We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very; E: }" h7 K; @1 X& ]0 N
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 5 _- W. F; J4 z3 d# ?wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.0 a8 G8 G ~( C
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, & K* F9 O0 |0 L' ]# |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 8 w/ h T( k3 v$ L P- U5 Aa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as4 @' h- o1 ~" Y) d( U
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- e2 j. W0 L5 Z* `" S K" l+ v! |
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep * l6 n$ R. M5 a& S3 m# `2 a3 s# d6 N+ tbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the! z/ c) R3 Q- V/ h( J
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 y9 a# z) S8 f9 v2 L& w5 g% s E2 {" @
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. M" }% c! `7 f6 T2 H: a8 H+ t
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 l+ w& O" X: e) f+ O" k4 Vnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not8 ?2 v4 W7 ?/ q! [2 v2 Q
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our : |' J, V/ H2 g, n% C& Lflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) e9 n% T3 s! @
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 E& @3 ~# Y- j; I6 t2 b
# o& i# B ^2 ~$ C; ~8 `% a3 ?The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 0 f7 f( f, t- b2 k' h# }4 Xlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool " ` w2 X; U" Y(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ; w' e# i* |9 y5 D: z+ z7 ]9 gof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the F% C7 }2 w0 Y$ R6 J
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ; r' w' Q' o5 r8 d& c" [; g6 I; S49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 w3 o) Z" H5 q6 b, m" dCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! e* M9 I- P, Y" T# Z
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. & T4 i v& m$ F0 j$ E+ z3 _7 p8 o% @# w# _$ \/ s/ B8 z$ D [
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are. {# X8 C4 _( C7 \ d
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 7 V4 X; ~" g6 p. I2 d1 cfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba- d& m5 V+ F' ]) _4 {. B1 L: @4 ]
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having+ J# J: _* C, ^2 N- n
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China5 E! H% S l/ [% D9 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, living1 d4 Y( l# B6 Q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 Z L- G! y! Z. G9 m) w. S2 y' J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 y8 O& c& W4 T"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, w3 w2 C! t5 h- k3 \1 ]
answers to our pointed questions.* T/ w9 D. P5 i$ c9 S
- d% F' G, o5 U7 o' _The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, : `) z; Q& {& h/ ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) G2 E! Q" v3 E$ _5 F
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is* i( G; x8 B8 Y, `% J
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams , D3 Q4 s. B2 E$ |- [1 nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 3 |6 A' W9 m. J8 B% @+ \% Nmedical schools. * \6 f3 n7 l T$ F , `/ C# v# d; q- Z1 @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! {5 ~( {5 }6 g& S E6 U
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 U0 A! O" ^8 R) gto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ! S, ^/ I N& passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 2 w v) ]# o& R$ N* \is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - B0 {" i" B% F" ^9 ]$ ]* xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 B' g6 x; b" E# {6 [; a, Wseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 6 H0 k5 L+ D4 c8 P. ]2 kmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 j( ^% D( |# s& y3 N
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some( h" B! N( ]) [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 ~; s u$ E" A0 u% R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 2 s. d& m1 i v- v" P* kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 r) c% {1 Q4 N2 k G( d4 ^
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! X$ b( v) n8 r6 o9 h8 H* ]$ X
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good + D* b; ? J3 P5 Dthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby* q- @% t9 N4 C5 ~
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 g2 h M6 E4 F; m9 x Edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 ^" N6 P0 Q1 ]8 m/ MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , f+ M" B+ r5 e" ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 0 ^* ?; L+ R% B- P+ qcharge the fee defined by the state., i$ D$ `9 a. ^& z
3 a4 B0 X$ K$ u$ x J" P
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 Q, D" b6 P- v6 r1 ^9 i
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type9 y b9 ^+ X4 b0 K& X- n! l
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 H7 M7 O5 Q$ }" F+ l* Y
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 0 j' ~/ z/ L& r* V/ |8 k1 Gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 9 ]% e& F2 m: V& z+ Y9 Wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on; A+ }( w) K% }/ S
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 R1 k1 M5 f+ V. E: qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people( ]4 h' |$ \- S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# o( d' I2 z6 c. S
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% C( s: I/ G+ V( H- l7 ^! G9 f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( L, f6 S) J/ m5 ~& {
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or . ~+ R$ j; J7 f+ y% k2 o/ \4 Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 5 }3 L$ m3 r: A+ A' I9 bare spaces.: w6 Y+ a. U; T4 J
! B; _- Q" M3 RThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 M+ V8 I9 }! u* Q& Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( S+ x- @8 X0 f# {. L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the * y1 ?& L! {3 R2 O8 l# ?& a40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% Z" M& p" M2 j5 h: U
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 9 C5 N9 v. j/ n [. u. f9 |) V3 Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few% h6 [0 N; U: d% D1 M" }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of) }7 F2 \" S* G+ a1 e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it : f3 j; S! ?1 s8 z+ ?4 mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 X4 k4 X; E" ~, Z2 Z: b1 ~/ 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' A- D. ~0 Z- }2 Q1 x2 p0 r
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all , u% A1 Y8 r* m5 uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very : l6 ]9 N5 S- Vlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep7 M7 \: m$ b( T' B$ V
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day- i/ Z1 g! ? }0 H$ L
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of7 x: Y) Y* l! l) ?
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 5 H) g& S" m% W* Q: Phave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 5 A, Z6 x' h& V9 [8 ytourist area. * k4 i$ }+ I2 p% x+ e 3 C% R/ G- l% ~! P; U* ~6 ROne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 N4 y1 ]* a8 n* w
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).1 V! ~+ x3 ]2 R4 i3 L6 Q# b
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were: V. p! Q1 s( Y/ O/ Q" ~
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # W0 E) p, G7 n. g
less leader-religious.: K* c4 p" u. ?# l
9 k- Y% Q9 \- T8 l6 H3 p3 O9 IAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ; Q* A( j! H/ lgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big; ^; u0 i; M8 W. M4 ~, T
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US7 K- R6 ^$ `. g- i
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). . L0 ~; Y7 g' t8 x! J% z/ R m7 x3 {: `0 K, k6 v. `
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 4 I6 |( a! r% d& ?2 c9 F" D) Xparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ! y: R% [7 k9 _/ a* uthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 3 @6 y; s h2 Vconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for4 e2 j) ]" t, L! Q( ]
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars1 w5 ~9 s) b. S0 J
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we" ?7 l. }2 K5 ?' m
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the & e6 N# p4 Q2 _# ^6 j: O3 M1 Mreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. T% S$ E7 e/ U
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local5 q+ D7 r% f q# a
or visitors. 8 i/ B; a& s, S( A& c5 o# s- Q, F& {! N$ E7 g- o; W
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
