We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very / \* _. k4 o N: x: @interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we! h J' k# q. ?, ^
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ; M% `, h! @) m ; O- _9 t1 S, u& T) s% U$ uIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,' t. Z4 B6 Y0 l( R: y
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 6 H; }- I- u, t( C- f5 I' ]a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ; B$ f/ e5 n8 L' upossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort. m5 D8 b% ], j ?+ E% L' }
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep * J) F9 P* V/ Z {: p) O0 ]between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the+ Z! r* y7 l) \& J
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, $ |% {) `! \! x9 x1 Wwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. / X& [+ o% x8 `6 D1 p People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but " ^) L; g! h+ Vnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not $ X% k1 Z. C" ?# }* u4 M; Hexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our / e! ?! n) C3 Q. Y+ x* |' ]8 aflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ( o8 j6 c P2 K$ Ya roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.$ {! G; ]% @! w3 j& F+ X
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ) E3 D- C( H3 A3 Slow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 5 h" g8 v7 ^' n" J% A; O' ]) ?(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top) h3 Y E3 ?& ^9 p" D4 V
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the. c2 ~: L4 d! a9 B8 g) z. o( E5 U" {# p
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from" G- a2 X( O7 W/ C
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes/ Q. E) ]/ j" J6 ~9 q# G
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with' o. L6 C% \8 j# \1 H
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 0 @7 N6 @. {* c- e : p; P. [2 j# X! sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 6 H+ N' R, _3 r- N. W, djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 0 g/ q' M: E, b) d4 e9 y7 ufor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 v' f% l# ]# }4 D
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having+ n) @4 v, N8 i- o3 J: L
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China- Y- e4 t6 U( u0 b$ o5 ?# 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, living/ G9 X" H: p$ S* p
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 7 g( \ ~7 Y% l1 ^) Ron a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,; d$ T, c! W# V& s+ U! I
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give # {2 W" |* I9 H7 c4 c8 ^answers to our pointed questions.) U+ C- B% o) d8 C# T
6 i' ?1 k5 f1 S9 s# G4 s2 u3 `The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 7 j6 F- A5 v9 r- z u6 G5 i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; Q# u/ o7 s! D) `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / J7 a1 A& P; N. U% ~2 ?free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams . g! G/ i/ ?" \, \; Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 7 F% a9 A; }* Hmedical schools.& N# m. N) X9 a1 p
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 2 z3 p# D) g4 I2 K8 V" [, g5 m2 Tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. o/ ^* V( l3 G- A' `9 ~. }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years; @. n6 ?2 M! j0 l! j+ `
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba, s4 x, G1 {+ v
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 p% H3 N9 j1 f' V1 `, y7 D X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ) C. X I2 a+ u/ hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 e3 s0 z# [& l g* T C, X$ x
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk - n; o; {, I% @7 d$ gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some; V6 D: y& z: A1 B% {
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. , c4 a& o' k+ @ 9 B6 _4 c5 s9 s# `7 y" IThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 Q8 v$ \* W0 t& g' R% m0 @+ i
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 [* f6 X+ \; V/ j# ~. I( U2 A- R
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 3 a% T# B6 ~4 \& f1 }# ]; Z" f+ ]have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: l7 B7 V1 |* ]8 ~) U" Q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; H) o% D3 u" j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) N2 v: K' o% b" m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. I# a2 o, R4 ]0 O! m" MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, s3 e4 b5 V. E# P6 g* c# d1 _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 Y8 K8 z- D4 Y/ P
charge the fee defined by the state. 2 P+ b% [! M3 L- T( t; R3 s, a6 l/ r Q
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get m) l+ m: U% C" m% e( W
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( E4 e8 v& ? L! U6 s. k' r
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 5 M+ h* m8 a2 W& x! ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& k* [. M& y6 H `3 J( \
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 M3 m1 [# ~9 {# n' m/ Z
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ) R( ^. v# M$ f; u% x4 S/ `schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 s5 @2 E/ c) l5 C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( N6 Q) C3 C# V& k X1 r
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' Q* e* q2 X, f% w' m0 }
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 u! C ]: c4 w+ S0 D& U6 e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want - p4 E( [) I" l: o7 Kto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 8 ~) U( v8 y/ M9 R: dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- H2 n0 U, q. \5 _
are spaces.* K3 J' P/ }* w% D4 d2 h8 g
" h6 c B1 v/ ]! ~3 ~) i
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . |: N( g/ C0 {. y) {: P, n% ]to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they / C0 {2 J$ t% N3 a& R" Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the : q5 q! s2 g( b. F6 S40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ k. X' `5 N5 s8 ? m) b+ S+ f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the* \' a$ I0 s z- ]5 s5 O4 Z1 C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 _% k7 h* [* G1 w; _# m+ Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) W2 @' `- E. S m+ V5 ?- i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it% u8 X3 t9 e5 ~+ i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- c$ [7 t/ T& e' Z; h
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 ' N, ?; R6 r. B. y! H* d, _6 ospots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 6 b$ I9 Z& {4 R, Othe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very / [! W5 [7 t$ \2 e1 t- H- n, Y dlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep% c) n2 U1 X" a: K$ }4 g
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- x+ L5 S/ q- u: f( c+ H
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 9 Y0 R, F: Z( Z/ r+ x' `* sthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms: |# j/ f; M; h5 R" }# r. y
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 E5 m9 T* B8 b: k+ T A
tourist area. ( h8 k/ m- y# p! d: L ) T! p5 {$ u& o& V- H& oOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's* D, |3 B# o% ~9 o0 h7 ~
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. G% O- B6 E2 P5 w5 Y
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were7 ?" _/ R& ^; `- |0 W, T
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 4 s( X a4 ? B" N# h* C
less leader-religious. ' o- N8 j0 b1 L1 q) b) q& _ 4 }$ R$ [( M- g) Q/ b+ AAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 9 p% x& Y* J1 y( i+ `7 p0 g9 _government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* P6 F; @2 ^3 s/ D) |& a2 C
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US9 U' X5 p1 j3 v: a' a/ N3 P( E# p4 d
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).9 K( E4 I: b7 y; b& o0 W
; ^# Z L, V. T1 X L- }! IWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . v' Y+ W* r& E4 n5 Mparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not . g% L4 v0 m1 q4 b8 p$ G* `0 mthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1# q* Q& ?" l( g0 R2 b/ X! j
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 8 P! O* p6 m# [) K- Jforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars2 V) s( k0 ^/ ~* u* \& g/ x
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we % V) S, f% _% r& ~probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ( T( z* {$ y) Xreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. % }. k5 H4 p' U" p1 d7 A/ p) mAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ) t. x1 w. r9 w/ c' D. wor visitors. : x9 E2 K9 }* }; o o 8 R4 m, _" A* H, S8 v1 n-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
