We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 4 m+ n6 [1 f+ P2 {" finteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 l4 s- F: E' ]9 `
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.0 I* V# C1 b3 K7 h! f
( x8 t5 L7 b/ u5 J; h8 N( ~It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,/ |3 F7 b V, d9 M3 U
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in, g3 w" {6 l& t: a# }% Z( W
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 M9 \) y" N8 [ ^) n5 j3 ~4 N
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 3 n$ d. h9 a, eshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep; l% q- C) b* ^- [2 B" C
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 3 y/ o/ f, \/ H1 dlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- w; x) ?& f g7 w
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.' o' q7 ]' ]1 l; o
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 5 A- V1 n6 q, Gnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 2 ?( j+ T# C6 Y4 k3 y1 Oexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our) M0 M; O4 v0 K: ^. k/ {
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 u! P$ Z5 [4 B8 V& a
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.3 o5 R) e: w. e# R& P
0 H0 b0 \' o* R, d3 Y7 v, H
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, : o$ z, l$ k5 n" {8 e8 b. e- Mlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool " |( O) @ V7 A5 Q' w6 F6 Y% w4 `: l(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top6 c2 A* z. z1 b; A# r/ C6 e+ Z
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 7 o7 U' [1 b( X5 n1 hstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 9 G' Q. D5 x9 X49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes , P, B. J5 R5 sCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with- v! _% J( k) V( ^, n* U
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. + s6 H4 O4 J7 I* Z( ]$ I# r) J
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 4 n4 |% ~( D1 Z$ Ljust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made" q" F2 }! b* A, A9 a# |, J
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 4 j2 W8 s0 I1 d" I# t* W& gtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having0 e, h a, [" U [2 p* ? ~
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China( D* T7 [1 l3 `/ k
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& ]+ q# @$ R/ V+ l5 q; j) j! K
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 3 I3 a4 Y3 U* e. ~9 B8 y3 L+ ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, $ r: T' I4 ~% s# o$ k6 ^. E"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give3 B1 r- n8 [/ C# t" x; x
answers to our pointed questions.7 ?9 U: X; D4 c# D! V
: X$ C3 U2 \9 a8 F nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, " O B5 r( e- e45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ]0 b. F$ S) g* G7 K" @8 e% ?out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is \% [) l! w& |3 |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, h) D, z; J0 @) s, `& Z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" t5 u. }- P* e
medical schools.9 M& d( O; X# m. X! h5 a9 P
d+ H9 m ~2 [7 c0 r0 b4 k* }" a
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the $ f2 O: B/ F5 v ^1 k+ Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants / u7 m; L' a3 \1 j! h9 t$ Bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! Q( I' L) c$ u6 Z% Q; v& n9 W
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 [ \$ I$ o$ s! ?/ R ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 8 \1 Z4 h# b# G; p( Fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 r3 n* P4 O' ^% R
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and " y" F; ~, r! @% R3 [' K% w2 @6 U: Cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 I- Y; m8 }$ K( W5 }
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 3 Z5 p# i6 T/ ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. * Z& A9 B7 t) I' v# K4 _ N9 R& T7 n, y" O
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# I. F/ t: d7 h
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& H( X/ [& h- c" h1 N! K, D9 ?1 ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% E, Y6 D K# q/ ]' A
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ; S% ]9 t% M( Gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 f- ?0 B {7 S
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high / E) {( r! ?3 `9 Rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 8 m8 W3 Z1 {4 c% wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When - ]0 U! y% s! R$ F/ ga lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + O2 C. {0 ?" bcharge the fee defined by the state.! c# X1 p" p6 C5 ]) p2 x
( X8 z& H% ]! R3 o% c. wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 1 f9 x7 f! m8 f% V4 N) }5 F% Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( k; E ?5 b4 s0 c# b. w& v% Y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big $ t5 s* t9 s, {2 Ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 z, x6 ^" U" R( d: n. V
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ D) f' z$ V; P7 R3 a
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 l" N% A5 d( R3 x8 U6 S
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 6 O- j3 ^( D# l! |" Zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people $ U# K2 I& U. _- Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 6 S- q. E) n& rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' F Y- C2 l8 a w* l6 u) C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- X: {& a. _2 s& {; V A) u3 q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 1 u U; l- B( I4 S+ t abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 1 i- E9 D5 I# _; `3 Y) Oare spaces.6 W3 }' e; z2 q
+ u( M. w3 }& q+ {9 a6 bThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 [0 f# Q3 g& _1 D" h; t6 {3 n
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they w$ N, u! A) t# T$ d+ R% Gown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 6 J& T; l3 ~) h" M; c0 s40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' e9 I2 u! E! g' r4 u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ( L- _! b7 P4 Y8 k# J$ jbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 7 T0 ]/ n5 n2 f4 N1 unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 1 V" N- x3 E! H+ H- O5 {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ M0 j; F9 @3 y, o% m2 @2 G
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# h2 U8 L* [2 q) ]( f
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 beautiful6 P$ `1 J- _* H* s% f5 q4 K
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 5 p1 b+ k" |1 u+ C2 r2 {the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very* d8 s* @8 C ]. T& D
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep * D- g8 G# z. j& ^recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day , e% m( _3 e8 T) ]; vsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& o% \ v& J O5 u- S% w
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms u2 [ o# z# Y8 R' c8 `* `4 `% b
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the6 W2 Y/ C& B1 `6 ]) l
tourist area., P$ Y- j D/ E8 p& Y N
* T- z" u3 D, ~One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's # }! u1 q! W, B- q2 Q' C/ v' `9 dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). - ^9 w# B; [6 {6 }& Q# nCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( H8 s; k) u0 W9 x; I, G
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ j& C) t! @( p O' m' K' w
less leader-religious.6 r( f9 o0 T5 x, m. L" l+ X
$ ~8 O d- |' }9 [About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 2 N- [/ i) G4 E' w6 ?8 ?6 Q# [government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big * d1 M, w, L) `! S; M( s& Z1 ~black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US : g% d$ t) J- Q7 s f8 }embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ) o( U4 K# D1 F) f2 [3 K h, s0 z( G8 q6 }
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ( R" t s- Y9 K+ j- C& k: q sparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 9 D5 i: j- O4 W* zthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1/ D; L4 j8 I- N* Z) i; M
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for: a3 J! Z' @" y) T7 D9 s
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars * u- p. {. o6 {3 C2 |(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 1 y! @' r4 k. |& ~! r4 m8 Yprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the1 Q2 P2 o* O+ `) F* S- S* i5 {# ^8 k
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 2 Z% }; t8 k+ S, B( {; dAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ( ~ C4 p7 ]6 F/ ~6 y9 L/ f1 U. M; }% qor visitors. 1 n; a% d$ @ s* k3 |- `8 u7 ?; J. z) C( ]$ Z2 \
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
