We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & ?- @; j$ U7 r' j9 b1 n: ~interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 3 v$ U8 l; a# Z: |wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. / B% t( b/ n. ^* J0 R C9 K Y6 h" B5 T
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ( q1 ~, t% f1 M, V; ` z2 S1 Q30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in + d6 ?) H* r' L: q1 ]+ b* d% Ya very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as, F6 F) f: K& `, R F O
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- a" ?; v# d3 @1 ^$ ^9 s" I
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep& b0 T0 }" g9 K% U' P9 Q# A
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 b m, V7 s& N2 E y2 U* Klobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- A% z: X* H8 z: D/ {* L: h7 p5 R
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & D8 s6 L. g& N0 ` People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 5 S; @2 k- H! ]+ tnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 K+ y/ T# m- v% R6 Z8 k
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our. N5 |0 N' X. _: f ]8 ~% }
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through9 h4 o8 }. ]5 p* z9 \
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. v* O; i- i' \, D3 t% u
9 N0 G9 X! `) m6 {( ?
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. h% _# B/ i& I
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool " Z8 x* }5 y# h(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top2 D E5 R: U+ `1 N1 Y1 G7 P
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . C Z$ l6 f+ xstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ]/ ]" `; l6 K, P3 J4 _49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes$ n- k5 P& k5 I h; w4 _$ T5 { i
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ' L% H6 e! p/ }6 Ufingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 G. S9 L& n+ M
' x7 N: _, C5 R. X/ F0 n5 ]& Y( |
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ q8 W: V& P3 I) W" U. k: N$ @" x
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made# |7 P- i( Y; L7 T+ Y: C/ \
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba % \# ]: ^$ R0 A1 g6 ~. n: itourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 1 y, o8 p. n3 }/ a; @, D7 a& Y, ha staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 7 t) r. g% H( F: G# g ?: o$ Ydaily 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; t/ @: I/ N6 y' E: ]9 S$ X
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 3 [ [% h9 w3 O# j6 Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,3 \7 Y# {. \$ N0 z% s2 C
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give + C5 q9 `1 V9 V# s, }* xanswers to our pointed questions. 8 r2 ^! K% ?" K2 b2 u5 l ' n# k* z0 G, E! L5 M, i0 uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, " x9 [& M& x* e3 f) c; Q$ ~45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand h5 o9 P. ]. ]5 z! H2 |: h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is " R: h5 A4 |* wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. e' x, b( {5 W5 I) |' l/ L; H9 `9 d0 Z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) E6 q, b. A& H3 {
medical schools. 2 [ @2 |( n4 A- u6 c. q' a8 t" ^2 J8 x9 C9 P9 S
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 @& Q. y$ ^4 o% X) ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 l6 L/ M7 e. q# U* T3 R. ~
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 0 J9 X0 z* @0 d( A+ Hassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ P9 T7 I/ T. E$ o4 Z4 X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to - [7 _' c& C9 I Q- Lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There5 |( g" F& J( q0 z7 L8 ?: j# q# m
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 e, U# v& q2 {; s* ]3 g" X+ `
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! j2 ?$ ]9 D) S
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ) {* I# S6 k4 P. O( x/ i/ Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. : P( }' H, k, R' `+ P& a. E; Q) B; t7 M: q- ?2 V- C r# b7 B' F5 l
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 3 {& ]7 ~/ K7 H4 A2 d$ Bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and & n# `, t4 m3 d I( X% Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& y- b0 [% u& o5 @" B% |
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good , v! e. r. G9 e( q4 Ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 R+ K3 e" A' ?/ x/ i ]2 r
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 V: w8 r4 |( J" T7 y8 v+ [- Tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 5 r" c1 ?1 C4 M7 M+ ~6 ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ; v( u7 g) u- f9 T6 i2 ^8 Ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 I3 o5 t/ o3 \/ {9 y
charge the fee defined by the state.5 x# Z& C9 `: `
! f" G1 w. x) ~" v! z- s7 G2 t" JThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get # V2 u2 W( v7 Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type % f! q7 A' }7 bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! @( @) N- V/ ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 4 K7 R% B$ o1 a3 useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the% t, b0 S: C* S2 j. C, l
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 W. y9 T$ x) P4 m: v
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' j; b& h" U6 G# ~
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ t& |5 G& G: B, z% Q! g6 n
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch . z6 _* ]6 O7 L! f6 f$ A5 thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that # G- [6 ?9 o" v" Z. G# A" epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ( |2 L0 ]+ ^2 E6 B. P" s9 ]8 Fto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ]; J3 r% ?! r: x6 c
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 4 |$ Q9 {) J) U d& `are spaces. 6 _$ f0 u" P/ w* q7 f! X9 t4 ^1 S( q# U* e
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi - H0 ^" ]; ~ U: h+ Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% ^$ r9 U/ _0 V! D9 w ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the . z8 D c+ e! c A7 v40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 5 N, A# l! ]" N6 K; f! X8 Mparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the + C* O1 p% w" t4 S9 ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 7 z& F( y2 t4 n) a# Mnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of * k- o( ]# A+ G6 @car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it + g1 E8 d) B; H2 F$ kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.2 _& Z9 R6 ^4 a7 D6 p- d5 j
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+ r" K, \- _1 j9 n5 K
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all/ T8 j: h2 x- I3 N( \9 {
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very8 t: l) ^% D' {8 ~7 n7 m3 {
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep & n; A+ P1 s1 j$ b+ y% D, Wrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 3 y: I/ P+ R- e9 ]supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of1 D2 M1 m, l! N! U( Q+ x4 s0 v" v8 q
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms2 O, ^% X* \ c. T' [
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' p0 N! a4 v( L8 P' O
tourist area.) A& k' U' U6 N8 V; A! v2 K& E
+ b% V& B4 ]0 K* j7 lOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's # L- Q% ~- b8 v% V _pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).) O& a; K1 C$ D3 K
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were5 O; k- {, M; Q! m2 Z0 f+ S. e! f, l
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # S6 I, |: K( C2 m2 q7 h* ?less leader-religious. / l# ~. }# d+ h! W% W9 p* {' U/ c6 N- ]" t* t, _$ S
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 2 P! ~0 g4 k- t9 |government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ \; g n) ]9 a6 ~$ H2 y! i" sblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US, O2 B, c$ E- r# ?7 n) s
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).0 h0 n5 P+ G9 Q, E. Z+ M8 [$ h
( M8 W @5 U, \ Q7 s! W; v
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the3 U2 n3 c2 [2 b0 w: N7 k5 n
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 9 v$ |/ L) z. F5 E: ^% t% C& u6 Fthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 K2 Z7 s+ [8 i: @7 W/ H% a- b
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ! i4 s7 z6 [# f! U1 K4 }foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars + A5 P6 J" f9 R; N) C(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we, ]7 a8 O1 l% f% }! m6 u5 b4 y
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the - P/ c, @2 I% @( A8 X. dreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. , C5 S6 X! X+ M7 u6 }" L w. PAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 2 m3 H$ Q0 _3 I1 ~9 X" w7 sor visitors. ! J* t6 i/ S; \4 F0 F+ k* R; S5 V
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
