We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ' T7 Z0 J# Q8 p% O5 P8 B) Yinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 p v. r: Z' d" |* ^
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible./ {5 l3 ~3 b& h* h
1 f# ^. n( D% x3 p5 V$ k( ]It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, : W8 X" }# v: Y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 0 o* `! \- M, S* H" Wa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as * b- ~& \# m5 X$ s5 wpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 X6 R6 I* l+ S- S1 E3 ^
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 V' f! G1 m2 S/ _+ Y, i
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the! ]% \& ]# J- H. a7 c- p5 _$ l! X2 A
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,$ f5 O' D" L- {: g
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 0 Y/ l5 T5 v2 { People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ' K, v a) N& Bnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not / x. _4 O" i* b/ e- H: lexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 1 w7 C e& V8 n2 \9 C! E/ ]8 Sflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) n6 D7 M7 E' v9 @6 D
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. & T3 V5 t* R: q# a% F. F( b- i5 K) C! g4 s) y# p& C. c
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,' {3 S* a$ p- b
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool $ h/ {7 [' n: F0 Y6 e5 n6 D4 m(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' M$ X6 o& v& t" M$ S" p; F6 P
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the& i7 j/ X7 h* V2 P4 m
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from2 s$ W& d& C: |
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 6 p5 K' Q) D2 YCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with- h% ~8 w4 y9 o0 a; ~0 }
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. & ?- @8 j& I. w' f6 n/ T' t4 F ; Q0 d, w7 h- t/ M+ SThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are4 R+ U4 j2 q) T" Y5 |
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 3 g6 s- D2 |/ k: C/ {; t9 bfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ! B4 y) K) e5 ztourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having+ ? J! q( B9 C2 P" C+ @
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 d; }/ O) g; w3 U5 ]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 $ e" p, i+ V |8 n2 Bstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went8 V# k5 j/ ?4 t( V+ F [
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 7 }5 g* w/ ]5 s% P" [! N; O) m"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 Y# b/ [# `2 b8 T) y
answers to our pointed questions.6 z# I6 F' e: E" e+ w
* R: \/ [3 q2 t& ?8 sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 2 F# x/ z9 ?0 |. u; s2 N# q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 Z. { H4 |0 q) K
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is. Y- o3 D3 c5 \/ T) P2 ]
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 4 Q; q- F( @9 A5 lto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 t4 n# `9 c# O
medical schools./ Q9 A6 w9 }6 u2 z! Q" R
' M9 ]; R/ D1 w0 o1 O$ [Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& v; p7 \: X+ K. J: _6 ?, q
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 F9 T+ \, s, [1 \8 [% I# G# S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years " r/ y% f8 q9 jassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 5 ?# K$ ^" q6 J; b1 Nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to : W' i" x- G6 v- s iover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 D6 |. L( i T: a, B& p/ T; G! h5 g
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 2 C0 C# a/ D9 Nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk % ]2 X* H( m T% C& yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some; E/ u0 F4 ?$ y+ }. u
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.8 ]2 v% H ?1 d1 A4 R( M( l
7 x; [9 q# q, q5 f# I% nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no# Z: O2 t- Q/ O+ q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% s: A ?# S/ L* r! X- c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ Y/ w; q2 C) g9 D1 f) P- b$ {
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% `- m8 @$ |1 h( Z* X
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 s7 h& `7 {, N$ G f1 f, `/ ?8 w& j Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high " y& }9 I: o/ bdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( d5 d5 G' G5 @8 g
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) X1 [ m! r S$ I( P8 z" B! O
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" j" A; F4 u6 `% q
charge the fee defined by the state. 7 |6 C! f2 L2 s3 U$ u5 @" P v& a : C% ^8 F& { A* p# lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ) A* e' G4 A1 H2 m0 ]2 Jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 N$ t( m1 }) e" Y
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ; f7 L7 y* f) y' O# A& V% h) R4 Wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 4 X" C. c7 W3 m8 c6 f; Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 0 w4 a5 }/ h% C% j6 N+ a O9 hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! J1 M) {$ P: \
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 Y: y+ K- f& @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people! E1 q1 a: I+ c( S8 P/ y- A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 9 R8 u1 W5 ~" Q9 W& M3 n, P) x$ Uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; d7 a0 n2 W/ O6 k( l1 I
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; f) e0 U5 e7 T7 E3 c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or , V$ B8 M9 t. Z# I4 Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 H) `4 ?* ]( D9 O4 ^ N% T9 K* L
are spaces.4 M7 J. x) p1 p$ J$ a, ]. p8 A: d
! I& _: w; d& }" F: ]+ J3 B# Y$ ]There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 8 M, J: U' `; b2 C w- w. E6 o$ Y. q) Xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% l, R7 Z* |+ ~$ ]' A. M
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 2 [2 Z$ J$ c% w" [2 l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different) V4 F5 n# V* A9 s- H, O4 k4 k' d4 X
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 7 q, S9 \+ i$ l$ Y4 ~best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few {6 ?" D! Y! s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 8 r: O1 e1 d& R/ g$ X" @6 f$ Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 S, V3 x+ s# _ P
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 h5 L! P$ C9 q" ]
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* p2 W- W2 ~: H# d8 Z* V' v
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all * B1 {+ a$ C# u1 a! Q8 Ythe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ) ?) s8 b$ p0 |- |+ ]0 Ylimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # X7 L: |% g/ X5 @ L# Precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 Z: i8 a n* {- Z) O, A- Rsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 9 R) R, Z% f0 _5 xthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms6 K+ `( P' a9 m6 n0 t% f
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the " \# X* B+ I- M8 P* l0 y" ntourist area. - @7 H; ]1 E9 z1 t) A3 S# r* }0 e, F% I2 g9 _( _$ ]
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's $ w* i: U6 I, h4 |& ?) f1 D$ s5 {& M- Dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).1 v' O# J4 n6 {# o! H/ N; W
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were- |0 L( C5 C% ? p i0 B" w! u' M
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ! W- s/ b' F- f9 x
less leader-religious. * x9 S. q. @; A2 `: P- O; `8 N8 ?' u" U0 J; c; V+ O8 T" H, k
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba $ G( O: ]) b* T8 O9 ?government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big4 l1 @' Q) @, Q/ Y
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US/ c6 T7 j, i4 S- v$ i2 g( D0 ^6 |8 L' X
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).) A; r3 A9 s) \) o% a
4 s6 V! G( Q2 v( w% SWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the * G9 u( W! { p( V- {+ n4 Z* Iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ' a% Z' l0 W0 H) C- Zthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1: l3 n2 a6 E4 k' J+ Z
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* d9 {5 c% E9 E" I+ @0 C2 [
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars; z9 s( j2 d; {/ Y5 Z p3 w L8 X
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we+ ]' `4 Y) T C% q, H1 U* i" q
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ ~+ E% N$ I$ r# s
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.2 r* d c( h, H4 _/ l) R
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local $ `8 ^, D6 U# |or visitors.# B% m: o% { ]/ _
9 h4 h: ~7 K L6 l: r7 t
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
