We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very. h. x# O/ s3 y: v. L/ ^! w# {3 C
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we . T1 ?9 d& r# b: [- dwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.% @, L! [* T1 p3 N6 @: a& N! y
# ~- y# w$ `$ B9 D! AIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,$ l1 n9 w! x* x( @* T
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in+ ~/ w( o v; q2 {+ o( @
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as: T4 n& e' V$ Q* m2 X, V2 L9 B2 [
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ) V, P' n- C3 Z( ^5 w; Jshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep R! f& A; ?& {( F3 k) ]3 _
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the* F5 e9 O0 |+ l o5 w. @2 M, Q
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,. l7 D' S G7 g5 a
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 2 a7 q7 v. K+ Q; J$ a; e; ~( A People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. ^, N8 T; o; s
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ) R, t$ s% Y: R" F1 \exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our / K" L4 w' Z R& k( o- Kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through " Y M# g7 u0 |. [a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards." Y+ y" i" n9 F' X# D
E: `9 k, C1 l+ m& d& V
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 2 m2 q6 T8 x$ x6 Z6 S: r3 \3 Xlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool + a0 `/ }- ]. s& Y. h(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ) S O4 `" e6 F4 D/ b- }6 Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the/ }& n4 h2 F! a2 y
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from r& W) {" F5 L4 h7 q
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes0 q+ L2 x4 K! a
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with$ g: m5 L, G! g: ?9 x5 I
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 5 F8 X& `+ p4 A" a8 g$ E 5 s3 |! U |7 ?) PThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 4 w$ F& [ t7 U qjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made- D, R6 X4 Z; w" |, Q: U I
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ( @& A9 a" o! F) ^/ Ltourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having/ \" ~+ D+ S1 x+ l
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China6 \, ?( K6 D) `
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 . R* d1 x0 x, q4 ?+ J+ dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went" m' y/ S- T5 |2 J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 0 V$ ?) y; c( ~, h"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 B$ \ \6 F8 a
answers to our pointed questions. J0 z- i* Z0 T2 ], S6 D2 S0 E8 {9 {* i( O/ o
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 0 l8 ^- E* m$ P: d45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ; j/ k, `& S# j! ^" I! [out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is P3 s* y7 `4 pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* Y0 E: I* t+ k" O
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are % Y4 A7 S4 V; P b8 Ymedical schools. . o) _6 u# r% `" J8 z$ v # C$ [+ U, C. PEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ; Y5 Y" j6 ~5 j& A+ K7 h$ K( Bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants H; l- n0 C% A" P( A. a9 K6 tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 6 U2 W3 N- A' i6 @ [. y/ H8 H* Oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba4 }% N( E& L; [# B, c( z0 k* `
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! F0 z/ B5 m# I7 [1 m& k4 @3 U
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There : K6 f; U5 s7 f ^/ nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 H$ U4 F6 k$ {( `2 W0 x- ]& p6 d
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk- t8 C% ?. U& j$ z6 d% ^, z& j) _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 6 {4 C" }$ J- Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.9 }8 s# J! k+ W! @5 ~+ n! V
M% m) ~2 N& y% @1 G, ^! zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no , x4 z% w$ J' l L% Fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and : R; |. t1 H( K( a0 W) _supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 0 t' P( R4 W: d zhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good( r: D7 f# D9 P+ h9 C
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 8 u( W7 d+ ]" b0 s6 R7 _7 T8 dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ' Q. O! k; _ o! V! kdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.+ @8 Q2 {* g8 Z; L6 L! m
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ]4 c: p; N. s" h8 N" j( I
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( }& L; `0 z" v: O" r p
charge the fee defined by the state. - h- I" s5 \) i" l ) b5 B& L5 k0 W, s# w |There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. q2 N/ }/ s8 C5 d
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 5 L, z4 A) c2 q# \* p8 yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, C# B& u' ]( b. t; K
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 9 P5 y; v# A. z. {seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the, y j" W+ ^2 a Z+ `6 Y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on! M& C0 S" `+ {) i! t& `
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if # I- z- r w q1 Z/ q2 Z! Gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ' V+ V" {3 u, S! h# A/ jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch( G. S& S( l" \" W9 s' L& o; w
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 I1 f3 X1 [ K9 f2 b
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 3 `) l& o( T1 Q0 q( vto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- m+ Y) [# F% q( Q( e" N: U! a
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 7 F0 m( `* B6 _; L8 mare spaces. ! z) s2 c9 j, T& u7 t' P+ Q- q 8 T- [9 R3 j7 V, n2 C6 X! hThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi) Y. }) S- X5 |7 V c- p+ Y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they # ~1 x1 I5 u" q' ~own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ) V+ u5 x. V' |) R" w: M40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 1 L8 V" R# |) J( j% Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 4 m, m, O7 } e; u- Y6 a6 u# lbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few# P* _$ u1 [4 E& D) n$ R3 w$ l6 ~/ j
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ h. x$ I ~5 K* O! ^- B* [% k
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' s$ E( r$ n, N5 Y+ Y5 Q2 S' l
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ! P5 a) }& h |6 D 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# t$ R4 n# ` J/ cspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 9 ?) ~$ D1 G1 m" k/ Q/ Lthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very- s9 S0 p; m$ |+ | ?( X( y
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 \1 \- B- d6 ~5 \' j* s! O
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % a# v3 w9 c; J7 isupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of7 q5 Y7 U! P$ ^1 v5 m7 [
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms$ s1 s* _; v; S j! b! B
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 2 {: W0 ~2 e l% Ttourist area. ; G, H/ s" C# b* ~- R; g: {# d- Z: }; k! r' l- R
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 \" K4 V( O; `. ?+ o/ T
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).* j; |+ p2 l0 `7 e2 c) M
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were* E8 p* }0 a# l! l* p* t# P
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 F" V6 S4 o! u$ q7 q$ X/ Pless leader-religious. 1 {0 j9 w9 C: t2 p% v! i! m" A5 F" I 7 {3 ~. X3 t E4 X1 {% t0 AAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba/ j( \( _' `3 E6 p
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big1 g0 @: W5 {3 v
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! }: q1 G Z! h9 X- @# lembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). o: k. z" ?2 x" u; Y. W4 l; Z % p' e& o# G* pWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the* H- }8 d6 h# ~" z
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not q* K* f" Q4 E" V6 O, A$ d
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 * H" ~3 P* t! {: h7 fconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for9 N0 |% M: D E Q2 ^
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars V* g, r$ V6 B3 G- s7 L5 ]# @(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we3 f$ V9 h; p& c
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the / ~0 ^* r& k) c" wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.' g2 o9 z U4 ]% ~4 g) E/ S2 w
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 5 m3 S9 v1 K% T4 v/ B8 vor visitors. " U3 ^7 s4 L& J6 R I, N# w6 a5 \0 d/ d: N; N {0 \- H
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
