We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ! C; c! V+ y& V7 n- hinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we {" [) z# Q4 U ]* g, Xwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. - N& V) ?7 M0 \0 n: P( r $ q9 D' L. p& BIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, / y2 B; Y6 L0 O9 k* ^) ~3 ^1 Z30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in/ H! f: b1 W0 _+ R
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as * ]) S1 b0 {6 Q! e0 H" Apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ( g# M5 i* H9 I- l! h! P$ kshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep5 {" \, x, L0 Q, P- N
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the / |8 |- C( ]. j) |( C/ c& c( k% ^lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, & j" U- ]: w) _" o+ [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 3 k# e- Z; z, `' o; @. Q0 V People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 r$ z+ j% j8 e4 s+ _, `) qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not; t( f2 z3 b3 w( ~& [
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 0 p. j8 K! w! c8 K4 P' ~9 Hflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through % D+ Q. i9 p1 I, g0 Za roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.$ E- l0 h( W( ~+ n% s/ }2 G8 W
( v U u# w% P2 F
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, / v: R7 K8 B3 ]8 Dlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool - B! t( ~2 G1 E: x' z(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top2 Y. ?0 J6 w* r, r5 T$ {
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ) y) X/ p1 P8 Z0 dstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , s5 a- W+ a5 B9 ^7 X4 b49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes$ o% {( N( \0 X
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with" f. A% m& _ r8 _) I
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. |' V; L! ?+ Q5 O: g" d0 `3 \1 L$ K" L% P( D
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are. O4 Z/ d. W2 T: R1 j8 A
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 1 c0 y7 R. l0 Q! q: @" f. ~for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba2 @7 j* w9 W6 e% H
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having, {) f4 T6 w9 o6 j9 _
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ! q- B T$ [ ? ^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, living5 y% R# J% M9 J
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went) g# d7 ?! [/ N& n" D. e g
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, ?1 [4 i/ ~) G. E5 z! O! @- a
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 7 g/ U6 j8 R, L& K' ~- Y+ Sanswers to our pointed questions. & Q' S; _7 _. K8 y$ B3 s) M6 q/ c0 l+ A
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,- G& \) P2 d7 a' r' b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) e% g2 A+ W' i/ u! ?& J
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is $ G% {- n6 q2 D! F$ }) g2 gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 {2 d. t$ s1 J& |! b
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 x( P! B' Y% ^2 Y" D+ a1 k! S
medical schools. ! q9 J) N: g" `4 A Z2 z8 M: z, @ R7 [- l' Y( x8 f
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the # |' [+ I# T' \# u' Agovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 7 d% M2 P$ y9 w2 I! i: e) Y; _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% ]" C! b* J4 ^) r3 x; m4 ?
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba* ^$ _0 Y% `& B: W5 i" `
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to " ~) U( E. g4 r8 x9 Dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There0 A6 y% w& [6 n' |
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and " Q) @9 B! x5 lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: e9 [3 W0 {- [! I. ^0 s& b w0 i( r
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ; [. i4 j9 p- z) }% l( h8 wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. # [& l: L y; I% M8 E8 Z8 w! a1 r- U" x b0 X$ l4 @* t b/ ^
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no% Q, \ x$ ?3 y; ]) \+ U/ k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% B( i0 D0 u- J
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people t6 C- s# e6 F/ Rhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good R1 Q8 A- I1 bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby / n+ B$ R2 m& e: @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ L6 G S7 K: O& R2 ^
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ T- M. U- J; M" u. E. L& F
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When2 r" g$ G2 ?+ E: e h" @# G
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% | y" K6 d, B' A }
charge the fee defined by the state. - n- Z! T q0 _( o% ^ * ~& c: r: M* q+ X7 [: vThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 Z# X( X l/ s' j) B7 o
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type : o1 \: ~# V& F% s0 gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 7 _* p1 l2 \$ d3 }truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ m$ S. p9 S+ C9 Q/ M0 Z/ w6 I4 N- ?
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 u: ]) `0 j+ R+ s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% G; |1 O% S+ M4 _& _' M4 ]% f
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ; w8 L1 o0 f Z+ u8 o5 }6 o# Iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people7 C3 C' A7 T8 J1 [# A j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 2 [3 p2 |+ f j: F3 ]; z; Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 ?4 |& Q& ]7 @. ?- s
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want - u, v0 \$ N! w, j* jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 3 M+ ^, t( u2 |, ]& I- q7 u& A: Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there( I. a# \ U) [; ^
are spaces. 5 | f9 G, l3 K D1 D j/ o+ d4 m8 |/ V9 Y. f
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 9 C% u6 d# c" ~0 w& uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 v/ E5 n7 i6 B4 Y1 \8 Q: E
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 D. ?- X1 L8 W/ {: }* a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different # ` _# \# v) U- J& k. \parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 2 o* _' j) {) c/ Y: u( m6 cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ m" D7 Q* d2 J' }; F
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 P5 k, q% k4 o: \* s
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 9 y1 x6 x P2 }8 h; iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.$ x' `$ K- ?, R- N9 {) @
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) c6 `" K8 T B1 g# ~' e+ I
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' w% A% N g q
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 7 _: _# g5 g! V4 {. {) hlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep8 p% U" ^# h* H' h9 c
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 1 X2 {) g4 y- ~9 G. K* C( lsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of. m% x, @' ?4 X5 \3 U: |( _
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms& q+ J, Q; \9 [
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the$ E: h* T2 J9 t& s
tourist area.) N2 @' f0 J. c& j: f: ?% Z
, G2 O0 x# \) \! ]One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's , x2 N- K6 y9 N; \ S3 Mpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ e. C& Z; z5 ?, V9 A$ h W5 ]
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 0 w E+ Y' L* x1 H. O# D9 meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 Q% Q( v3 c% |+ K; u* W
less leader-religious. " u6 s% u6 Z8 S. \6 Y) i; N! V' }: r' Y6 H: m# w
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba $ N- b$ {4 D7 W, P: b' p! @government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big& F4 g" n& C' w+ H
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US2 \/ f/ ~; ^5 V* P$ K: }& o4 A2 X
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). + _3 g( m! `( J / p+ C' E9 ~: A* {' vWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the / \/ f) ~8 j" F ]0 ^parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not# ^2 l+ t( @( Z: p
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 * P. G% S8 R1 [* Aconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for) } o% P/ E0 E2 b0 B0 E2 }
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ! }# ^: j8 q9 D: J$ B(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 7 x4 ]& ~6 ~2 [* u8 Tprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 3 H* i" i& F) n5 g1 h& s) u& N- Greal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.3 e! k5 {4 U) S3 C, S
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local : I8 P9 C! U: p' Z7 W- s6 h% }or visitors.6 c. l) x1 e# ~, R3 p
. H1 u6 A/ m% Z: @-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
