A# j, n/ ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 |$ } i9 k$ _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 x2 o0 [' q8 o1 }* V/ M# B* `+ D9 [
are spaces. 5 \ [7 R7 s% }6 u% p# u2 R+ V! j( Q" r; k8 O5 Q# W9 U D
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 ^" B$ u% F1 e: A8 M: U4 V. V; R
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they , b ^. G% z+ e% q1 E# ]own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ y. h# a+ o$ ?; ]4 e
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 _; Z \; { J! I; E( `
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 1 B# }" e' o3 L8 }' i7 i: P* sbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few5 \4 n1 G% C" x" Q' I* L3 [4 h
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of , Z) m! O7 x6 F9 g1 Z% Zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 2 k9 y( o2 g2 n4 s. }1 n/ E+ ?is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: A/ k* C |- P1 q' s
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 0 p/ P5 J% h1 R# K- kspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" F/ Y0 i" q, @- w1 O0 \6 `6 T$ t
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very / U# ?; c; R& q0 `2 E1 [. z* [limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 3 r: w- G( R) d9 Z' q( c/ v' `recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day6 I- C6 }# ?" o) L2 B: i
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of. y9 G- ]7 G: z W- B
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 1 |/ }# h) a3 [1 B% U: zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the : i: p* p, \/ H' z/ Xtourist area.; T1 a+ [, [3 L- s" f
6 R8 b0 k E$ E: D4 c6 f
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's# r/ c& \/ l& g8 d' Z
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).& I% O2 b# a0 d% y2 { o4 u
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 5 B e5 V* i7 E. B. Zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * p- U- V, ? Y3 x& O" tless leader-religious. 1 d8 {9 z+ n( w v6 S7 w/ t$ } , K: K8 l3 @2 T/ X& d% y0 _3 x2 LAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba- T* ?' h' C3 O# }2 h
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big - H4 m3 z2 H) T5 I" S8 u2 o5 tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US # e# ^% \' \( Bembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% p* h( H0 O/ p/ ~' I
3 J; n" c1 |; \We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the( W5 ?7 l/ M g
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 e+ ]3 g$ Q7 L: A4 Z5 R* z- l
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1% A; ?" j' ` ?9 ?" Z& Y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 6 R* B. ^, F. }* N- t: Uforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars2 y+ B% s/ L2 D( C0 ^* G2 }
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we) w! d1 ^2 h' s& F- P. }; `( s0 k
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% F/ N9 p+ B0 `) n8 C
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.( S, v% y. Y) C; E
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local: B+ m* s) y I( F; m0 G$ ~
or visitors. 4 n: S/ S8 g$ `3 o# ~ . O8 j3 ^3 P" i-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
