We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& A1 S8 W% q: P n5 a( Y$ |
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we " e/ q3 b( { K* U5 zwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 6 p6 u3 u& N2 _7 m! _4 { 0 Y$ C; H7 j8 n! ?It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 1 A' Z8 a% A3 k! L30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in X) f+ I6 R" r$ R0 n3 W0 d# k0 `a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as9 p. Y7 c7 }2 @3 T
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort . H( E2 ~; R1 H1 u5 C* D1 gshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 7 W) `+ h6 U D1 w lbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ! k! G+ C0 S$ X3 wlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,' Z G2 [" x8 @. d) Q I3 _
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & U/ N% i. m1 T+ \0 V People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but) U5 G; B) P$ }+ M/ Z* r
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 9 S5 f4 _) N! W: ?- t6 nexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our2 j' y) l# l/ r! {. h, d! S' L
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through1 r2 L$ g1 l% {/ p7 j) P( C1 x
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 7 p9 a7 I) \/ D - Q7 E8 B8 B. U, _! AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 8 d) S3 C7 {1 A1 }: M$ K, Z# ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool) F7 [* X) Q3 h* W; q
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top # z9 ^5 G( u4 F! A6 Fof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the! c* n) c- Y! U% ?) n
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 5 |3 ^' F, y1 n0 w1 o0 A' c49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes+ k: f7 e: M3 _/ t
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with3 g4 {- @' z. w4 R1 O
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 6 k* v+ C y6 E$ A# i+ U: ^ 6 M- j" t+ X& B$ y1 [5 s1 CThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ' ~( Z% Z. v1 T5 O( D. @just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! E- z. t4 T: Q7 ^+ |; H3 `: j
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba - L, ^, X3 ], R& q8 Ctourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 3 b2 i4 ]* U; S5 w1 ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China , D) p/ j4 |/ edaily 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 ' C6 U5 j' ^4 N. G( P @& estandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% l- [$ z" |$ I1 B" r' k) f
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 6 C. m+ Z. Z& a7 r: ["George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 5 _5 F- O+ T1 N3 qanswers to our pointed questions.2 q6 q, R/ o, u/ L& R' R I x% O
0 F4 g% @! m% Q* O! _' s
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 T9 w2 o9 Q+ f& L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 L7 @- [, d: j; L. ^; r3 W
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is* L P: S6 X& F9 D5 x
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 8 Y, }- X6 ?( Z( w8 ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are : e+ o; a0 F3 }! E f: imedical schools. - w; X" k9 @6 V1 O9 X 8 u0 C' s* P7 Y0 DEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the; V; e; S, i+ c8 I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- v& o7 I9 f1 y3 W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years , D; u6 c3 o& E* t8 S4 h9 O" gassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba# P! t! b; L+ {. D" R- a. r
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 O% F! I0 a' z! T: }
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There" ^# q7 q; L+ y, u* \/ e& a& v
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ) L9 c1 T; \0 D" g% Z4 jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& l0 U& b1 z' _6 y* w! h
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 9 C* M% q4 M; \' Z9 ~! ^: M6 jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% h! `& C$ j' S9 V
" ?9 Z5 A( m4 j) I9 H) v
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 9 t O N. L6 w: X$ A8 L6 h2 Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 r; v5 Q6 G5 h! G; n% T* hsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 q% Q8 m4 A( X. `! K' c" K+ L
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 O4 S+ l8 e& f+ V# M0 |/ w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! n0 n' ]4 r: h6 Z5 I: r* b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high c( `( Y8 N! Q& y: w
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' r; R4 b( o: e8 q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ; O* D" }' b+ Z% p* }4 Z+ |1 Q Ba lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, n y- }+ p v# `& i
charge the fee defined by the state.5 o; T/ u; ?) O" F
4 n2 ^9 s+ J o8 \; s
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& P; m- X) e) k; x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type# O# H1 u; b4 W" [5 G1 M8 I
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! I, U. p' F( O& xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel- U6 `/ ]+ G0 O4 P' L5 {5 R/ `( `. i9 a: @
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. G$ @$ P/ X; E+ |1 r: h& l5 U9 H
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 8 O+ ~! T \4 r6 }. l' z) Kschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( P# D5 t) s& e; E
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people& U t1 D2 j1 t W
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch - u) S. @& r2 _6 B+ W9 @ shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 A+ e. `' {# N: F
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( k1 E8 V. M4 j0 @% P! ^. V
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or / z- Z/ o% ^; f/ fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 1 H B, K* w5 a* E% K5 Z- Oare spaces.& m# n7 B- h- ^+ h
( A- m: \8 O, z5 G; i% g' }5 `There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ) a. c$ i" a Z$ b5 Sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they * J2 B4 d+ V9 v" @own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 @- P, V# B& o
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different! S6 @- {0 z$ I- U+ o$ N6 V, z
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! k" i; ^# {0 z6 H6 S( s. W
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few1 N0 G6 V( g* H" }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ; s5 x7 R+ ~( H9 S- u/ ^/ ^* h/ dcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 b6 O. r @- _. T) p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 b5 g0 g- z m) J u- S
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 2 h0 l% m1 M4 R3 i, ~) i. P7 Yspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ! F: F l: M) F, E* J9 a3 I: Sthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 6 z) \, }# Y- a1 R& Jlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep . `( W! t6 L3 n7 Trecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- ^6 h! Y/ N/ h5 K; O3 o( ~2 w
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 n. j! e, p. n3 r, |
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 8 R+ Z9 k& A, S8 i6 g- R/ [( ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the- f+ x, X' q( Z: p* f; l
tourist area.& L# S; L; M& I7 c7 v+ H
" N) D$ ^( T& g8 N" ~' D
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's, f- m( `! t+ G3 }
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 4 d3 S" o- T0 c0 E4 e! E1 yCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ( q9 h" D/ I7 W! D5 beverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps / x9 N$ W. B3 F v' m
less leader-religious. 8 c5 R S: B- C! q8 O5 h1 n2 H( T1 ]0 V& s+ p2 ^1 \" m7 F
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ G! I8 }8 K+ Y$ D8 B* n
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big- B: Y1 i( K I4 _) H2 T# U: p
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US- \' T. m3 [6 z# a, d6 X
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). - h w) H! m. d4 g2 e4 o( F; m" ^" t3 I+ ^& W/ A/ K9 R1 z V. p
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the : `0 O" U) e; Wparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 |- e' D1 t, h2 b
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 Y3 d8 U! n O0 `) U7 x" F u& Xconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for; K: J& w9 _. {3 h% s
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars1 ^: ~( ], x( K; S0 A
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we , T8 _ m6 Q$ N6 W. ^" y0 Hprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the * k4 x5 C( y$ e/ Preal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 7 G5 o: L, U" F4 f8 K8 ~And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( x6 @& a# F! Yor visitors. 1 o2 h" x0 Z5 R+ h; R" W' |6 ^: l 2 {# h6 N, b6 [5 Z6 T$ ]9 d, g-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 1 X5 U; D, `4 Z. ?) ?) ]; X" c/ ]4 |. o0 `# a
