We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very% v" c/ T% A) w+ a
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 7 H: v9 \8 a; i$ b6 R$ ]# Kwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. : z" x% I- G7 v4 b4 U# i ; x7 }, i+ \/ J" B. KIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, # p9 w6 P5 H: a, O30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in X/ B. l1 u) ^6 e- y& E6 ra very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( C a8 j# m. D1 U' D
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort & R. O& b! S# e' @show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep . z, y0 [6 R% N3 Q1 K& A4 o4 U0 Kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the9 U( L; `* u# p1 S
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- Z+ z4 s5 Z6 u. m) }: h1 U$ l# x
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 v7 x* G: j' T) I( A6 |
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but& D( y+ B- z% N8 \* q* A
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not+ e0 o$ R7 M3 b" r1 \7 p' U: Y
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our, v7 I w$ m4 a! B5 Q
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through' H4 h3 }4 V/ }9 @
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. , F7 X- O/ \* H1 l 0 L4 b: l' A& A' \7 k& t. U& ^The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,3 J+ |0 H% V2 f' H7 L, Y+ a
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 8 Y! e: `# L! b2 L(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top; a& q+ c7 ~8 W O. m1 z# T
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the6 A; N$ Y7 n/ w3 H9 u
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 4 V# D# T4 u- U { |49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes + C: {/ K( o' ?: P* wCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with . \' i I, d ~: M; Dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ' l% e; l! H/ d; A- S2 g3 F, s8 R) W8 o2 H
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are' S: r" R% w+ }. W
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made " v' L4 {' X* m8 j. t* m; Jfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba0 \# J6 v7 w1 k* Q4 g$ a6 D
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having2 ?" ?. _+ V2 [. l
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" Q2 V7 Y* Y1 ]% H$ p% 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 . b# L- }% g& n l6 P9 E: |standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 3 L3 N) l' ]# Don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," S6 p* f# j$ s5 \. \) v0 E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: g$ O) P; D& T0 H( Z
answers to our pointed questions." l& B5 m9 |+ N
6 B# j9 A, W1 l+ nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 1 P# y4 \4 c2 \9 V* g; h45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand , V0 A6 a% [7 o b% c- ^out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ' J! M5 n' o0 s( R0 r9 {- Efree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ( Y. ]% @% q- J$ L# pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ P- L( n* l2 Y$ ?( Z0 B
medical schools.. W/ k. S! e+ n) V8 t- ^; X
3 g, T/ T& z# z$ n9 {0 g3 F: y0 w
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 B- |8 v& M( B' y& |# L
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants " J9 F, |# ~/ C" s, kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 0 E5 r8 ~- Q4 Gassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ; k0 D" N$ Z9 g( [. e2 jis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to + J( g$ ?9 r; j0 a) cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There , P; q7 D; h" [) T3 o1 zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ l8 `. [+ R% G: [3 ^
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- ], L2 K8 v& f, [- y' g4 F1 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ! X: O! {% O4 Z: `6 T* T5 \( O% Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* R# e0 N$ i( J3 ~! r
( R5 N' h7 c" l x# P ^
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no & F2 W5 }# E: @ [0 aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and : S% {+ T& w9 @2 gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people - k2 I- L2 z5 K ]0 ihave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good / R# \2 N7 J% E7 J7 {4 Y! Othing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' v% T% m. ~1 M) lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 J0 n" _; c9 \) sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. + a' g) c2 G7 I) A7 B# ]4 r9 jDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 3 |. M0 H$ ?( l: {a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 {6 G' Y7 e/ C3 J& Q: `
charge the fee defined by the state. 3 h( j7 {/ _* q* |- ~( v/ f& ]* h r: Y+ M! b; e# v
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / s; ?) Z' ~. z: P0 r1 _5 n- Oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 m+ m( G5 ~; I- E6 ]% Tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# J, N3 A5 R7 q3 t+ Q
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 x! v! H0 u0 Q) j
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! C3 [' j% o6 r# q) u" y, D! m# y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on3 l$ g$ p1 s% U* A
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if* W% R4 Y1 O B$ r" ?3 `6 F- K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 7 R7 v+ n0 {2 i2 C* P. Ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 1 v2 j N) V8 G& ]hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that + C8 b M* N6 dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ G) ~2 E/ k1 q* A: w; K' a
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or h5 h9 h7 Q3 p9 h' z2 x' ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there P" |+ h, W. n Sare spaces. 1 @- Q5 F$ q: G5 U; t- w 3 g" h1 M0 x. X+ V5 y6 Z0 e GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi / W& W1 z7 j6 d; o* L/ m, kto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ) i; p U$ x$ S* L' ^own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the - p6 F7 i9 D0 Y6 b6 S7 B Y40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* |: @# j/ i# U- v1 D$ q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 9 n% |6 o# Z9 A& Ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few, W# E+ H: U4 H+ E( g+ m e8 Q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ( B8 ~7 O) `4 q' G, ^car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' J2 H, M- u' i8 j( k8 v7 |/ ^* F; u" h
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ) k8 \1 M( J0 B4 q: F2 \ 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 beautiful3 A0 ^+ ?8 d; F; K8 S% h
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 }. m B! w$ ^" g
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very+ [5 }& l6 n+ d C( O9 f- o: I1 ?
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep & i5 s3 H- x/ ?0 [5 s9 v$ Vrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day # ~$ b0 ~) Q$ ~7 Y0 @) o% vsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 5 |! `5 m8 w8 y. Ithem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 5 y, ?9 ~2 j9 \; O; D' u3 ihave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the C, v$ A& H/ e& E( E, C/ Xtourist area.6 t3 N4 I% k- n; D9 U
2 X& ^ t! \, t
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- s6 i! c9 r- ?3 D- y' r3 |
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).4 Y( b: \% s8 s- C( ]3 O
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were$ k1 Y* _+ y' P: [
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : h3 J2 x4 y: Z
less leader-religious. & ^# t+ d( `( [) j* [3 @( l/ Z & }# h; S' Q4 @. w, XAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba , k# d0 I3 C# Q6 kgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big + p+ S# j( ~6 A$ ]0 o1 u2 wblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US9 c* i! W s7 w8 G+ |, U; d' [
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 9 r T# O0 Z# c7 O 8 N: z% t6 G# {) {, s) HWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the , m- P; v+ B: s& U; D* P% O6 oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ) Z) p- _- A0 |8 L! I" H1 S! O |the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 " Q% a S; e& a8 c% Vconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for; t3 I0 M9 t# X8 E
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars6 X/ L9 f, H9 W7 _5 G) X4 m( M5 ~8 Z
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we, w4 A) |# f1 K6 T" i
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the8 A2 ~$ A( u) Z. L' L, m
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 y/ w- M" P' p
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local & |) b2 N# @, bor visitors. 4 l' M% K. y' y% @% p' B' z% j% b / _ D5 r8 E5 H) H8 _) o1 j3 v% ?-- 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 ; U+ [, g5 T. z. u$ T# [
