We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & o1 m" E" w6 a" Xinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( e9 N; o( _% {( w/ o' _1 @! `wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. , n8 p: u @* F4 d, ~5 ?! w' a; s9 Z. I8 u5 A
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 0 _1 _/ |7 ?* w: T30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 7 c8 n# H8 N+ \" O7 l- ?$ P9 La very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ( Y/ q# _; I6 K. F, `* rpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- p0 @# o( i" \7 C; A4 x* V7 m
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 4 p2 F' S4 H. [1 B5 r3 mbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the; U' G. s. s! F' B9 w
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 1 z' |( W1 R" k ~* u+ J6 ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. # F% C7 E- D9 J+ O, P9 D* V People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ' \8 J5 y- M: v; P) Lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ) G* Q1 _% d: v: l& hexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our J7 f8 X* E% I: c$ n0 y, kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) Q) G* B1 l4 h; P
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. * m! E9 [& j6 O0 `: z! H' ~ |9 V3 s0 U+ rThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,: L+ b, t8 `9 J: W7 @0 Z7 j! P
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool $ M2 F- N' g+ I; J+ K( _1 N, p(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top3 K# X2 Q- u9 s s, a3 d/ m
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the6 R9 e2 N8 T. ~1 E5 r# M! n
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from % l3 P7 W' R0 k- C+ v! Q( R49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes : h; ~9 t1 c% qCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with: U3 V" D, K! M! v$ G
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 6 R/ ^5 i( C/ w9 H9 f) v0 B1 c% t+ M( [" M% P9 _3 E
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are# h2 [+ _! }! l8 M |! y
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made $ ~5 g* ^# g& y0 b, ?" `% t: ^" d" Dfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' M- [# F5 ]- d: |& \. O+ `9 ~/ f
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having # F* T& n# Z2 y+ L5 K9 Z. W! ua staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China " v' M# D; r( M1 e( ? Hdaily 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" [% _* _5 [. x1 `8 Z9 Z" ~
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went( y& O2 Q' M& K* ~' U/ d% A4 g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,& {* X. k2 X+ z8 [- ^1 I- ^0 \
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 j# R u) x/ m5 ?9 N2 k3 x. c6 V3 l
answers to our pointed questions. * c5 n/ I" n( K 2 k5 ]' Q Y( n3 XThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 5 U/ Q+ B& [7 ^' y6 U+ t45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 2 F+ B* h7 a& X P) { L2 F& W5 ^0 Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ! j z! d7 F9 e# v) ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ( }- {; l% N- U6 Kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ O) X8 ]: Z+ ^# F) S
medical schools.0 N- E0 C! U) O. R4 g
- a" ~, P O8 {2 ~3 {
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 f8 j0 O: G" K9 `; {government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ v/ E1 a0 O: |% g; U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years % J* V1 c" }; a9 O) Xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" E6 s) ]4 p+ N5 K1 T
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 8 f5 x8 N! \0 s. m2 _- }4 _over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 8 B& A. c( }7 P2 h/ useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and j2 k/ \9 H5 v6 b% }
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' | H( m# L" X4 r
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some , h" U" H" X+ K- dsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* w9 F7 S" d% K- k k
" T8 a, y- k5 g7 l' l
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ Q; ~# x; r- V! p5 i, u
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / N6 w& f t0 b( ]7 n3 l: R) B: Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 9 ~* E' W; \% \. H9 I. y2 \+ G' Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good" t2 T, ?" e1 }" y2 M8 j6 Q, L3 Q1 A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& Q6 f- `( F8 y% S5 \
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high2 X8 |$ {7 ^/ x$ O/ K" B$ P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ; S- r& ^7 {+ X& F. jDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 S* e. O7 ^3 Z. J2 S k# Q) R" p8 j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 6 k# ?$ `% B" ^1 @: t4 F2 ^charge the fee defined by the state.5 `3 c* Z; v; {$ \. o# M0 t
( P" l- `. Z* w, v3 H- F! OThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 `9 k1 B& K) L: ^% s, ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ! i6 a6 q7 d1 B7 h5 c/ r7 C" J" O; q& bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big" x5 c1 | J, ^% u- C
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 0 \6 ]0 L2 p; H0 w! Y# oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the( |$ t4 Z4 T% D, q0 Z% `! W4 {; N
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 \/ r' z3 E2 _- g$ h, l; ]
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if / S: M4 i c4 K# Kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people + D# ~, B; C& |$ z/ V. S+ |. Htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( `8 f; i+ o7 E* p+ _+ l/ J7 p; P
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ( b p; r+ ^6 Z1 ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 3 o+ G: F) `, V5 Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or2 d: Y0 E" t( Q- ~8 X9 M& w
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 S6 D) |7 @: @: m( {; V
are spaces. 0 b$ S5 n9 k) W0 ^, J6 g9 O/ P2 J4 q. w
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 q V- d2 s( Q/ X- y1 W. h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ' o: n+ {" L/ wown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the : w7 i' C2 k) t; Y! [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different + k) h) e m0 r" G+ F" c: o* ^parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# U( L1 @$ S8 b7 J
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few7 j2 I7 O& ^5 f2 i, j; n+ X/ m9 O
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of % h" X, Z! r" B. U% n7 `car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 ]! |$ Y/ U8 B, Y' F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 5 ~ |# a" l7 a( \/ N: |- 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 7 j. X- _% ~# m! nspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 2 u8 N/ B, ~( s' D6 D- J |the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very6 F; P/ j( z- s& }
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep4 u7 F: `/ |6 z
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day. X+ b1 O3 B. F( s1 f
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& Y2 r# U* K. g8 l' v4 |
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms . p% Y7 A H5 |" [+ Fhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the+ S. M- X* i8 n. s3 z9 @9 s
tourist area. 6 G" A$ H9 F V: g! S1 S( ^6 k " X- k) L! B' ] }One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- K9 X+ n: T6 x* W4 ^4 x) q. O7 b
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).' r& R$ D4 e4 N0 m* |
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were) C9 E3 x+ J5 O; h5 j- ^
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 M. n6 b. p1 m2 W
less leader-religious.( s" O U3 |3 c1 g0 D7 b1 f
1 i" o; X' Q7 m- R( c& B6 L6 pAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba |* M: |' v( j# j6 P" zgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 0 R! D$ ?; ~# o3 `black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! Y0 R% [) L6 |0 L: O; K1 E/ Eembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).7 p/ a; P. {& x$ q
0 S. k7 p, t' R! r- jWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the" E: p; R; d1 n0 o
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not N$ }6 Q& @, d- M* ~2 {$ `the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1& ~. H/ t9 y6 X* w }
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 l# j# A/ B. E
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars8 v& h( l2 K3 S- i( B; l% i `
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we5 b( K R1 b3 f0 U! p( ~
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # Y& P9 P5 u9 c+ R& c" ]% v/ O% h0 Qreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.. x$ b' {4 n0 P) c8 N
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 9 H" n4 Q+ w2 hor visitors.. Y! B3 c8 l- R) s/ |* m' Y4 O2 k) E
2 D$ l4 F8 Q# L. v+ d+ [-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
