We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very # E9 n; z' B+ sinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we( S8 V# I' E* {5 c+ \! ?
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.6 p! |+ h; L* B
, g0 ^5 `' X7 j+ S. [
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,# t4 C! r& K, L3 |2 G/ i
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in # [. v9 L5 L$ m5 g8 A) Y& na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as, C9 Q8 @3 e9 l
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort - i8 s4 h }' `# u* T9 W3 `2 j0 r/ tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep- O3 x; `. q* j
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the : A2 g) p# \$ r2 Z/ o" \lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 0 J2 ]( z* @; p8 `0 h* _- dwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. + y7 ]9 c7 J' I$ q# I People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but * k- n2 L, J( n+ G; anames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 1 S% L/ J! V( g# |/ U- qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our/ B0 }- [" c- n& z1 I2 Z
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 8 x5 i- F/ S+ r9 }% r7 y% t [- H5 ?a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.. |" d( r( C2 `4 Y: u' A4 Q. \9 h& {
+ S) ~$ K$ L8 v1 Y- sThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,- b. t/ D9 v9 s: k( }
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool q; W5 D1 M5 |% X0 F
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top: v& |2 {1 Z9 U' H
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the; U0 }4 F. F5 S% b3 B, e
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from" O# P' O+ b- A7 j+ t7 R
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes2 b7 T o: O, }- {# N
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with - |& e9 h) K$ y$ c7 t. v2 {" Ofingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.) s: c1 c9 V W; C
. B* u* S0 N9 e0 u. C' ?6 OThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are $ a% ?# z- E8 ^0 `just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made: O1 Y, ~ M9 O
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba8 E) z" s9 u" r' K
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having : m+ s% l. u$ Z, h. |a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' l/ f" Z. q8 L# j; I r+ `
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 # `/ V+ ]) A: N2 b |" ?standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% S& B' T! ~! Q h
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 2 ?/ S3 [6 U" F5 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give & ~6 s, M) ]: B& ^' ?, Wanswers to our pointed questions.. y' F# _3 ~& R U1 R/ r
, I2 K. H: k5 n: R/ I& mThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 K2 l4 X: g% N" s9 I: n0 |4 \ k
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand % F* o7 r2 i" v" o$ A& _out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is$ b% l" N+ P0 n: k2 ~- K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams . I- x, E# m, D$ P1 mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 9 R9 n: M& s! B* L5 v3 Kmedical schools.3 A' Y# J+ b. z& ]; q1 ~; y/ u! Y
! ^7 Q2 x/ N7 X* p: w
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ h, J, p# z& A3 S
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 6 @2 q6 `- M5 eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years $ ]1 @7 d9 d/ X5 a7 cassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba8 w v1 q# B1 A- M3 Q6 i6 f1 N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; A# c9 Q$ y6 z+ l4 c
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There; E4 g& ]; ` z5 S' F: S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% G. u7 U! M6 i. }1 K
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 0 U) p# ]6 x. ] ? ~6 K# Gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 5 A: \1 n! C0 u' |* ]/ W! M; psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* a# N) @" H* g" s7 `8 D& G
: }& q$ I' `, u4 d: K& FThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no + q* u( v9 p; G% Uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 @% B$ Y5 P* n$ [( l1 S6 ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 7 R! U" g4 ]0 g' a7 Z2 n7 Thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good * }# k0 r6 Z5 f/ I, @/ v' xthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 5 w8 `, W4 t% G0 t7 Ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 ^8 c& j& Z) ^) a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ Y2 e3 F! e/ u* R
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) Q* b* P' O2 B% I4 ]* L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only - Z- `, T$ E, N8 U+ B+ a! A6 pcharge the fee defined by the state. * f* h8 Z. x/ q# J/ W$ f- A' T& @- D! i$ @$ f v+ ]/ ^
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% {% w& C4 _2 i" Q- V- X
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type % |# [% b7 h/ A. A9 ]( A4 oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 L$ w2 T4 A- m! S: Q, A1 e
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: r7 A, c0 O9 g) |6 _( N
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ) o* M) R8 E2 x5 Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on2 D/ i5 D7 p, A$ y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 4 H( C" |( I) Z3 {# Syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! M# p$ {8 a& ?$ D3 l. M1 [; M
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch; e( o! T& ?9 t: z1 R7 ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that& \ X3 P2 x: g, T* W& Z( Z+ o
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 7 V' i" i, o9 }- n/ |to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or# Z6 }( u5 N1 e: _7 K
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # {3 ~+ ?# S' X2 R6 nare spaces. & X1 V) S' J6 ?% {7 m( E 8 i9 v9 q/ G% o. GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi & P* I2 ^: |7 b9 a; Z$ Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ' V _, v! ]6 | @own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# M# r9 U! X3 ]" [5 `& E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 3 V0 ]& K8 w3 t$ N3 U [$ H% Yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 }" r4 T( w3 k6 s! S9 | M% c
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few * a, f" P F1 {8 d+ b. ~nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of - o( K, j O# T$ ]0 Bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it" m& B+ O3 X) a7 \. H
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ?3 Z/ x& ]* k' v; W 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 + v5 l$ k7 Y5 n" cspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all; \! ~+ V# c H, F' t
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very $ n1 U# D# f7 T" O& ?3 t! ^limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep - M3 W, f, V9 C4 Erecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % s5 ^* O# B5 U6 |# ?! y4 Ssupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 2 J' `4 {2 U+ Athem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ! f& R* H1 O* M) ]have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ; ]* [+ x) h( T1 p# ?0 V6 s4 e5 rtourist area.! D9 J) F, _8 p
! p, {! r9 U# Y$ BOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's( }( }. R* N/ c% g" S, f
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).) \9 n+ ~+ b, f, @7 r2 G: D
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( W2 C( A2 ~6 I! W
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 0 N* @5 n* W: |. P1 |! G( [
less leader-religious.7 c7 |' _9 q! l+ J+ d9 ?. \) w
. P7 g2 R& w+ V5 D ^# k( AAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 5 M6 [4 M, I# @, y2 Bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big % Y) R6 g4 B% r! a+ q) h. j, _black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US " R9 s6 E! l n( S8 I& ?3 _) nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ) S" T! R- r+ K- L* ?+ {; B3 L) A4 {) t. E9 Z, u$ V* d" h& p/ |
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the : j1 }" P; R* e; S% [. ?, Iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not2 n0 O- A1 ]) }, E& o
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $17 H; s! F) |# Y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for D# \! G" {% u9 H& A4 u
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars% x1 P/ b4 E# k
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we $ L: w! Y* W3 pprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 6 F0 D9 L6 S* n/ J7 U( v7 ~real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.; T2 T( }0 L1 v
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local & ~8 E( \- X( J5 M8 T- Q. Wor visitors.$ s9 d5 |, s, w6 N! C) m
5 ?) p) q% ^! |' D7 |! V-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
