We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very) _: u- F( D: a! q7 O
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 4 M, l- t( B6 i6 S* Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.+ h; @% ]6 v2 H
) y9 o+ K6 q; L y( w7 B& l9 ?% F5 WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,, U: i3 n2 q" X, l
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in) V2 Z( s& {( z5 s$ \+ {
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as # ?6 D3 _+ W+ B+ Q) \; [possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 2 ~/ c4 a7 H/ pshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / c( T: i% }8 k kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ( r, J* H& s3 \: ~; ^( V; B5 slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,; S) k8 F# U! p$ C7 H! D
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 4 h) u& z0 e2 M, m% E7 q$ k People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but0 C* D6 H/ g3 B( D9 @& G1 f# v
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not % k; z* K: i7 F# E* j- vexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our/ ^( E3 l) ]2 ] o4 q. f/ Q
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 `! o. I, g* Q% O! p' a0 v; ?
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. , \* n0 }/ z# [2 u2 b5 B7 V4 [8 A' C+ D0 a
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, : M; l0 H5 M+ O z: \low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 U) k2 Y; o: ]6 L
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top * U9 S2 p6 y* M+ ~of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the4 j3 _" Q7 w8 b* A3 ]: P4 R
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 4 W& o. ~; q% n; X; Z G! j& W49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes+ r b. Y0 i! m
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with; X# V7 P& @! C, ?5 X
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.6 ~4 J( I/ f. W M
5 l1 f! j8 i! l2 s% cThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are . }" L$ M# t6 [4 I, f2 ]just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made% k( w+ C: t+ L0 G/ ~
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba8 f; f' B6 l1 s" l8 P" e
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 d3 S/ m3 i5 _6 X# [" e7 e/ Xa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China. o5 `' d3 z, m' P. e3 ^0 ^
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! G0 V2 T- G( T4 t6 T, i- e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went# O P; E5 R. G; H% | G! V9 Y8 C; W
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ; z. k/ p% N5 e8 w. F6 ]1 ]! A"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , N1 c% e2 V5 F& V2 d4 b0 E1 u' Q7 M1 kanswers to our pointed questions. # n- }- i. G0 D ]7 |/ |0 Z l( @5 x1 ?
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," @) N) i* k" Q3 H6 e
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) g7 Z5 U E! q- f. }1 v4 u/ o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& Z% [' Y6 B9 f' a: c6 L+ _1 V
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams g' S, B4 m hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. R0 @& B$ X: |8 E
medical schools. $ Q. D V! k% z. J$ x6 p& B2 k% y& r; ~7 k# @4 }
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the* T7 e$ {* z, ^+ X3 ?7 `
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 M* z Y4 T( o+ U& u
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 m8 V6 T0 O8 V9 [3 t M3 I F0 L
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ m, }* H# i5 C7 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ Q. @' p& w3 B5 q% h
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There6 I$ V2 i+ x7 d3 D9 [; ~
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' @/ ], [# J1 s$ ]1 o
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( v+ V- E8 J1 v, m1 i+ P! H
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some , b* G, m$ \2 z: l6 D. R$ Xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. - a' c+ b+ B/ k4 E$ E0 U6 B' k, S' f2 ]: L( A8 K2 l. A, @) ]
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 5 n) O/ U5 M! X! [5 S( k% b4 N" Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and $ ^ Q) Q \+ l: O6 n/ ~5 wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' H* l( K1 \8 q I4 h2 z1 w& Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 A: q" A% P' }' B! w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ Q C: i7 D" d% ? O R7 @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 1 W4 F4 g9 {! }, [divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 Z5 R: @ o) o/ ?- RDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 9 t8 R' V6 o. n& M1 Xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only , f4 G4 T0 _. G: J7 M( _( Ccharge the fee defined by the state.2 U3 }5 M2 c9 z; }- s
2 _. L9 z: C6 H; F" E% D9 @& e# kThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! I l1 B3 ]0 V; \+ y3 |( |/ F
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* I K5 S4 N. Y" r- f# Y) C
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, _6 ]1 `. U: ~: w7 V
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel/ |. }% G( Y0 ?7 t4 o( O3 c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 5 a+ r" N" N9 v1 n; ~/ wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on / }- u3 b8 h+ Jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 9 }4 c/ O+ @8 D: h$ ]you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ) B7 N' q2 C3 W5 jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# B, u Y7 u8 z% H, n$ T( M: `8 j% @
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 @, W& q4 x2 }0 w& b6 P- c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want - {# C! w7 P/ qto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 9 F" R. c5 A: D; U, v- O/ \/ C3 qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 7 K1 o: ^" ~: J& d0 {are spaces. 9 D+ N5 D, k( W: L4 V/ Z, t * I6 t$ |* F5 z& n$ U( @0 a! z4 GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 {4 V. H! ?* k- V$ B8 v! b
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they " E+ j, G: }/ {: F" a6 x" O% G& b. Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 6 h/ t. k' T. }, L! f3 j40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different , W/ K! C+ G: }& E! E4 Vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the E9 U# g4 z5 ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- k% k0 k0 }4 R P* f+ f
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- n6 ]1 h' {5 I# P/ g9 l& M
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: a: c+ e! l- v$ E' s* ] n
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 5 j- ^3 B5 I# C% ^ 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: y9 X$ H% {/ f0 Aspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 9 l4 n% v6 T' b$ e8 ?! uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 5 O: H+ x$ Y2 ~ f% Blimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 6 w" X+ p4 m7 j, Wrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day% a1 j" m) k3 D6 \, g
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 3 A1 e7 G: r" K, X6 Tthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms7 ]4 W% v. i2 S' m8 `
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the# D& f) ~0 Z3 P
tourist area. ! M: r8 g3 z4 s- y7 p6 @ g * a, `' h7 M2 o+ x S6 eOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ' R4 e- G3 G, A0 |pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). - C8 r5 V9 ~: w( Y; ^' qCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ' ~/ l k6 b* p4 g3 Meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ( D0 B4 |9 D0 O b# \
less leader-religious.7 k5 y$ p/ \# h& [ e
) w, S% ^! W% k1 G) a) Y
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 4 _) i# ^) ?( y4 i! Lgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big' c* \3 u% c* _' z; q. e3 J
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US$ c5 D$ ?& R! l/ W/ }* X; L
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 5 [3 A% D! E6 f. K. W: e# p( C0 z6 L
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 4 V* _5 G7 ^! [$ M/ l) u" wparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 6 }) Y: |+ K. a/ f/ @1 ]the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 8 W8 ?8 ~5 @% p9 ^% Gconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 b, P* J5 u0 r2 r V
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars + _% b3 J) K7 [# ](less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 F5 e7 [- C+ D% n% ^
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the# n3 u: t6 w$ `( Y6 T
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.. l1 g- u) o/ G" ?
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local( ]# N9 e7 s( ^# ]& H- e7 O2 M
or visitors.8 }) H- Q5 S' t+ R# W. x' G4 M
2 [- K4 k& L. {7 u/ f" K! O+ M
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
