We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very: D( ~5 G" H M" A3 X* Y' h
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ! }7 b" S$ E1 gwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.1 x* s9 i; `% v) Y7 ^
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,; |* _3 U1 S" W7 I
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in / [& h Y9 i5 M/ W/ Ia very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) q2 u1 N" F1 _( @4 R" v
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort% X3 f3 j+ }" \
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep : H7 j0 P3 B$ |" Vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 1 s# D/ _ W( B" U/ o ?8 Slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,0 y$ J5 I' _" t+ N, @2 E- j
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.8 R2 N9 m$ }# ^4 O% e: }) T
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 w! ^8 y9 Q: D$ G& x9 t/ _3 V- \# D
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not, t1 W+ l) J: Q
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; G1 D( f/ K7 H- k7 F) U/ N- |
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 0 x$ v; a! W6 O1 w- D0 y8 w' y2 Ya roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards./ @$ v6 W/ {2 D1 {; V
. X6 r* V- L& s! m' @The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,/ O+ i8 U. h/ `5 C; E7 H
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 q) |0 }3 I2 a0 D
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 7 u4 ?% T. C! h' wof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ v0 C Y2 F1 gstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 5 r6 s% M8 |3 t49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 1 M% q6 n/ T/ k/ z% @9 x) y jCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with7 p1 E3 F# M5 X& M
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.- O( _: ^6 H7 b/ l7 X
* U* |2 G$ T: Z$ L- c# @$ N0 eThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are " S0 r6 @: z1 i) S# K2 ?( m5 _3 q' gjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made1 C8 x& s& Z. v* X8 j5 K$ c; Z
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! l6 m- ]5 h5 G' w( \- V( I" ` w0 ttourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having; B8 R. W, u |* F1 [ d& m7 y
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China & H- t X, b$ y: Tdaily 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( c8 h3 l# J5 L6 r+ ]' H/ v E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' E- V4 L5 [2 [, Q& T" y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 9 V3 P# j9 t+ f"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 U3 S% m+ d- Q, _
answers to our pointed questions. B. g1 h9 _7 E( c: U, ]3 ?9 z! e
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; e; c! m; C; L, d/ o3 H* A$ H
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 0 |& Y1 w: I0 Q/ r+ aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ n4 L0 \/ h- r' y' w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( x" Y; o6 i) R* q
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are . _' {5 A" h" w$ E% pmedical schools.3 I, E( T6 b1 |& T. M
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 J, ?% ^$ `# Q, u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 D4 u: P1 S8 y7 v; d+ S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ( a2 |1 T9 c# [/ Kassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 J2 n7 k0 N9 s o. ^. R; Iis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 5 T$ r" G) B$ qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ Q8 m& G) J8 j5 w' D! \4 E+ p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ s8 K) m! V5 n- c* m0 J( Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk4 O5 c: H9 v. s8 n! {
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* R) F, z* J f' g. m( C# ]
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' ]& i s1 N$ K* g2 H, R* Y. _
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no; C- a+ u7 u: q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 W- F( y1 N' z2 g
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people + H8 i; v9 h! c0 R8 Whave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 V4 R( s# r% D8 X% P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' e4 S- m' j8 A1 r; g) D
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- x6 j; E6 u! |& a" b) g9 V
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. , c9 `3 P' ] d4 B4 @Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When : T: H- c" @. o" ]3 C. I% E7 fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. }6 O$ ]% ?1 X7 J4 {+ l/ R1 t0 D# W. z
charge the fee defined by the state. " z" J% _0 t7 u( i& X+ w* u/ i0 Z4 {" ^) u8 ~1 N
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get - e: Y$ G# r' d+ h" Yon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 5 L$ ~1 I' j8 ?$ Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 P H2 U* ~- |% [% y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel% V2 {7 o0 {; o+ h$ l; G
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& F1 t5 [) D0 ^, U( d3 P3 ~: i* @3 X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 x- \" S2 Y2 [& `
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if/ _3 L) z2 w* d+ e6 B+ ]" m
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- G, F9 b! p( z( S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 7 { J2 i& I# m7 U9 Zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 _0 U: H. c8 Q9 [3 O
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want + C6 t5 z, N0 K) oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or & E! X" `6 e8 ], w" ^4 Z& \: Fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there" v( Z# [/ S9 H
are spaces. . l+ |7 S, x4 j6 v # `3 Y5 c( y, q0 jThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi& g" m& {) ^# @9 q& h$ a5 g
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ; f0 Z! H" ]* I1 J" B* xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ( i( D2 _- {7 N% S- m40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different * q. H- O& g8 dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 6 d' o" b, {5 F# bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 9 `5 h: x- J( Q) c; O+ H5 X# M4 _ rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' A; c6 S+ p ? j: T, f
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; X$ @' U3 _: T9 B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% L3 N6 S$ g- C
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 beautiful8 E/ I3 U! \4 W( H- l- Y) Y
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all / D. p9 a) N d D' H# c- W+ }the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very* v2 T, M. f5 P6 |: d, C
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep : t% l$ Z. {$ R; B3 g; s5 _recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 3 _" g% i- W: jsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 0 s8 Q5 p) C* U1 v3 Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ' t4 l- Z$ H5 I8 D* {have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the5 w; s- s z" i0 G, b! Q
tourist area.; E( u1 m# ?) ~
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's $ a9 p" N! q9 W2 ~/ y6 Qpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). * j6 Q$ l- n2 X8 B5 MCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were' k1 [6 a$ h3 `( r- M8 \
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " _4 U: G/ B f- B4 w
less leader-religious.- Z4 v2 C' L/ {- S( j
7 ]% T5 r5 B5 c! {( @About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba$ V; m. T2 w( a5 n" X3 O1 |
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big- e) S; F: `. Y2 n" G) C
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US + B6 q) |+ o g, ~! u/ Yembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).) p2 @/ @ Q! D
1 Z9 c/ j7 g8 H( q- A% M( A0 xWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the- R4 _; V8 `5 m
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not, U4 k( N9 S: w# o2 g7 r
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1- E/ g- N* X+ |8 W2 V
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for + J% g% T1 ?" x* h- [foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars & ?( D( U: C; `2 [8 c(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we8 E. a) z; _+ `6 w0 ]
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the % m9 |2 k3 v0 Yreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going." `. x8 V x; M$ f7 L( {
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ) @+ T2 A2 |$ Z9 _' }) s7 o. Oor visitors.- z1 B @2 w! ?; k6 ^3 V
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
