We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very- d/ _$ n; R8 b# u0 ]
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we + F) P3 N( Z' Z7 J$ `# ]% @wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 8 b8 L% h2 V5 c3 l* X( Z0 y5 z# o
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% `! {% x2 Z. F# y$ R4 |
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in V( ~1 R/ k1 [7 W1 W$ B( k3 Y$ W
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as + c; q. y! k: D5 `possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort * p4 v6 g$ p, t5 qshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( b4 j+ q. r! n+ A
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the) U9 T z6 L/ E( D% H
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , \0 D/ E& K1 V8 Zwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. # d& B: I( y0 T# ]4 q People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 3 _' E' A' T* U9 {names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not # `$ R( J! v( `2 K2 j# ~ U x: Gexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our7 i+ E! @9 @9 }; V! |9 E, f
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through! y& W. U& Q e1 m2 ~: r7 u
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ) {( @* M* `, T/ A5 v0 |0 R7 R1 V( L; o) R; m
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) E% \0 o: s: d- r
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool% |& a3 k' o4 U3 h8 a
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ G5 C* }% j; e) s) K
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the3 Y5 K( d2 ~3 c; k
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from " }% U8 O1 U, Y$ W& m' a+ U49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 3 A# i" d2 B% ]2 ]Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 H; U2 _" |3 Bfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ' T& S) V/ s) f, { ?. ^. X# M- t8 Q1 ]3 k# T
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are- ~! C. U3 Z& G; A
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made( c* z$ U/ x4 M o% U' u
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba , p' E7 W5 }3 wtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having , v# c& U, [5 Ga staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China $ h! F, s0 l5 Q5 s' d/ }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% [, M& W0 e. G- f% n
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 0 b b% w6 ?7 O* Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, . V, M. f+ q3 a* |: Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give " Z0 h! n& ]( M0 V; w }answers to our pointed questions. ; U i. m6 q- y$ X: m+ k3 q$ ?$ J o/ J( T7 ~( y1 M3 y
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, $ N, {- t) T3 H# d! p- V45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! z/ y7 o3 W1 X0 q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is: g% x+ T; M( g; P E5 t6 H( w
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" M1 j! m" h) M7 H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 0 ?4 I" |5 i& N" mmedical schools.0 n0 A+ j0 W3 {& H% {: ^6 v
) R( W' g3 |& T) Y8 Q/ h5 x4 U/ x. q
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 9 l$ t) C& c' k9 j7 y! Zgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 2 x5 {+ c9 \6 T3 b7 o5 _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 4 m9 H' y, K3 M) w& ^; e% Tassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( q# E4 r% ?; d4 C- v0 N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% W$ C3 H7 U, [, i+ h" u* ~
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There+ W! J! K1 f0 ^' A8 F
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ p1 c$ H" G; P( E; Q# h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk + A0 ?6 g+ _1 ~shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 2 k7 \9 h. e( b8 D& G5 Osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. + h5 D1 M/ _ s0 w3 u/ C . A2 |1 Y: g- Z. zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 8 u8 U7 D# }7 v( [ lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 {3 A3 b0 B$ t# j9 z0 r& }( Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people; s+ p% z2 r9 e* w$ M
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 7 i; n3 N/ ?# c. i+ @& Y3 Wthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby1 {4 f3 o+ e5 S- f x. O: t! X
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 w- p8 v% s V! h/ i( x: pdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ X! y0 r; u- B8 \% Q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When0 o- b" J% Q& g0 S a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( [3 X# h* Y0 d1 M/ S) S Q
charge the fee defined by the state. . A" s2 K0 g6 l, v. N' x k - {7 q$ Y/ O3 r; F6 fThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 9 L; ]6 g" C+ I. D$ r8 J! P& C" i7 Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type/ v9 U. {$ y0 ^" z& `
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big $ D: o+ L& E$ h. w2 x* X0 p/ struck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 3 q) S1 C7 R. O( _, Fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the " x) D/ p4 a0 P: W1 n6 H. j: h* l2 Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ; m7 c- y+ }! M, b$ D D( V, I) Nschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 N/ k3 h+ n% {8 ]3 {* P
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people * }/ ?# o# C7 j$ u: ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 2 w1 s Y# t1 t! q/ ?! ^& i+ Ihiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 8 g6 f$ }. ^, Z7 ^$ Y1 npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 E3 @+ e* [# B8 a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 T5 @& w+ g7 L: u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- ~" E" V& B2 {; z+ F6 K5 Z: I
are spaces.9 [6 R! C% q, v3 R" @4 k) G, R
4 q# _' E" L5 h( G8 f2 l" E, C' S
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 a9 n) t/ A" ]" v5 z
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 @& D, \3 S0 Q5 V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ) }3 k5 U+ ^) E% _3 R! @/ h; ?40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 S, x% g8 J) Y5 Z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ' r# i4 i, e T5 H8 b1 ^0 @best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 9 \# q8 M' V; Z- W8 bnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of " C! I0 [0 s# r- `3 Jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 0 J' c% i# T* R! ~! a$ S Lis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 0 D* a- a t, P: 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 beautiful7 |6 m7 z* o& n5 u- b
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 i+ W3 T2 K4 L4 ]8 N @; o. Y1 i$ E
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very . |, E& o/ @# }: _" _limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 1 g% y0 ?' @8 {7 U( {+ Lrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day" Z% y$ K+ m, P p ]+ ~8 x
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 j2 Q0 n# M4 X4 n/ ?! F) k
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms! u0 w- \: H8 G5 I1 x/ y& ?) b
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' O4 W# _: i1 ]0 j
tourist area., K' ^0 m5 a2 x+ ]7 ?8 R
1 h3 m. L" D: k3 H; C; R1 F
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's . f+ V4 {" H# o# y& y6 ^3 A2 G Npictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).: F# a2 F3 V6 v- Z; ~, c* |
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were , M& U Z/ g' A! t ]* m: s1 r neverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 6 }- k: `& {: P6 y# ~$ \less leader-religious.! U: Z6 @" }" L! Z9 D0 A. X1 i0 Z
% k9 L2 F& W( J' U1 m) bAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba2 ]/ Y9 ]9 m: C- m, \' [
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big3 K% Y( x o9 a' Q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! r9 O1 t4 U: h% jembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 9 `+ L' j3 e) Q( e/ b , ?- A: Y% G& ~' o/ Q- O! x$ V: _# mWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 7 |# g5 n3 L9 rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not * d' b/ |% J9 v! f- i' @1 qthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 1 F7 Y7 s- C; c" _% e: Cconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 }% }" r, h6 G S
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 8 e( `* w% @1 ~1 n(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we5 O6 c( E& [; C2 l2 z2 H$ @
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the7 p7 {8 y1 i4 e4 A1 [' @( l, M) L9 k
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.# n$ W1 X& X' C7 a" v
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local - i6 R% j& I" r4 `% Dor visitors., u; {! y& f' Q5 M* c2 I3 |
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
