We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very # k' f0 v( R) o9 p n. \* ]' \0 Linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 9 S, x( k4 A0 ` E8 f! z- J. O& ?wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. - J9 B, K5 @7 ^ d* t$ e( v. O8 G0 L2 |& WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % S5 V$ z2 q) T30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ; I7 z- J' h$ j4 pa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 0 p+ q! D4 \: _+ c' L6 Apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort # f1 C' N# ^6 t* z( Dshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep# f9 a1 t( _; K% i; v
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the # N& p. x+ N7 L+ W/ Z0 plobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, & H& K: c8 A$ c* b7 ^ Dwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 ?4 ], l$ l! G( M' k People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but6 Z# @8 j, K) g7 W+ _$ J* c' G
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not7 K2 n5 L, G! k) Y# i7 x
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our" {& a$ r g( F" @0 _ ?4 G
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through: n& f% Y! }) \( P! k" U
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.& u6 w; s( p4 A
4 w( y& R9 c% r& X9 i3 z. C8 r n$ vThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, . S, \' _. b3 x* l J" rlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool C3 C& u; v! B8 o$ R- ^/ S(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top2 D* ]( |. W! W1 R
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the. t: p- {9 u! K( s" T5 P
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from . ?! y7 p' P3 A49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 0 z! r- i8 u0 c4 [0 kCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with( i, S5 G' H1 V' `' ]; Q9 R+ T4 ]
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.7 T* T8 p: f6 G7 ^7 C) l) y( G$ A
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are1 {# O* E8 s: g* ]5 _+ g$ Y
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made # |, J! l/ M ]0 Cfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba : l+ ^* M# M( ^3 w2 btourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having7 Y# F1 w0 y( \# ?, F1 |* \: W5 ~
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 J+ A) n. e" Jdaily 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; w }5 m- y& G$ d
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went / K3 t+ `3 Q# von a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, . G7 V c! {: Q# Y. H \/ r"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ' q) f! S. T7 a6 vanswers to our pointed questions.6 R. A3 @5 L0 Q, b! \7 O
# m0 q; K6 ^6 y! T+ f
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,2 T8 ?. U6 X7 m$ [# @0 d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand : G9 X/ P# t& g( I7 _1 jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 e7 C# M u1 l2 x3 _' p b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% P. ~; s1 [1 W; s
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 Z% e( E" ^+ x" X7 I4 L R
medical schools. {) j- O% e( E0 M8 D' O
" e8 `% C e( B* B* y" wEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 3 X3 M7 k1 r( B, v, P, Ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants- D$ \0 N/ R# |# X- R' z- b5 N/ K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) }- U; y. ~) n* fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba , [- `4 Z( Q" \6 uis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: {! h* v k; e0 s5 N
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There - K: }7 N/ @. `% _1 xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and- O9 z" J# a8 O/ m
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* J0 S* N; w0 w; Q2 e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some * k1 ~7 w# B+ [5 L5 _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 ?* b7 E' z: P2 G, l' c. P
. z0 g+ z) V$ S+ S" N
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 `) E$ R) L7 v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ; T- U A/ S5 w. A- r$ N" E) csupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people. L* `" \! N3 N
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, @7 o$ S! p0 \; x
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! \* t2 a5 K/ l `2 x" @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high , H& z. F8 M" k, Bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. + }# A1 I. b% p+ g8 t" x8 xDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ Q, H9 G" z+ v) j$ X4 e; E
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only / l2 v+ v5 I* f, r2 J6 Ncharge the fee defined by the state.2 R. S" p, b0 }5 v- U
6 Q7 ?" s4 G- d6 F
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 c" P/ L: f: C+ X2 Bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- R4 ~- M5 D7 M" ?6 d. ~( D/ r
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 O2 z8 E+ V# P, S
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& Z( a# C7 W+ g3 P; |
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the$ y' \# r m7 ]( K# }6 K
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ) v7 ]3 V' A" j! v; a. Hschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ( @9 r8 ^4 r% G) t' t% \you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 p x6 |. X5 P/ H- d e" g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch& c/ @& X, k* u) _, ~! l
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 b5 q, Z* N" }- ^* s, C% C. R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want/ ^, _. Q1 R4 A. O/ t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or " a& D3 j ?: S# c6 J2 ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ! e: n* _/ Z( T i- K5 _8 Fare spaces.& \4 E( Y; y4 g, w+ e
4 G7 D2 L+ i2 r/ n7 v" \) Y6 QThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . K7 n* A2 ?, n0 V& i, V7 cto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 P0 R5 a1 d- ~; @7 V
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the - ?2 _3 G) K! _$ n0 F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 @, W0 P5 v4 `$ s) }( A' sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ H' H8 z5 `3 j- F! j
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - n8 Z/ `% t# o Rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of4 Z2 Z3 K: o, L0 B" t
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ' t' ?" M6 U; H2 F) I0 Kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 V/ x* _1 {' s* M8 P: _0 i
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 / u' A( W4 C& y1 P& h, E5 B: Zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all , U& v$ o4 C1 u. Lthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very# W. c$ @+ N7 g4 x. q P* R
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep : s( u( r& w2 Q8 P3 J9 Vrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ( q4 t9 ^. M/ B$ `" A5 Wsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of7 \* c: ` p/ x' u4 a
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms . l" V/ j6 j/ ~5 M" ihave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the% q! w) f6 J g. d* L i
tourist area.0 Z2 [3 _! i3 {! D
) u2 |9 m( d4 \ FOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's* M& d% C- M. l' C1 ~5 W6 b
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).+ q; y+ @, t* V+ K# n7 ~
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were& \7 h% L: W* |6 Y+ ?
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 R! o; U4 k9 x' Q
less leader-religious. 5 H6 e1 }2 \3 e# i8 I) F5 x 9 [2 R- w" L. p% q( s! _! O1 }: mAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; [& b- K+ Y ?" T
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big- O- N9 |* e* W8 J/ b8 f
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ) g1 b P7 W8 N# B; v5 Oembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). . w. C( T; N' }# d* b6 W # b8 u. p1 ?9 L& E# M2 }We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the - t2 u: m' o8 f, i) M( ]" X( iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not: s% x8 @' ?+ \ k7 c k
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ( W8 R5 B1 O- t$ c' t9 @5 Oconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* X5 {+ u: p4 F1 K2 n" ^
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ {6 K/ r8 x' C* U
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 V2 Z+ [ f$ o: J2 {6 J
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the7 p+ K! l8 ~& K' S/ ^* N
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : D! v; q/ a* qAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; u7 m5 j/ U0 U7 ] u {9 }
or visitors. ) E! K' l& A A& D# j4 u2 c) c v8 r7 c# h9 s& O7 N4 L-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
