We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very. J1 S6 f4 ~: z2 M3 F/ h5 \7 ^
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ^6 v- Z$ D, z0 Q6 `( L7 m( _wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.' S% X: l% [8 Y! J/ G
% P6 b4 I N$ K" I! {" yIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 4 s- R0 t% ^( r! [% {) t9 [30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in + |; F8 G; p# j8 ^+ W9 g/ i# l Ya very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / _2 j; H1 v6 \possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort* p( V; n9 n, T0 N2 Y2 `8 u
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 T) F& d+ i7 }7 j* K1 q3 X
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the . ~; S. t& e1 t; S+ ^lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,! v# t- }6 m, `
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.) W+ Z4 @1 q: a
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but - s# m7 b$ W- u& p v2 t/ p% Unames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 w; m! E+ \. U9 L* n+ f4 W. Hexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our' t. r7 L, B0 h m- B" H
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through0 D: Y! Y6 |2 L9 L
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 2 P; C( E1 b# `# d! u d3 o/ S0 x1 Q; f$ x" q3 z8 R
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,; H2 S, R8 R, R! z7 L+ k( w0 k/ u
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool7 F2 u* \2 e/ `5 X/ | m
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top. q# ~$ |3 z) J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . u$ v8 q6 A- E8 ~" E3 E4 Z6 Hstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from4 [! ^6 E/ E5 O" R4 y
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes6 Q- |$ Z8 P, t1 b# ~3 I
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ; u: R* V I- m# S$ [$ b3 Ffingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.. y: G/ k& Z% I
: x9 L" z. ]& N& n6 SThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are: ?2 Q0 w: o2 \! h4 D$ x$ O8 H
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made& }: V: L) W; ~4 y- ~7 T; L! ^
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba" n5 z' Q# Y+ O% R
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 0 d: K0 g0 n( U0 u: W0 Q. Z9 za staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China # ?2 i' t( E' M" \% @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% E9 H5 v9 }% V% @0 A
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- \: A+ `* c: C5 S0 v1 r% l s, ]
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) _) _% r0 \9 g- P( ^9 o9 T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 5 J8 h0 Q; w p4 m) X5 g) [, Yanswers to our pointed questions. % w! _& |+ ?4 B. F' t0 L J2 j0 i+ c2 n) |6 U* q
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 |0 M& r3 E, b R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 7 R7 ?3 M4 D% A3 Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - R! Y \/ ?0 T' f9 c& S2 i% gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams . m9 Q: j6 a# U: g5 o$ @' Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. x8 |0 X# [1 S! |8 i4 K) E$ x
medical schools. / T8 u/ ^7 R" Q) k' _3 u . F% b7 t) P- Z5 w9 uEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* \. q' K$ Z3 l8 L1 g" o2 H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. Y" j' q8 q: W. i9 t
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ T4 u5 a& ^9 F: j0 m
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 2 Z4 g8 H( y' q* @9 _" M/ His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ( {4 L7 E X) H! @* o* Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There % p6 `" b0 T/ @seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 2 ]/ }# U3 w. ~/ lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk , L; x9 j" g2 d" Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 7 K1 x x) O5 F* c4 ?1 Hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 8 B6 h o* H! [: B " U' @* a- C; }0 b3 E$ q' pThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no + p6 ~% [2 U# ]$ l8 Gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ( y2 Z: p" i+ f9 V9 h- Y( usupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 6 o/ }: q( v4 C' A8 b/ p) Ahave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 0 b9 s5 {+ V0 \ D* N$ B! B& lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 5 e) a. o3 F0 Csitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; u5 Q4 k6 V: r, c0 O( H" y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ! d) {; z# f8 ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 4 z }. q6 w6 Y& e1 c% Ia lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 0 n, e8 h- Z9 h* B. Ccharge the fee defined by the state.' z: `. E W% }. A D0 m: C2 l
. |! p7 ~8 S6 E2 c
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get+ G/ ]7 ~8 x5 Y4 ]
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type & ^( a$ C* X% l" V+ K& R+ Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ) X, W/ I8 L( k: Q0 Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel. R# g8 b8 F; a
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 j/ |1 D2 N" h- G, V
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on & e: p4 }" r* z+ l) sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 7 Z: K: u; m) V0 i7 lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 O" G( i* s% ? F6 N* t
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 r% e3 \; y/ s5 C
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 ]2 r2 F' P1 p0 x7 S) i
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ) R; w' ?) |# Z: ]to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or & m, P7 o8 W+ h: G' a" z& Cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # e) z9 r/ _8 g1 T& care spaces.. z6 S! ]% o; O
2 C! K4 {. z9 [6 b* |2 B9 z tThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi# P* ]) ?3 y0 i3 S! z# z8 a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: c. h0 }. u" B- j& [0 e! ] ]) ~8 P
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 7 T- J2 j1 H4 F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 5 P8 ^# I+ _3 U% A4 L; Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the $ F, p' q' p3 e* ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 6 a' l: h7 K, Q4 mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of : ~. n0 @; `. I- ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it Y5 W t; X( V% W" p6 W* }
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( S) u. W' ?" j; n
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 k5 P. y! q- Z9 O* T+ Ispots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all # q0 |$ h, c: Z. @; N. R' uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very& G) m: j) h( N! Y0 O
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 0 R* q* M8 k( yrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ; z2 S# R& K2 h0 q+ z2 D8 \1 {supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of# D/ |0 t+ T8 x' M0 P* r) r! T. ]9 w
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) u C! G6 W+ g
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 5 s8 j" W- k; [tourist area. ' r. o) B. v4 r/ U* U9 w/ a3 b8 |" Y/ n3 Q
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 ?( l+ N& q! m5 t
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). $ ~5 X' D3 [0 C* G. Z. ]Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ; b0 ?) v( s, x& M4 aeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps b, E: Y# f7 u E7 tless leader-religious. % n; n& b2 ~; l; E0 N0 ~0 Z+ D" ]
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba & n! o3 j* H, g. H( Fgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big : z9 n5 f4 o. _! _" _. `+ yblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ' z: |" q" _3 bembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). - V; K/ _& V$ e. C8 Y& k: \* g% b: V
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the1 C0 S0 V. U; [1 ~) t- Y9 \
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not & [* S% C+ L2 D \the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1/ a: V4 `" k% v- Q* c
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for : N' O, O# N; w D. x7 k/ A) Dforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ; _& [0 I! Y' Z! R8 R8 {1 t% v1 ~(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 P# V& C/ x0 a* D Xprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the0 \5 q& V$ U5 b$ e
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 6 X, v2 m0 s! ~! KAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local& t7 U5 w4 ?- [" x0 g* c
or visitors.1 T& [, W2 r2 y; `: B
" T! i+ e( q \, `-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
