We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very; ^: K' L7 p3 a! K
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we( e+ E2 |- p# g5 B. U) c
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 2 c5 g; ?! m+ I. X- G' h$ ~0 j7 t/ y! Z5 E9 Z
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, / y; `+ M( x% P30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 2 ]; A" D$ ~; u% ga very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as- ^4 E1 g. h H: I4 F
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 g+ |5 N" u, S/ y4 t
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep7 H. v5 p2 y- U
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 X: B7 n( Q* z0 @
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, " G: k+ K9 ^$ j3 uwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 1 s4 N) M! }6 e People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but . j. B, d& Q4 d# X( vnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 r9 P. B3 q# w- o; S6 `exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 6 O- [2 A8 _7 }- E2 i3 c5 iflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through8 k' t' [# p. U4 w7 _
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. / H* r9 D ^$ q- s$ x' N9 k* \ i5 ~! [& J7 y7 ?( D3 }
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,' p8 v' W& K5 h6 V2 ^* w0 g# j
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool % @* I5 O+ N6 f(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top3 _& }! G$ q, ]9 w5 o
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the* R( Y! u, d+ b7 Q+ T" `# I
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from. R ?0 C+ _8 a) `, R! H5 P" |- ?
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes: C: v1 A& G* O) i3 \6 m5 G, x
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! i2 e+ L& `7 y" F$ D! e. S, x" U
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.2 B# ] F; g( o- Z6 \
* H0 Z6 q0 F% j5 ?' lThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ! C$ I( X' M4 |" Q, Ijust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made o* o$ ]% ^9 T: vfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba0 Z) {3 J8 v# {0 L# m
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ; m: X- U/ A4 x1 X5 E8 la staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China& P9 c: I, w& C# _8 @" O
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' R: ~) }8 u2 h7 P& G5 u! T
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 F* E% p& W+ y( c
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 6 w, R" x2 F2 u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( q' Y, O) F' y7 z+ k- N
answers to our pointed questions. # F- K: P' T+ m3 S' J+ I' A! _3 p2 e
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ; n! k8 Q3 C4 b) k) }# M! J45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand # K6 c2 v0 }& q z- Tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 \. S5 a2 t2 e9 B5 `7 }
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- W+ ^' o, t; A; N, l
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are # K- }* U& h s! Umedical schools. : C7 }, m8 P3 f% x7 ?. s* W, F W9 \. F6 ~1 o' g( f: z# AEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 0 C1 l. q8 @3 x: hgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 h2 u1 e& ~# I0 F9 T5 Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years : _8 m' B# A$ G& Qassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; c) u; ^. Q. S C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 l8 [/ e7 v# E
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 Q/ t: a' n* \+ |1 c
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* d* Q( Y- i4 K r) Q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' z7 n/ b* E5 U3 E
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: p" g7 w, @+ b+ p
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 3 s( O: X N, W, y( }( }# M, ^; ^% W6 K$ ?# }& v/ {3 j" l6 ~8 P
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no . r' f- U3 c) }8 e9 Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 O$ A) R) ^+ A' ^. ~ u% u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 h: a' G8 U' d; [. _: E$ I: Q' e5 t' shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good - \3 n9 x3 q2 j) G: {" kthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ( q5 C% s. g8 B# isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ C8 P% G# _# A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. + R; L {3 C3 A/ E: Q2 kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When & t, o( |5 K! c3 ~a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only # x7 H. r# P; b. E% Zcharge the fee defined by the state.- s5 u0 c& D8 q1 [! w
" R" M2 y2 N6 o; L- @; }" VThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. j7 Y; P$ Y# Q2 J5 W- @ N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type : Q9 F; T9 f9 J; m! A4 Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # s1 o; J' n7 J; Ttruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 0 Y5 G. t6 m% C1 D) Hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( k8 q, Q4 U8 W0 p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 L) Y& R* i7 k3 O# n v
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ) ]# G' T" k1 o. Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people * B/ R/ d' U. T0 Wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ) f, r- j2 W, @- x6 whiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that O. B# Z6 N) I/ U1 bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 2 W$ B4 L! u" V7 n- xto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or % Q2 d2 m" ^3 X$ |: jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 4 p! y0 s0 w( Q% j5 ]. Z8 P# y# xare spaces. 8 V: }. Q i; B 5 p( |$ w! @" E v; b! g' ? c% S" UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 o N( }$ h9 b8 L( Z# ^, E @$ l! ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 G0 t& M5 Q& E6 `4 b4 c4 e: ~# p4 @
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the $ i, z3 W6 A% n6 t: ^% v! t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different. e2 L+ |; _4 O4 @- X+ j
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ( p/ S7 K" @1 O6 G' x' x1 tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few : ~! B* L* f/ X! `9 Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 3 m7 {& ~0 @ N+ j6 O2 _ D2 }$ ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it : f o2 n3 P/ [# i! ?is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. \. ?$ }. h# B
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 . O5 @$ d- z1 ?9 K) z. pspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all7 |/ l+ D+ @6 N( Q
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 9 f5 b% ^- k1 W/ F- e7 elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep9 t! w' h: v' \3 G0 d
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day. c+ G! y! c: d; ]( R. }7 t+ w
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of( W* B: ?3 P0 Y% e" D( Z
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # x" z) D1 y9 E$ ehave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the9 q% L- f& \; W9 U
tourist area.! e& T1 G$ f: ~6 A3 u
- n+ Q3 s4 U$ l
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's( }2 f8 O4 s5 a+ f' }8 K" R6 y5 _2 P
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 1 H3 ^6 l4 Q4 c: @! t2 H; tCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ( J7 e% z2 ^3 K3 Z: ]8 @everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ J. K' c2 D5 q2 j8 rless leader-religious. * l$ ?4 q3 p: z1 W9 L7 K5 P6 K7 R" t! ]5 R
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; [3 W+ w: A x- k, `" Y! U
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big6 y# y# Z G& P# e# J5 \) C% p
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 0 y. F+ p7 t- ?& [% j$ I$ F( Z% ]embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 0 ^* m7 M; [9 q+ f) ~ + R3 s# w' S9 a& g/ h4 pWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the " |, u+ H, L2 E2 n4 o: gparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not$ x) S0 W; t g, M
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 # o7 P7 Z3 X$ K6 Pconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 4 t6 I5 `$ m3 C) h, Bforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ! L6 ~( p2 o9 o(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we. p$ y1 T: b9 Z) O: w
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 6 Q# K3 L" g+ R/ Y2 Ireal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + v5 J: G8 n8 C/ y# n/ V$ ], YAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local+ d+ }" K X* p V5 y- T" C6 e
or visitors.: \" e2 a( T* u+ i! Q9 l
6 S+ J5 u3 I! x, b-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
