We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very - Z" ]3 D& u' } k6 ~4 Iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we. K# C" U- b: o( ]8 G4 D# f+ S( F, `
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.2 W' S; R/ o9 q% p# E" W
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young," e% _) ~0 g0 P
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in! X+ @8 r0 I3 Z7 C8 d/ {( R
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as& \ q) q- z& Q, o: [; x- P0 I
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort : K( @" m. ?) u1 ^5 \show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 3 n3 }( a8 h4 vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the * _4 @/ N" R; ^lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,8 U0 R- T- `; o, H2 m7 @
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. , q" v4 a7 J" T/ l* z) G People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but0 p! \7 P* l& d. d7 h. M: n9 V) H
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not . m+ e1 k3 v+ l7 @( Nexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 0 Q4 ^; E$ J" }$ C+ r& L; ~flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 4 s2 K7 O! D4 H% ^4 D1 fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. * J. c; G% R7 \! r, C1 j6 r% s! M4 K m 8 z& ^1 b% o) ]* I7 QThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, {# `) `, r$ x; d3 ?0 F' ]
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool$ f' ~# e% ?& B9 Y( ^+ Z
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top5 w' L0 t+ J, E. F, J( T
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ( e8 x$ X; S* O sstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from4 n- s1 y7 ^5 s) U8 j8 M
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes # z4 L$ S9 l/ M G8 P U2 ^Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ( T ~2 q1 r8 P4 p! d1 h9 k# Vfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.) }% T# @# E1 g+ z
3 q: W: g& P/ J. I8 P4 pThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are% \* l! s9 a7 Y& m
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made $ I& K+ Q% F' v! g) X. F2 v4 Ofor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 1 S) N* x. Q. L8 X& ?6 Gtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having7 A7 X+ e1 s! l0 {/ I
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" M( r% r# F' q$ H: G8 c) p" |( \
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 $ `. L; d' _. ]: Q+ M) W4 `: mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 J6 B; D$ _1 d/ P0 y7 Z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# o7 ?2 U* b, y' W' P% U3 @
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( O/ U H) ~+ \
answers to our pointed questions. - ^) U9 e$ H+ U: M- e/ E5 }" ?2 I: i% P/ H \
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, d- e; @2 f4 l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& \: S; a+ q2 z' W8 W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ( d6 t: C: h. w$ C! Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 1 s) N3 Y* q' P. \to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 2 l6 ~: M6 Z7 {4 Q, zmedical schools.% p. ^; i5 j: y" l- l
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 2 B8 F% K" z' j0 e8 r0 g2 _government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) ~ r: t, s1 e# @; }
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) m) {& Q! {. A5 d5 O" L2 Iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ) C2 q: z, R' }9 K7 sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 6 U7 S* y! X; k R/ n, \( W. t" Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 H x5 b. Y1 k3 Z. j) [6 `
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 6 v4 ~) L& ~2 t: lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ! R9 r% N6 x) S4 u$ B6 bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some4 y6 m: ?% Q1 o e1 Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ; ]! R7 C x" y# _% S4 u 7 H- z/ h$ e {' z# B" JThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ _+ C/ o. J: i1 \7 e. J4 l! s
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& ?9 p6 M# \4 Y' c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& D: p; a2 ]- a/ L6 `& s& R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% |3 F* o" B* z4 x2 g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( w$ U0 U1 E0 V" p9 c7 n, g
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high $ E$ ?( r, |' A; kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., X' n+ _: { X8 V5 Q) v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When5 P) d0 H" A& q+ |& u5 K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only. j9 c! |6 Y3 I# t
charge the fee defined by the state.% A) O! B7 t/ J }9 s/ w* d
5 W' w! s- _- @# _There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 h' A# ^5 V/ a/ h5 \& n: Q
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 H# M" t+ `' T; rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 2 K' r) W2 O3 n g6 p% xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 9 e+ F0 v+ A% a/ `seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the# B1 h2 y5 k) b: O
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 m" r$ p4 Q* q W2 o a
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 0 `1 f! i6 U' e9 g8 nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 5 Q2 }* v' E* z Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch \" M) f4 {4 k' L1 J' mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that: t$ |: R0 m4 {* |; E- V) t
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" j0 [: @6 Y& Y& N2 M( _- Q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or $ M" q6 O5 s9 G( ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there) @9 X8 d; X7 A# `
are spaces.4 R! A0 B8 M8 U5 O! ?
# c; Q& j4 q( m" GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ; F6 d6 [+ K ^4 d& Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( \! C4 } Z, c7 C5 d3 C7 B
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ e7 L( E- ^* `; u* R8 H
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' u+ e5 J: I9 S/ N$ R& G. d
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' g- o+ T) A# U' o5 Z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& _* n& B! x, [# h/ m
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 3 T" j1 b7 S Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; p! Z0 O O, y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned., |9 Z! q* E1 y# u5 X: b* t
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( v+ T4 ^7 u* }" q8 y" Z' a
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all - J' q* H% U2 k, S; b$ ~+ l0 uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very" L, L# c7 {% y/ p; g
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep5 O) S* ^, E7 b2 C" m; e
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day " J" ]; D/ u* d; `supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of A+ r" W+ v+ O$ M( Q- M
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # G1 t: P8 f( R9 T4 {6 R9 {; x0 w8 Shave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the * ], J" P; u6 o- Xtourist area. # @- P5 j) G2 g8 c9 y' `. t9 g8 ^/ a V. m! k
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ! {7 B( |; i3 e7 C+ L" C3 ppictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).4 u$ }" E* [% D
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were. p% Y# t5 T3 @8 M/ z* u* n8 w6 T" H5 ?
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # g! C$ c1 E* f* w
less leader-religious. ) u' D- f ^: p$ D9 b+ R6 N+ R; q4 N) ]' p- i! W+ f# P" Y
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 [: a8 Z/ R7 n
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big; w( n! A' J: S
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US# ?6 g5 f% F- ?# B% j, ~
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).: ]& b" |' H3 b( q4 o1 ?8 f$ n
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 5 M8 p; l. q7 e( M" {7 B% e4 vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not# M4 f& k4 i/ M- O, b
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 M. M- f1 Q2 h5 k) Q6 j1 u* |! c
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for& E. C- s; r# y; H$ N+ ?- H. t7 z
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars1 a" w( f: c( N9 A
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we, \6 f) ^$ x; A# v* | v' E# ?
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the % ^0 s; s0 J/ M e5 \6 wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 i7 C; j4 o/ P
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 8 g( K# l1 z9 o# \0 p+ N" {( t6 Gor visitors.% j' m$ T( \6 w2 f; W
) c9 F) `( F# J4 L-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
