We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very0 d ?6 G) B3 G/ |
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we % G! u& u9 r) V {: A& y+ Wwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.' f/ d* T+ |6 _8 W2 n" @- {
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,5 F0 k' t. J: i: y3 | x
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in% ~8 s2 u8 e; {2 V' k @
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 2 x. {9 W$ z) w4 w2 Hpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort + X* b6 o5 E$ W0 M) ?show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep+ m4 C% E7 u7 s
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( ?$ u9 U! K' s. \( Y- d
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,$ d7 @9 ~7 W7 k1 T" a, U2 r
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 8 _* @# G k. i& O8 ~ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. p4 |- g7 Y" N+ D5 o: |) n
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 9 P2 ]& @+ y7 uexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our1 L ~1 G" C4 c/ j) m9 g
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 J3 W9 t* Y# o. x# v
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ; }: N+ e( L: }- q1 x" J0 r" |5 B4 F
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 8 T. Y l4 k- F3 ?. o4 m# xlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool1 G l$ A2 s3 W ?( l: b5 h
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top; D. f0 E1 t/ P9 l3 r3 b
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the( @; D8 z% A5 {) V. v
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from9 I6 b0 I- b$ t6 f. n
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes % R2 T$ d* r6 JCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ) u& `! E! i+ A pfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.* |1 A* F* w7 l9 o" Y6 w: b0 N
) E3 n" _8 y& S: x$ H' v0 iThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : i+ _0 E# S6 J9 Y+ p" {just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made- F3 c. @1 ] ^5 q7 ^8 }
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( f1 V. W/ _1 K1 R+ N8 ?7 L7 b {
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having . k. W! _4 t9 O5 a% R1 m1 Ba staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China5 H! ]( ~/ Y7 L% y4 X8 [
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 9 d' T5 b# g$ E; P4 F' f6 vstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 _( P0 b" Q! e2 @3 A3 R& B
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, + S9 n& g! H c, d+ _0 S/ n q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 5 l5 T! W( e* ^answers to our pointed questions. ! b3 [2 g5 r! n" ]& A9 a # A! {! U. V6 q) ^The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, % U2 Z5 q$ A, ^+ }/ m8 ?45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 7 w- Q, r0 d) i2 _* pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 \5 w6 T: ^% }& W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 6 N0 a U! Y! v( k8 M" c2 ?! Wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# k p: r7 g$ S5 a4 {# D1 N
medical schools. ( ?% L X0 H% K; S) S0 ] ) r4 h4 `. y0 lEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" I4 Z- n) Y+ W% r2 ?' E& z* A. K. f
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. U3 i* k; T8 ?, V0 `! u/ c: E
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ x7 E5 V/ \9 m9 Z3 ]/ a! u# J
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ! ` |6 E1 F- v! Gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 2 ?8 c+ @: x( O; oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ E- f& f$ j2 _4 |
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) v% t4 }/ L1 F) M- G- O- a4 k1 ~! L
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk l# ?! E+ H& w: a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 8 R: }* I$ p1 r; T9 {' asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. / d, v4 `6 q( R% j$ l0 s! s" q" j' u+ Z& M" [* R, k" G
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ' p8 E! K+ C- P) l# Sprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ; [) [0 u! F9 R* s2 y% A# A- Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ( D* U2 _% M" F1 w1 J0 thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ) R3 K" i5 }) ~6 i& ` uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 X6 ]+ U, ~0 ?9 ^0 a# B
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& K. z$ }% ]' n: t! _" |6 B% w+ t: @
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 5 r$ o1 ~- G+ J3 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When! E6 b- F4 } N4 L# N' o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 7 d( A9 K8 R6 F% W% p( y0 wcharge the fee defined by the state. 7 b$ c1 F% H& o # Z/ {4 O# p5 ^$ MThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' Y- {' ?: t2 e E
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type + \3 Q4 ~, o* u) C& Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big $ X$ Z/ y$ j7 a8 I& ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( o& ]( o# f- ]: ?
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the! A& g6 O; q7 I2 L/ j- t2 h" e# y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' X4 a& R. [; D7 E0 S v- F5 ^
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# S7 @. W( `! i1 N1 D
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people3 W$ c, Z1 a5 T% o) I! y
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch & }/ f2 D' j6 e. T" o3 Y% h) shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 4 M" a Q$ ?5 v5 P+ Cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want . Z$ a! {+ K% R. `# ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or + F. m l a6 O' {5 jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there % ^' A; t! E1 t+ Y* w; \% ?are spaces. ~6 M* [8 R9 r$ F) V. V' v3 I1 u" g1 A
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ) I0 i: g J y5 ^$ tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ O1 w: N+ F: W( k
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: U3 W- S- X6 ? {* J6 W" E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 R) D# R: m9 h; c5 M2 W/ n
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 0 I2 U/ k3 D9 C& N( Qbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - h& Z0 J0 Y9 g% Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 2 y- N+ w u, y/ j' o: w0 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 Z( B, r( w& k0 ~9 O( G
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. y5 [1 f/ ?, A8 G# e
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 $ Y+ g- z# a s3 }/ w! rspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all* {% j: x. Q4 C2 S2 \1 q
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very # Y0 `0 ]: v) X M! s5 ]limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep7 N' @# d4 W- o' M7 ]
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day. |& ]# E+ M9 R, {+ }4 h! V
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 6 v: l. |& m6 a) I; ^) W; _them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 6 v' B8 f! h& _# T0 Y8 e9 jhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the) N; N" j$ c6 g
tourist area. ; Y; _ T4 f% _: i( O4 t- w) N; k* D% p: g* _+ ~; |
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: g8 Y/ r+ B: \% F& e4 ^! ^
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). / G* ~/ S- y& M6 Y- b# oCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( n( p1 A7 e1 i, W
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " U* a% n: B+ O0 X% i. `less leader-religious. % n& Q6 U3 O# a( l* j! y" v% W" H( L" t1 x. S8 R% q1 f
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba - i* [* [8 Q8 c2 ggovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ! U7 w- s' x1 j9 p& g/ w$ P2 y- Rblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US( [, c, @- B) x' x( j! X$ b! G; J
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).! j( I- d8 \3 t( M+ }1 s6 }
8 @2 L5 O( B6 ^& {
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the7 k g5 p# |( L, A$ ^1 h
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 1 r8 h$ z9 k2 K( f) w4 zthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 0 y" L$ s( n! B! N( E' O1 ^convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 3 A t0 ~3 m& Z+ pforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) C, h& m- p. r( x% A' q
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we: |+ @" p3 p8 e
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 3 C7 H4 ?" D% s; @3 b" a7 }- _8 l. dreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.+ g% {3 s# Q7 r* U0 F# y. L% o
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local , k* w5 w: H+ _& x: ]or visitors. 6 M7 ?4 e- E7 V9 z! y" i* k( b ) l( S$ Q, C3 X* I8 Y-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
