We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 7 M7 ^. h+ M" x7 c" C" b5 E4 \/ Ointeresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we6 g8 a0 r9 Y7 h+ e: _
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 4 p$ [$ c& q3 m& M5 d, I& C" h7 v( v8 B1 P/ {5 V
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, * x, o" @: O- i: x9 n# Y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in! ^* e; c- H* N4 b- C5 Q
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 6 [; Y! W1 F- o% r! ^8 c( Vpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort" E* w) i9 q1 M& s5 W
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep0 {+ {; S4 t/ n' @ ?. W
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 R: i# S) }( U U
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, / l* L( [* r+ y& [% F! F3 ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. , u! e# E6 l% L+ d7 t% } People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but! p+ h6 [8 H6 y7 A, p9 S7 a: l
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 3 f- g. D, D1 e/ Aexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 ^; Q6 P- s: j/ ?; ?, H# l* f
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through" t- V$ l$ I& Q
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 7 A. b$ L# V" ~) J0 U; a 0 R3 @8 W. q0 q5 E( y) M, D" Z7 BThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,3 A+ ^% k% [' I$ v" o. A
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool * q: @" R! g& b(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top + Y3 a# A& d7 f5 s1 S9 tof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . z- y1 Z: K, Y( j' fstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from H, n; U& f* `2 f5 l& J
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes8 ~; T, ^# e' { Y" n$ E) z9 ?
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with( x3 v5 _+ T* b
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. / m; e# g: X j2 g: z5 G( t - y T. }1 d( t& s5 a1 }) C3 G9 BThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are % a" w& N3 x% [6 [+ O& P& ijust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 5 I: l6 b& H/ o2 a' }for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ( e3 F( y( [/ [ ^! N) t4 |3 |6 atourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having! C9 }; [8 f- T$ q% b
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China# g* O9 E$ D- Q$ Z( d: I1 H
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: P" M Q7 g2 [) W S+ l+ _5 l* W
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went. u/ t9 Q) Q. N o, |1 q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ! q0 w8 Y0 B. o; }+ {7 _"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give % C$ W# w7 q+ p2 ~ ?answers to our pointed questions. 2 B5 Z# o5 t, a* h3 C ! ]) }2 I- t/ v. c' ^7 V' rThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ' p) c0 k" t9 `: e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# i: x3 D& K! s9 i; S& T
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. l" e& g5 S; N' |
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# W/ j0 s7 d5 T2 W" X
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 5 { W$ r& K6 W$ U+ p3 emedical schools.- G& Q+ |& a$ U9 l. O. @& q
- x' A5 R/ I( E) S0 V: zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ' b5 s) H" O. H. Dgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* j9 v8 ^% ` Q: v
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ! q1 z2 a4 s# @9 {# m2 z! Vassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( d# J' G1 i2 a5 p) D5 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to l$ a: d+ a5 m# Q0 qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ' K6 R: H6 K' ]+ k- u" bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and % Q/ K5 p& N" V0 _7 @7 V( Mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ ?* B" |$ w! v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some & |5 V/ C3 ~# Ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.8 @" ?0 v& _0 Y D4 j9 ^) ?
% e/ }4 t! V. p- }) b
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 0 K P" j8 w( X- n2 Y0 c6 j7 O; Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 ^' V c+ z! J5 Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# P) v' ?" w0 e+ ?4 O3 _/ M
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 6 J7 m9 a+ U% ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! }% {! h+ v; X5 [0 W9 r# N! X
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 g/ A3 A4 ^/ W2 {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 ^+ ~, n7 C/ G+ \& G8 y) k4 a* x9 F3 Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( c1 h9 \8 Z# q) m9 ^5 {* a8 M: ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 8 J* H0 v! f" X/ J( d# ?) ~charge the fee defined by the state.1 u' K, D4 Q' f5 P. }$ Q
5 h3 F$ Y9 O9 A
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 8 g% E6 X3 S' y9 X9 F" xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* J( x% Q/ S5 h" }! j- g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big " T! o* [9 y4 ~3 t4 @8 ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel0 Z1 L- k" H+ ~& b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ R: J+ c8 |* d9 a Q( Y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: {0 ~3 a8 A7 t" n# v( N& y* X
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - Z. o, @5 N6 l+ _+ h/ N8 q# byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people' n% \! H6 T3 b
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch . z+ w2 p7 ]8 ]! V# ]8 x uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ' x+ V( U9 R4 c2 Fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ' q+ b; B4 a: P( I4 D* N) Lto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 5 N' Q* p. R# _' jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there `% Z- T0 X+ J) o eare spaces. w" ]4 M8 g+ `3 ?4 h' U2 q5 L# `# k0 T) C# ` W" R& |
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi * {2 z" ^# y- u2 U* O) _$ `0 ?to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 4 D5 t3 \1 B/ U8 pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the , e! c$ r. p J' n- b8 D40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 6 U; s; h, l7 J( k* lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ' m4 k7 G9 R( K" X. w( W" X- |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few i% a* A. }3 Q. D' W9 v, ?nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of % g2 p9 e; z1 ~8 A' Mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ' N/ h( p, O, l6 ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ( c& x; c& ^7 y. ~ 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 , k, k% t- ]4 a' Hspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all8 F( X+ y; n% P$ G+ U
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very' b1 q3 R: {5 [! \
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# D s2 _( t6 M t( q6 j4 }( B
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day/ z0 F4 a) k0 G
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 1 j- Q9 @9 @. Y) f1 hthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 8 I9 K/ r: q% S. xhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 8 R3 f+ n) T# F$ C& w8 F; Atourist area. , {2 ]1 h% A8 R' R% |( k2 g0 ~) s; g7 q: o# I
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's " j" [) ^7 ~' S, e, bpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).% _, ^5 o0 t7 h
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - c! D0 L1 W# o3 _' oeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ h5 a/ S6 N# c k5 {
less leader-religious., ^4 e" Y, Y' ?0 C2 y
: M' Q4 T Z5 ?7 Y' U7 a6 c5 G3 u1 G/ }, aAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : t5 {( Z% O: Y/ h' t. }government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big3 ?* b- `; }8 z7 ]$ ]6 Q2 L
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US / V7 W8 k1 d- r, L$ Wembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).$ s H' ^$ U& `/ }6 Z/ a5 @& M9 S
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 3 r2 J- u- X' s* V* n$ Q5 L! K! [parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not & w0 ^# ~1 W) x/ K& k' Athe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 U( a A% Y- y4 ]2 Qconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 4 W! {) I$ n# }: hforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars % P4 E0 M5 V) H$ C; C! b(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 A o; K3 z1 ^+ x6 t
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the. e1 h( |4 ?: q' p7 G2 U& {6 U
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.4 P5 s$ G* q/ V& K7 e( [! S
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local/ M+ N. |' U* M( L& M
or visitors. + }/ \; @: s" u0 R' j ; ?% y" r3 o5 w8 C4 f-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
