We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very i, X, T4 N8 O2 p9 y7 j6 V
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we$ F0 U( c' G# U
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. , q# R6 f w- `1 [. G * ~( T. M! T, a$ YIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, $ p7 I9 n5 b! e5 J! Y; G30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , Q% e3 v9 ^. h. d0 ^5 I0 _% K3 b ~a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as0 w7 Y% j" ~, q
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort( g# P, r7 N% n/ G; g
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep & T( S+ @/ [* d/ o' Ibetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the8 r: \+ f, o n, l P' `0 P6 m1 C
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,; d: w7 c% v. R n* w
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.% {5 S! A( m- u. ^, l/ L
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. Q! e! H6 v: n' p# P
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not . I' b" p* n1 i, ^; `6 texchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our" P& H& e9 _$ i9 i9 a `
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through% |4 s# f$ h* {& T3 A
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.% A$ U8 b4 v1 r2 v# d2 _
9 G$ L2 b E4 n# {8 V ?
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. ?3 U! W) J0 W, K+ O6 o* x
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool/ q0 Y- \- W! m2 C D" L
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top : p* s1 n: x3 f9 P6 S0 x( q# iof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 0 H" Y* V8 ?- `5 U: d* O, J0 N- @0 ?stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from " N ?7 L" o6 Z% t @; E3 o6 a+ C49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes- N2 } H5 w) J: J
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 4 z$ Y+ @% k8 N s; l: Dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 B1 c4 V4 o8 W7 G) A* D- X- K
+ G" R& S7 e( ^; _
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are) o4 u( t' u9 [
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made , V! U- t1 L4 X; O! I6 u- G; _for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba - U9 m* O" _- N2 f3 p+ `, m. }tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having, F' w( U2 K+ U* G" n* s
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China p8 |0 W2 R. F" w& F; Y
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. X/ j/ X& r8 n4 S R, f5 S/ l
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; A# U' r+ M4 \" ~
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,) z4 N5 w' O e T( i6 |- L( g
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give . S3 [& k1 B7 o% y$ w* Ranswers to our pointed questions.1 `4 s+ t$ B+ r/ H1 d5 A' P
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, - L5 a6 h. b, q- @/ b9 v$ L! `45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand * ?8 b5 F4 ^/ {# g5 xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 g, } w0 R" K) o- {% i! H
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 4 s8 c3 A* L/ d8 y) y( ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are4 q' _0 k7 P- @* f, I* \
medical schools. 9 c, g1 W9 Q* ^8 f7 c4 Z5 B $ p3 m- |; r* }+ F3 w) Z7 pEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 B; a+ h2 z+ D* Z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. H+ M$ f' ]3 B+ t; ]$ v! ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 9 w. ~. t5 x; `3 P4 K2 a6 }: [assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba; h. \8 d/ t! H
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: k1 X X$ ?$ A$ U! [/ B7 j" z
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 9 D" ]6 J) ^7 `6 L$ X; r/ X1 Zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 7 v5 N" `$ N0 Y4 {* F( _/ G- k7 d1 lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# @- z$ ~# k( g; x
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. n- ]. y! {3 \8 W5 z4 U% V- a
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 0 V5 h2 E& j$ E S, `: V. s( v: Q 3 b: W( ~! e: V* ]* P( S2 h4 HThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ; c. |( p: B9 x( H, W9 J" ]5 l$ qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ; n1 I1 Z# c! Q$ Lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people* d# Q6 J j' b+ o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good h0 y F8 v3 nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ E# _$ \: D% Z6 O# g: a5 B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# f3 n7 b2 R! ` J( h1 _
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ Y2 Q% @3 T \7 v& Z
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 1 L8 g4 t) [# q0 v" \7 fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 m% O4 e! w+ Y8 P( ~9 a
charge the fee defined by the state. " ^2 K% n- b# f' E) s( B, V. ?/ [% ]. [, O e& [8 i4 q
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ' Y% C! N/ v5 u+ ?# @/ ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 6 }+ T6 v( P+ N3 Yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 9 m/ f5 f" r3 n5 [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 2 B4 \ c4 V8 L A% iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 1 h) T8 i! W- k' g; z6 T& S3 Lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 P. C. V2 Y8 |. w+ m* k" O
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if & U% S6 Y8 P+ T. jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" A) ~/ k1 g( m4 }6 n
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch * e w/ d/ @& A# @hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) M% m9 S: T8 w0 h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* [% W* t/ \* }% y( i
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" Z5 N1 M6 y8 O6 D$ f' I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 0 Y/ _1 |$ W4 aare spaces. 9 x* _9 o. y5 f: y1 A6 i# N0 d" R# M, ^
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 0 z% f( D. _6 M8 f( Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they3 Q0 [; S/ k9 e/ I9 }" [
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the . @# } {7 X6 M, G; Z% |40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different Y# L' b3 C: S* p- _
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ! _ M4 \! a# {: [4 I) Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 f& ^& M( A* {2 T. M
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of# F2 Z$ ^# ]3 c7 A
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- |9 f/ D; M' d2 H: w% g
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. : e7 _8 R3 l8 |& \7 f& ~' |$ k 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 & ^5 B) b& T. j3 I' H& g1 @5 aspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 }) c7 J2 K- z8 ~/ D+ c/ w
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very1 F* x- i, S. N( b+ T
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep r" N+ Z7 ^) E( M
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ; F$ S' `1 F& T4 j1 @supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& I0 o! Y( o& b
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms, T# m! J; P" l/ A' {
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the7 I- G: A& z) V7 g: n3 d O
tourist area./ K( f K- { X
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: E' M2 _' E# M6 `" B
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ; }5 d! M2 l6 U1 ^) C6 w6 Y9 s0 o1 }# WCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were) I9 |1 ^0 b; F& f ?6 |8 _' F
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 0 b- Y1 L( W9 q& X+ Y/ s
less leader-religious. ( j2 h: Z O5 N; b7 B " t2 ?7 M/ M# X+ A( j7 TAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 a4 K7 C% X% U2 X5 \; z
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big6 x5 }: k, W; L! D& H) U) z4 v
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US+ u! g' x" j U$ U6 P Y; d0 {
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' }$ Q0 W# m6 o% V4 I- C
2 g, k0 q1 n7 c( ?We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ( N* |/ i+ t2 A& z& Vparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ; `. \& X( B# }the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ a" _, Y: J% e' L4 G9 \. W/ y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 5 [, r( N. _0 A0 C- `foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars& `- W. G, K; @( R$ e0 m# R
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we% S" W$ [- k; b7 L& Y. d
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 6 Z+ n9 T k$ M4 Greal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.! r- B" N+ q5 H( s' ^7 a
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local % E0 Q7 p2 e1 S/ ^3 S5 `9 ~- j+ Lor visitors.4 D, J1 n/ z5 _4 ^
. Y C+ v8 o: X-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
