We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' |) r0 v2 k) d R, p. @
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we% _2 [) @; ^, W
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. - d6 [+ { B! ~' y, d 8 [ z9 c' o' Q0 Z# G# kIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,6 U3 s k: z( ?" J q2 n
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in $ D( E+ w* ^$ W8 [( X* Z3 o) W8 a2 ?a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 9 _5 |% B/ Y! L7 ]7 a8 Q0 Mpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort B% {8 M1 S% u2 X+ p) ~show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep1 X8 |/ L2 \0 h7 p
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 X& d, a0 X% t9 Tlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ( s7 J- G% Z% ^9 Qwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 3 E" e$ i) ~* H R! [( I5 M People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but5 e. B7 h+ n" T I6 r
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 6 Y& o( m1 ?. F: Nexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 ?+ v+ s8 J3 U# t4 Z+ P; g: c/ `4 @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through# v7 y* g. z% F0 b5 j
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 7 o2 b4 K4 m5 C5 k* C' K! G! z+ S( ?, [* Y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ' B- T; G6 f2 S) }: O& l5 Wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool + {& Y/ J5 ]$ R; U6 O(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ) i1 ^- s9 T) n) `1 M: P( h* Vof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the E+ r' O, D; f) e0 a/ @, |+ |stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from7 _$ t* ]) ]& G% M5 c: r7 ]4 M
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes5 D# L. a7 k9 w; Q& q% S1 Y
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with b2 H; u1 P6 J. h: O! K; d7 d
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. y) S4 H: m8 g1 W2 i
7 G" \7 i% Z9 Y% G1 X. O
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are. k! y( l: w, _8 n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made. k- d% D9 P3 t. R3 v
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 ]: K% H5 w8 ^- W
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 0 n. I* c; {0 [ ma staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China/ e" }7 z3 {% k% |
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, N7 Q; m, q, I8 }/ X; m
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 S% n* t% K) q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,% \7 v' t9 J( M& s1 b
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, \% X' E9 k- E" J: u
answers to our pointed questions. . v/ C" c5 g4 ]) O3 ~2 X* |7 k( C4 ^( q$ y. D: _' Z0 S
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 F- x1 t q9 b( s1 z l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand # g4 R8 L6 `! `) k1 Hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is- ?4 _" L+ g( H+ b" i
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( P) o3 E8 L4 D( P. }/ B
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are% t# [) |* p! v( {. ?
medical schools.2 ~) i t5 B3 Y) i+ y
0 l4 F! `0 E. Z1 V# a2 g
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) e, [1 s3 x8 c/ W5 {9 A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 0 q) N$ }+ ~: m6 _: Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 u0 R e- x; S3 }' @0 ^" ~/ W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 p$ C5 J# b3 eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ m0 _8 t: t8 H: S+ _0 H
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 I% O- {/ h; |& k: d
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 R1 }7 k6 |4 M2 N* ]9 U
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 1 e1 G" g9 _. T* ~/ p7 c eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 4 S/ D- M6 i$ n J: S" ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( u B' W) F# s3 x+ c
7 ^! o; q2 w& {+ x9 c% kThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no4 d8 s% @3 Q5 Z8 e+ A
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* }/ N. l, _7 s5 e6 i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ! i" j O4 ?6 }+ l5 R8 D" A* Uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 9 U, ?" L! M M. h) r# j4 {thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby; l; B+ o9 O8 |7 k' v
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high : ^4 }+ t& \% @! B$ Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 {) l/ L. Q/ O, UDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- D) }# w$ {9 y+ I3 g* @
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only $ Y/ \' ] ?" }' Gcharge the fee defined by the state.0 z3 Y5 G/ K5 v+ }
: n$ q; X0 p2 f, EThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 6 V! l' l4 W* U! j; Son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type / n2 C* E+ l' I$ [, M4 [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, A- x, N! G# A" ~4 S) D1 x' q# Z, R1 ~
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 3 M5 M2 j. E+ l6 T; eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the # V1 `$ \2 { p2 [" E8 z) s$ sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ' w! O( E4 n7 i( o0 D$ oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if \9 C. o9 I* o# n
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 3 O% ]7 f5 ?& c8 B! V( ztrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 8 b- y' | Y( N, [9 _hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ }3 T' K8 Q$ v: B; v1 T% F2 Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want $ E* k ]0 P( r* G. x! V- wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 z/ C0 `1 z( f& Q0 H/ I2 P
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 B1 J. {3 l* X, p B( _
are spaces. 3 |3 \. g8 K4 I$ Y' `/ V5 B& ?; z( I. r- U/ ~
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, r5 J3 [3 F5 \7 s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 0 l; D9 f7 |" Y! u. C R& Lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the * U0 m9 e9 B* B$ j! s4 H( w3 |6 t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different- A; g% E+ M1 R0 e5 k$ Z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 0 r" N- L1 U; [/ Nbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few: i+ P; l- N- o- p, u& g
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of6 L {' \, Q+ v5 E
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 |# T/ A# m* {$ n; e" u! Y5 n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ n- X n+ Q( p+ `. m' I) c! S
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 beautiful9 R/ P3 a& r+ t* G, t
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all : x7 Y4 K1 [9 J' a# d) ?the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 4 t- j _, O. C1 S* [! P2 w klimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 5 y# W' ^$ v* N/ |6 \ hrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day $ U. R( S D1 S/ r0 J2 Wsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of. @9 U) B7 m( A! v9 q2 v! x/ B
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ C0 X; r6 u6 q. [& c, t
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the" Z7 H) b J$ ?
tourist area. ) Z4 B/ E I( D* j' F ' H0 \; d1 k4 v0 e! ]One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's . n, V' X" y5 S9 K Upictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ! A, H8 m* r7 j2 `Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ) \, H* k' z7 z* r" neverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 1 P& I. [, b7 e- n% Z* |4 t; q$ u
less leader-religious. 4 d, o8 D: e' E- F8 W5 X% K9 O& f1 M. q+ a
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba % s2 o% z$ g+ R* _! bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big , } W# V% m; P- q( M( \black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US1 M% x1 n8 g# S3 E& D) u, f
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ! j1 m* g- c. d& U6 Y8 M. P& I0 ` 5 ~6 Y! _5 a; T2 q0 yWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the1 k @; @ E8 C& K' F4 { X1 f
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ) t* Y' ?8 l' T# @2 v( |6 R" Qthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1, `0 z2 s' B* q$ S% g; }7 j/ g
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 7 w, n9 S5 K- N7 _foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 8 i& o5 K3 u6 l9 r5 w(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! l- p: I# g) F: Z/ B4 \/ fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ' |" y0 L& S' q: y4 areal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 ~. S2 |/ ^: m! X$ ]) x
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- }$ E* C6 Q9 h+ g4 d2 [( w# G
or visitors. : H8 ?, m$ A, S3 w/ v$ w/ d7 z : \1 b# ?' v, ^-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
