We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' n0 ?! I7 H$ [" L2 U6 ]8 ~
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- J3 h1 s; {) H, A; {0 Q
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. + E1 W( Y+ X6 |: ]/ L $ m) A' B+ S8 k& m: M. p' r0 g2 E4 vIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,6 Z/ d9 s- @" c) Y2 v3 ]5 H
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , m( Y, S F7 }a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 q, v1 ?' u' y- {: p$ {! }
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ' v( _5 b5 \- C" B* zshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep. n _3 W! ?% Z- V+ x5 p
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the $ a0 R3 L- b E: e+ F* J5 alobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, " {% s% x, ?0 U. ?# qwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. . p6 _0 x. {- ?7 G1 N& f People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but) o6 t! ? j2 _8 f" Z6 C
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 W. |' `5 U. L: ?" o6 rexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 3 x# U* t* C1 d3 s+ {% C" Eflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 0 p2 z. l7 p8 ~/ _, G, N1 x5 za roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.. W7 }- k5 Q0 } B2 e. W
- K) l8 L! A2 [1 E& H
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, - K5 l. x* E; o7 j8 F5 v. {low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool2 u+ D& x+ ?* W" L, n& e
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top; l- |; p1 Z. y3 M; i) E( p
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the \0 O ~9 F2 N; nstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from) K0 D5 D% u* u
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 R% i1 l& D! A6 t- bCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with7 j! e# c8 q U2 o5 N6 a
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 5 ]2 n, C: z* `& u% o0 i& U( J! @1 j# J! f5 s- u$ i$ t, I
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are% }- `: L" {5 }5 @% C: h4 y
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made' R6 G) @- O5 W
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 2 @! _; f _$ V: W+ z! A4 ptourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having$ y+ Z! x+ G: {/ z, g
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China# x$ V# I5 Q+ d9 L" f. Z
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 ' s% y, |! `& w( m; j- kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went5 {* T+ _! W* d- M+ Q! h0 C" V9 L7 u
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, $ q0 m# b* v g( E# {( o& x"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give- F7 O0 _/ a* ]
answers to our pointed questions. 6 p3 c( I) t% O6 R1 |3 r1 Y' N5 E+ U* ]4 A% P, e! u1 D: x
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 9 r$ L+ f4 |9 d# t4 h' C, m45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand & s0 b |3 d) f! M' r3 }out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is e7 Q% Z" @: T. r" |2 Xfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 ~. l* O9 s! Q; h6 D7 g; K
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 5 ]0 {1 O( s2 J3 m0 e' Y9 Umedical schools." ^0 r Q$ Y2 ~9 ~+ e" P6 _2 p
E! Z* l5 j1 n# Q. Z
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the - X, p' P* e# t% Egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants # o) W; r& {& D6 R5 qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! a, |0 c l- N% j ~5 ^
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 m. b6 K4 R5 |+ x" ?3 I2 ~8 ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% E! X. {. L% f) @( L
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 9 V. R# \0 y4 cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and w0 Y3 N$ m k( i. z" ~( r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 6 z+ D7 Q+ O. u( u: y' Gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some " |# A, P7 U9 Y$ ?4 v( U$ jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. & r% ~8 Z: H# I2 N8 z; ^ . f' b+ a5 y1 v/ O" v6 \8 SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 3 h5 O' T9 }" s4 T) x* |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and0 J* P( }5 \! u8 S; b' y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- ^* k$ l6 }4 p% h
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good/ i* W8 U# I0 f9 }4 _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 _7 b j5 G" |) Q) N0 C
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ^/ G1 @ P: D% ]1 e d$ Vdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: }) Z, {- a1 C. d
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( D& }2 o' V% t: I! fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only: m8 a2 o8 M7 _3 }7 k
charge the fee defined by the state.5 f: y5 z- Q" v ` u& P! w
4 Y9 k0 r( s: t8 Z# z( a% t- [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! S* a3 @. b8 a3 U% x- j$ T
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. L) F3 G1 |* V) Z9 @' J a8 P$ A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; j. M4 J+ Z' r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel # |3 P1 q3 p. |( tseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ r4 v( f% [0 u4 Z% C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on / @# @" ~: U. N1 B! r5 K% Eschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 l3 S* ?* \% i+ G6 E+ C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 0 ?) S2 J5 G* H* P1 j4 R! etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 y& R; O' J7 o1 m1 `- O3 N
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that / C7 }" w9 ?7 T: d7 w( B( \3 y1 Speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want' v6 R2 R' ~' q) f3 W7 v/ | ~3 [. p( v/ d
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ; Y. X9 }$ i. x# q7 X+ u( Pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ) W4 a5 s: \1 g4 \$ n) \5 y5 Fare spaces.0 ^' p/ F [3 R' X2 L: m3 d
* X7 N; h# I8 d1 C
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi a+ M) @8 Q7 ~' R; t& m1 W2 Bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they / y8 \' a* X- ?. F1 U1 yown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 g; z/ ~! k! G/ M+ S' ?
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different- C+ F; [6 H& O8 p+ i" ~
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- Y3 u# t5 H0 G2 g- F/ }$ i7 }
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few m" s) I4 X8 D5 b2 a
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of! h% z( c' j: X% ~" l" Y4 q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 7 H+ K5 N0 e+ m! zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' d: a( x! x8 y0 E: v; z6 p5 s$ X
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 3 s' r1 |/ F1 t+ r$ nspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all * t( ]( x' V6 Y: m. G8 X0 Fthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very3 }' b3 H. d- C4 m1 R# D# t
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep, ?1 s2 N) w) i0 k0 l8 g
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ! g6 t; i) ?# K/ isupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ' \2 D- ^4 k/ R" C9 ?them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms* v, c: a) {3 H9 e
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the # s g* j3 i: X; i, dtourist area. $ g8 p- @1 U5 X& E+ ^7 \) V) `- v: o1 {7 w l$ |( t( \' H* b
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ( r U, a# U' C% X# A% Spictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). . B( S! r0 m( ~3 R! F9 gCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 p1 W% |: x" y% r$ u# H
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps Q7 u. j3 ~ A1 K
less leader-religious.: L1 t" Y ~9 s- l9 B
/ U; `' y: T w( a
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 0 |! w" ~1 H; s' S+ Dgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big & B% A6 [+ F( j/ w' Tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US, P* O) s; A3 A5 I) V2 z
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). " U' B4 W* v- k5 z- W$ V 6 O2 I( l8 V7 C, SWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the5 A( m; L! Q( ]% |5 P u6 r% o
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not # G; C4 v8 {, i7 F0 \( Dthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 1 Y) T0 F" I/ w1 H% Dconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for9 e) h4 V! x& `; I3 G+ ^
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars & I. n+ h8 C' [- x$ ^4 c(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we. m* H$ A- E8 a. G5 s) F- Q" Z0 ]
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the . w! N% h2 ^! ?6 _real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.9 x# q( j. t/ L1 }, [* J
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! i0 @8 b% y8 X5 F4 v9 j
or visitors. + ^1 L X! o1 ~! p% \7 c! x! l1 A2 F* Q$ g4 F/ d# l5 t8 v: J
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
