We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very i. ~7 V" v( s- Z, _7 D' @8 C) Vinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we/ u7 I) t* J! q1 G6 N# a
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.+ E( X/ g% C }: N/ a
# j' `' y0 [5 R7 c! ~It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, * @ c3 S5 |8 v- T" Z30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 9 p7 l' X) K+ C/ da very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as1 M* i/ | M8 h9 h' ?5 P4 E
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort . P! b6 K# R$ D* X: w2 ?; Ashow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep $ [! v0 z2 M% [between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 Z! Z1 v& z) z) e
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,3 ^8 t, @( K1 _9 ^0 N8 t
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.( G+ K# v% T9 W
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# G, S' t1 s0 p; `. ~. _
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not! R! t3 V: `1 e1 I' |0 @
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our f& _& q X- W0 \* s& S- Y( u
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through : j B$ k: g4 b# Ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.! c# Q7 J/ L8 @. g) I
: J: H0 f M9 L( e9 RThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. e) s& o$ P' X7 E7 g
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool" r' x* A+ v. R/ j. \1 u5 i
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 X7 g2 `9 Z9 C9 aof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the9 [: E- `; }* t/ V! H; S, X4 |, ]
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from$ C W1 F& B5 Z
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes- Z9 J8 m8 t5 Q* l! x& v
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with& r& w2 H p1 u5 t6 L) q/ R* ~
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.0 ]. b4 B! u+ V
( Z9 P3 N) v0 U1 a n; f4 e
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are , H; _! K' L! w: _just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 L5 d$ _8 U; j, m( c1 P* {
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ( s, E1 c0 u. s- J+ z: |3 \tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 8 o3 @7 ~& n$ t, ia staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 1 }2 Y1 V/ w$ h% T+ @9 R: edaily 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 7 Y# o; |6 H, e7 s7 m8 H; ~standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went' L g( H v+ }$ h5 p3 h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ; j" Z4 Q6 m& @. w$ ~ F$ w( F"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 1 F5 {# t. l% T) j* k: p# j' t# Ganswers to our pointed questions.5 `' C1 \. G2 I/ p7 o/ |
/ s& \: t0 l% }; J0 K
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, " f% F3 o6 {5 j& G; T45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand+ ]; p# Q* T) s9 V
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 K! y# w7 A3 F5 l
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams $ n; r- X/ T; [6 K6 ~8 G5 xto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& S. g5 s! r, k& y# W+ }4 {
medical schools. ! C+ `) Q1 T x1 l4 p) ^( \, w ) J3 R/ h$ [; x. x6 ]; sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the : ?: e; \( a+ _" |# M% B) ?( Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ y: v3 R) n% H% Z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( s, n, D# Y7 a! C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba $ r4 m/ N8 }4 w S: C" X" [! ~is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ U7 ?7 \1 Q2 S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 9 U, ?9 ~3 Z* h9 E/ Jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 5 L9 K4 m9 P6 p$ c Smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% j* \& W% D2 G9 E/ h
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some `. ^# M9 e& _! C) s3 Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 0 G7 s/ A/ I, d" M. |* {5 E5 J7 Z% T4 C# t3 |$ g; A1 h& c
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no" a6 I! Y( @( E: M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 N2 T1 Z. |9 W, psupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! P& @9 Z! f [2 L8 W
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 6 q. n1 ]$ ]* [! Q1 ?- U# pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 `; d$ F4 Q, K; D* ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high - E, @( i: l% u5 Q c) Hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 0 n6 j c$ f8 ^$ hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When + E# V. R" A/ r8 ]a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 [$ a7 g% x2 Z6 `) a& O
charge the fee defined by the state.# p" \# Y2 K8 r1 }
6 e+ f- P" E0 |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, ] `5 Y4 `+ O+ z$ b
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ; q# S: ^: Z& m a" H6 iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big0 H# b' @5 _* r% [6 o. T; v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ; p: Q3 e; _% [* s8 Iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 9 S8 b' _# H4 rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, {! ~# u1 ?2 k5 D6 \7 t
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ' T2 |5 `6 J8 W1 E% Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 2 h- `# A2 T: s* I* p4 M4 ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& L! ~# m( {5 P4 L2 m8 n* v3 R
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that u) C9 X8 z4 C4 H7 r. [people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want $ O+ _9 T9 g: Nto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or : h; @( ]0 u: `; d5 Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# M! |( \4 s6 n5 j/ |
are spaces. 0 v% l0 r+ C8 k2 P ( K1 i3 {; |# m; \) [* t1 UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 Q9 k1 e# E& V. |
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they % i: A$ m" h5 N! G: e% wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the- a* y1 w5 m, M6 l F& M$ D2 |
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% p- u3 u: P9 k ^
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, N& a% o: Z% B5 M0 f h
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% U9 M$ [0 v4 p( c" X7 X
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 2 {% Z4 N/ m& O% u' Jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ ^. u5 _: Z( ^# w2 |- [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 _/ x, @8 K1 t0 b, ?: g
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, J; {* p2 k! w" H* D+ g
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & o X* }7 S9 x: W$ k$ K0 p& B2 _the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very, C, g$ l$ {: s" Z. M2 r; D8 T
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# u6 n- z+ M. G6 {
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day" h$ i8 M6 q$ `% P
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 8 m# S, a# P4 z$ I( l* Cthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 7 p* v) S5 W8 Y! Ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the+ m% \0 k8 q: b) w% N, Q3 l; I
tourist area.3 Q: ?8 o3 f/ j( S: ?
+ y2 y% q* o) j' Z6 MOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's % s, c( V" [! B% B9 m _0 l! gpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).; K# _3 H: e+ ~6 `& B9 H9 O
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were# I$ S+ F$ V T# ~: _
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps . ^3 G0 K4 Z6 y! U \* A; R0 |less leader-religious.0 A, n/ I- q- S) H" W$ U4 h
9 j E+ O) j$ t% C8 jAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba" I" Q1 D3 H' }9 t" @) J: }2 p
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big' c7 X; s, ~! J7 r$ \
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US) X R5 G$ [5 |
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).7 q% D/ @7 X; q: R% _! M# ]0 G
; z: C7 f& J& r' G
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 8 m; I$ c1 U/ r2 A$ M7 C( X" r& lparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not/ E& J% h+ |9 l* [7 Q8 S2 f
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 - C+ U" e) x$ h1 Kconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for $ N: m4 J# g. S2 E* x. S: Cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars: }( O' i4 w% ]& s) K
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we% ]. d0 r" A! V" E( L
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ; r! N9 {* n) v, J/ f4 X' {( Treal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.$ ?, k O4 s6 v/ L ?8 [( |3 A
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 4 ?5 {3 ^1 O0 Q3 M) D r( Lor visitors. / [1 V3 \3 r! b, {& ^& }6 m5 }) r: u0 g# H" }$ I
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
