We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very + M4 v& R" P4 v8 T! {0 hinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ' F* m4 k- w1 `0 Swanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible." W9 k; `. ?- ?$ M) T V
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % P. }3 m8 O! E) ?# f, W1 X30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in * A% E7 V" g, L/ W( _6 G- @* ~a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / K; e6 A; I* J/ [2 N! Q+ Bpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 7 k7 [* I$ T; {3 c! Z* ishow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 2 F. `* x: v C1 abetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the; l$ a! j" i1 d( A- Y9 N) G
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,7 l4 g5 T* i6 s% S8 v
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 Q& [6 K1 V6 \0 d" X; y People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 6 h& m! z- S/ F% z8 D5 k8 e4 pnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ! h. p6 H6 Y$ d$ p# Z/ Iexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 3 Y1 u$ c5 J, E9 S- `flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through u' F# e( g S, Y" j- e( ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 7 f' L' p) p) @6 K. C: ~ , `; v" I6 N% ^( W8 O1 e1 ?5 zThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,; M% p4 @$ a6 A5 Q& C
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool4 w: @% d v2 D1 l: D3 T2 I' ^+ Z
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ s! {- j# _7 f% N( q2 t- N
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 6 K5 \% p- }/ L x- ?; l; W9 zstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 7 j' G: u& ^* Y1 {1 G/ Y49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes # ?3 o; A: Y- U5 i2 V! CCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with2 |6 i& C. N) }4 x
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.+ N6 C& P" Z, {+ d6 w
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ) g: {2 O( [8 ?just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made. P2 C9 L* l" \+ B
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba5 o! O4 W0 y; J8 K
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having $ k1 M* x% K9 s+ l1 w. `( [a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' {) l6 v+ e( r( ]3 n" 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( Q: L" h! p1 j- r; q% c$ ^/ ?
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 7 r1 q. D( b/ k- x0 }! ?6 C& eon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, , m$ ~3 D) e& b, ~3 x5 l"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- \0 K& ]. j2 x2 W* r% \
answers to our pointed questions.: \) Q# _. q6 K6 W7 M4 y, J5 G8 M
4 M9 i: _6 u EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; d5 h9 t, Z4 l! L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand + t; O3 P' L8 E& sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is $ h( n8 I3 L3 S! Z% o. Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ! d. {, o/ v7 ^/ J8 t, f& @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 g: J7 F+ V F: ~( H
medical schools. & q+ ?, s+ X- D7 _* f- Y; C" S2 l
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the - ~. ?8 n2 n2 x% Sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants : G; a8 e1 V" T; M+ ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: @4 O; \, n* M
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 c" s9 c9 ?4 l
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 9 v) O6 Z) G' |6 f7 b2 Q4 p8 Nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. e" `( l/ q/ Q l7 i" o
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and , L$ d1 r1 i; J* u2 wmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk " D+ A5 `) S6 k4 m3 K( Z$ B9 \shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 b V( E4 M3 ~8 c5 h
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ( y8 ]8 ]: s' X5 A8 O6 _% a8 \, M* F, ]! n2 [ ~
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, o0 Y. F4 y- P4 H4 n: U; F
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 2 a: Y, @! \ X- f) ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& _0 Y# K! h* O" {. }
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 0 m7 L. j- C2 l1 `5 K Athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 5 ?9 ]( }# F' S6 }sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high $ g# I0 f" v' L0 v# `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& {+ f/ D2 j9 o2 \ K/ k1 ~! i
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When + S3 P6 ^5 z7 k8 M: Ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only0 ?4 O4 M9 _: d8 s8 e6 [2 I. h
charge the fee defined by the state. ! o. R) i0 O% L: e3 S7 ?6 G% N( |9 W
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 T& d- `1 f' j1 f4 xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ' L8 s+ S8 i+ N# p8 B' iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& z. ^* p+ I3 q5 P
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel/ h% i8 ~- S: y! e% o" V0 K' P/ Y7 R) H# Z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the $ B8 s' ?7 |$ ]2 ^working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ' B7 c. ~* _, {/ u+ t/ u3 vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 a, c: u2 l* h( Q* G8 v
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) M) H# f1 s' Q, I- S/ S- O: m
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ; f i/ P4 `5 v9 |1 h3 Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 Y( U6 S9 I2 l3 k: X% W
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 9 d( M, K2 k1 Sto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or( [) c* w& v/ E: x: p4 X
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 8 k+ K6 } h# o( i8 d: yare spaces. . J4 _$ a8 W6 z7 }' `+ t & H1 c2 I! @$ D- m3 n/ RThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' x* |2 \3 }) A0 x) q8 j
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 9 Q) E; o: a2 mown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: m9 v, J. |7 \5 ?2 T
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different % M# @2 R4 o+ ^9 _3 A) Qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( @& D6 q3 Z- ?) T5 w0 V% @) `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few& ]& y4 b! j' ^5 n+ H( K' r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 u+ O G; i7 Z9 Q0 J7 ?% v
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( Z$ B, U0 R4 I* ^
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ) N9 q) q2 |8 F: g M7 f. @8 _$ B0 b3 k6 | 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 / q+ I" e4 H- ^ p8 ]" C% [+ Zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all# o# s" n! K9 @& V9 {# r7 P; ?: w
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very% t- u& m* F; o$ z* B! h
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep" o) ~) C8 V7 q, @' H8 u' T
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ! v+ c; I4 H, p. p+ f( w" X$ ~4 isupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of , O) k( D, {+ e! s* E" Vthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms $ ?0 j, v' j/ C" x9 bhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the$ q/ ^ R; S: N+ I* \) i
tourist area. 5 x5 p3 o+ D* H" m+ M1 y7 P% S) \" S* N: [6 k" Z
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's - U& |7 c, {5 x0 f$ i: y5 zpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 2 _! V/ T. v9 }3 o: VCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were$ `- A t$ t0 G9 T
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 1 D, ~# L- l' j. l5 l7 V' K
less leader-religious. 8 g6 N! `3 ?# o, ^0 \' E3 o" K6 M6 D - ^/ d. V+ s" `About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba $ T% J" F `8 I" hgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big " s4 y2 z; G2 @ i% wblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US( ^: z& b5 z& z
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ! ?( S/ Y2 o9 \7 e8 F1 K* B5 M! t' J0 I# m
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the! {+ S- y! L1 ?+ F: C) A$ {& u
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 2 I: w: O' c. z1 O8 Lthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ B) ?, f; d* y8 E
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for% t; M" Z) \% v& d7 j
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ G% Q: {; K" Z6 c
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 1 T8 Y0 Q/ @1 @9 q$ }- Fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the % d: b# ]! {) Y- treal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.. `$ b, J" [/ i- u7 A0 n; }
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( ]8 v m" S7 h. }6 V ~; c( gor visitors. ( P# g! q% l7 P# X2 m# U! { J. h; q( v! t: j4 _& C
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
