We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very / H3 o' G; u5 \: c2 p, _$ D5 e% ginteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we0 \5 m+ F- O9 P
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.9 o8 M3 i; _" q$ j
* D& n- u3 J" xIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,2 ~& n' [1 f" ^( h
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in* b) C2 S }7 o5 M$ T
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as+ u9 n* {$ G5 B/ W; ]8 p
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 1 C/ ]; Z! E- `" D3 q l- |, Ishow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep " Q% R; \) _% \between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the , \, j# c( L2 F( ^7 `+ C) o+ Alobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,) T) Q( u) o+ h
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 ]) b: [- ~# V2 x+ K1 Y6 x: o. }; B3 f
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but , c/ K, ~* G" f* ^names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not " `2 t) c/ m: h& Kexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our9 P9 X$ x0 P3 u1 j
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ; a# M/ Q5 d; I) o0 R. D5 na roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.! v5 i7 |# T$ a
0 W. R5 @% `) U) z6 f/ Y7 u Q
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, : o+ {- s8 J3 c9 ] @, i3 glow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool : S( k9 G+ v' ^(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top + |; z: X3 T* H5 Eof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the # u8 |7 w5 p, r- o% x. E @/ Vstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from, m" n, ^4 z1 t+ ~* j3 z3 R
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes5 w/ M! }/ F' u
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with9 t! W9 x- Z8 P
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.1 W$ K2 r7 A) q& m
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are4 R* w3 k7 j3 T0 C
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 5 d* e2 V3 o$ R& ?9 O7 i* Rfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 1 i# |" K: a5 k. Vtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having' x. T8 \" h1 I0 E( l5 i
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China) [7 D8 E. r7 x0 _; l
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$ F$ p/ R9 D. \; c, C1 D
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went: Y4 g! `3 {- Y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 5 Z' C3 w# G; P$ |4 M E: i9 ~"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: \4 G* O2 n, U, Q/ L' U
answers to our pointed questions.7 q: i. `8 q: y: ~$ U7 O2 U
, k4 T3 V; m0 Y9 q( EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ h% f( a3 @( h! b L' \
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 8 h7 n# n5 s3 R( N& S% gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, {4 {& f7 M5 k: k( Y
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams+ a8 O" O7 m0 b6 V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are * C1 e2 S; B: N7 Z5 V+ m6 hmedical schools.2 {, Q8 V4 K2 P7 S
* X. y8 [2 o5 q+ b! E Z! b/ p
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the f5 N! |5 O: E3 A0 [) d9 l0 E3 |
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants! t$ Q' e5 a1 V. z* f
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* F8 a# E9 O0 W1 G: W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 R, W6 T! M! F) sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 7 O) o/ x) {- `" X+ \/ U6 j" Hover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There " S+ y3 @( a0 k* O5 {, Z$ e# j. {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and F Y5 B) W) D& Zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 2 u* n, g/ q4 |- a% w6 bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some3 Y! @! [2 T+ D) G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 2 X- P, Z, `' e2 Y" d( f' z, K' @; o" e" b& l& T/ J- [
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no7 G8 }( u" U, y" c, }
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ( L$ j, N/ }: p7 m; k0 @supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 J9 q( X; L+ N' F4 @8 ?$ F
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ Z, S/ K6 n7 h' C$ H$ |
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% w: Q r9 y! Y' ]
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 t+ R* }+ |$ r4 h+ B+ z) a0 p
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& O& A9 }1 ^( W4 X- C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 S- l7 Y0 r. L& S; T
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only) `$ k! }. w' {. D& B
charge the fee defined by the state.& a5 |. K. H+ m) W1 i) O
- T/ d% t! i+ X- f/ F5 l# {( z% ZThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 K k% O+ w- V
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type * p% P6 i/ D/ U+ v+ q. Hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! W6 F7 q3 d" [. ^6 E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel : E( o8 L" \/ B/ X! xseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ) M# T: O8 I+ z, w Fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 R) D$ d. }2 b8 l9 B5 y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 [5 d. I2 I# U; M8 y5 j y( fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ) X) ]3 q( {: Y# `; Utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 7 a+ _6 v/ i4 P- \# D, ?hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 1 Q3 o) J, D3 p; p% B. u/ S; Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 7 w. b2 r/ F/ Z' y; Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or + P, T s ?1 w: rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ( o1 o) x% `* z9 i- N, O, Tare spaces. O% Z" {: v; |( S, f! k
, d7 l. C7 M1 m- h [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- c$ f" G/ C% s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they $ O, ?$ M1 [4 T+ V7 O6 U! jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ _! k: D2 G8 h2 H- Z C% c$ W- B
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 8 Q% t/ I" l4 t9 c2 s. y0 q( f* Aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! B Y: L% F. M" M
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, E) ]6 l) ^) G' |) i$ u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of& J+ V* d# @9 q7 n6 n
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it6 E+ M N, ]5 a; }1 v
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. P: D. t/ u& Z& {: }5 r
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 ' A5 }2 h" f& T2 e/ U2 {spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all) ^& ]( E1 O& @4 N1 s. X6 ?
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very + f+ X) f$ [4 v8 B9 l. x& klimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# N, ~' _8 |' c6 r: U
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 h. C& \* k6 G1 B: lsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of( Z) f5 |0 } g0 r; ]
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms& v8 S( V; x$ s+ T% s: |" `: `
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the + ^. B2 a0 L& w8 Z( B" w0 {tourist area. ) }6 l3 Z% t! W, s: |% I, V0 Z ; t3 @6 R( c3 e8 j" zOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 1 D5 F h( l/ @! r1 w" ^% Jpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).( A( u: N3 Z5 ]
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( h: Q4 q- e$ |1 I1 p
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 6 }8 P; _( f6 u l' \8 ?* M, eless leader-religious. & f4 ]* A: f- W* v 2 k X9 `7 @- ]About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba # E2 \( V* Q: H; j$ Ogovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big7 r4 e* K& c5 A$ L
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US e4 x9 p7 v' U9 p& kembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).. g" p3 E& E' [" @. ?
. A( K* C. z) a$ J% u, e8 N0 JWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ' ~# n1 j, \7 m/ e2 s m# Rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not3 J# v" h3 o/ ]- ]! m/ ~
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1& H0 X6 i# s3 [
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ) e: y6 n( k! v, [. Jforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars - s& H& C1 s: V(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we / H- l0 I& e1 E4 Oprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the , Z- o6 E1 w1 }' _7 o5 k v6 @real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.! D2 K& ?- C" T/ G& @
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- ~" V# g3 s) {! V$ |
or visitors.' l( n( d- D/ J2 _) s
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
