We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 7 G3 y$ P, s) C$ r/ q8 Qinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we" d! @8 i$ V; B9 W0 ]9 u
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. : S. v- N; x) U3 K9 w3 m. \ _! s 2 I; k; }; K8 K( T6 R7 RIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, + c4 T$ @) |8 R30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in & g" |" P5 V& f" a$ b0 {a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ( f0 V2 ?3 m$ bpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort + I) |1 ?/ N% b/ ^show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep . b/ r" G0 O& i/ o( J2 I. Vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the6 w# i/ M. _( V7 J1 P3 K
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 C; I' ]7 D) B# B$ J; Owith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.& ]2 b/ s; q F' o f1 K. T
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but & D' t: D ^$ m3 N7 Jnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 2 `7 s7 g& P1 i0 Z" ~; I" qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ; G, S. g. V& s/ e1 S Bflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through / n% }% b! Y x" ]. H6 @3 D# Ta roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. h, U2 n1 C( M/ O( R8 K
: K b4 ~* z5 v/ f6 m- AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,$ F4 g; e' n0 e# ~0 c$ Z! Q
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool: v7 n/ |" o4 e) Q) _$ n+ T& s
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ N7 U) f3 }6 t6 t( |# B6 \of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ s7 o6 @- q; ^* s. {# }) ]stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , H) Y4 H$ B' d0 a, }( |49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes - z# P- O1 z2 B( L" J% Q8 } Z' r6 v" SCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 4 W4 c6 L* q2 C$ ]% dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.1 w) ~+ Z( g/ e4 Z g
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are + O( z& G+ s$ p( Cjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 5 |% \. l( K; M: c0 j% _for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba6 V; G! p' O, M. @- I
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ! V9 Q$ y* R/ {# E1 L/ Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China; u, r6 `, C( t- a
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/ N* _5 J' f! j! U( @
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 3 q% k& N T/ P+ Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, / W* Y3 l6 d5 |9 }- j' e# B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give # P+ c6 p3 ?, p2 b% |+ S# Manswers to our pointed questions.+ u# t& W% h# F! w
; a: d- {# H% ~0 CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, % W/ T; ?: q: a+ a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand : [$ W+ e5 |5 g' E# qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is; X2 z* Q' x! G
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams " f4 X1 W7 @* l0 s. Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 [4 A' j! f$ l+ Y
medical schools. N, @$ T9 Q+ D; k% Z: R ) m; L0 j' Y+ MEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the # x- z4 ^( ^8 [7 ^government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants , A6 U( W2 U* _to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 6 u$ w$ q/ g: v/ f* B3 t5 b% Dassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 G: ^% F5 Y3 P
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 P& u$ S7 O3 Q& _ l$ \" @$ J+ oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There s* C$ l% ^ {: a( H
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ; p* v% [* l9 L- hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 6 j3 p3 r$ M2 C% R8 @shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ' t8 E8 w: x2 Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: X9 \; @ [; M7 \; i
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no) N9 i! C* S0 m% n6 @
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 X* w2 [* Q0 U6 U( D2 b& Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 5 S: [( _1 g x" Q0 c) t4 p% Shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good * h$ s; z* Q' o; [0 H) `" gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' U4 z2 e/ }* X I" ^7 M( `9 J. O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 4 I1 h& h6 p, f+ z3 I5 m) tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) U. y9 M0 X) C# G ]% l( W7 F& v
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ; b+ h, k% j$ Q1 @2 q7 s Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only # N( }8 V7 l4 V6 E0 y$ n! j \charge the fee defined by the state. ( ~3 G! f7 U( w0 w* `- R* V9 z8 U6 O. v. `2 O5 G9 H
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 Z$ X# g$ S7 N( X! B5 jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; A' I6 p% H$ R- ^$ M, P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- j# C) S5 z* U" Q+ H
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel & p2 N$ N: n; C2 o5 P5 s- R4 @' gseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 6 e) x0 P4 e! ^ ? uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' V# b) t _1 H: W/ z+ L0 W
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if & h1 F: q) ]' xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 5 E/ M; P9 ?/ Y% t9 gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch % }5 i+ r; O1 F' C5 mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 1 A2 Q$ {+ S- Qpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want! \. _5 ^% D6 [
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ' a# W* @$ r1 P( k8 {# W6 cbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' k: c( r% C0 x0 V- Q" \
are spaces.8 {6 U) e! {2 `( E
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi" Z) k9 X7 [1 ?2 ]
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they0 G5 D- m7 z0 @( t; U3 _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. ~) q$ O* C! Q! k% U5 h; ^
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different+ i4 Q. P1 j: ~/ A
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the % `7 F; v6 ^4 L- w3 m* g' Obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few $ ^" ^0 M8 z( B& L+ A# J znice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of7 U6 _/ |0 E- s, t: ~% O
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it + R' I) U, r- a; b6 ~is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.3 b( }/ ]) {1 v! j( m
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+ `: X4 C# {! O: M
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 W/ v- ]9 R C8 Z
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very & |: C2 f- A( n w2 x* z0 d) Zlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ! z# G8 F5 B! d$ l' Frecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day D. _+ r1 t2 o% j7 Z9 c
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of # N8 ~ K$ _3 X0 {. X- Sthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms8 ?, O7 i' S# |" G/ w
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 3 h8 R( e* \) z& dtourist area. & l, b; A: G8 u9 E: H7 |9 t, A& S' I7 m9 ~! { \
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ( m) Y; o5 l3 c o# Spictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)." A+ b& y4 V( i6 u' r6 y5 Y
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ; J/ ~' R* ^$ {; _everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : t) j0 @) ?- a( fless leader-religious. ! u: Y8 [$ {. L$ S% I6 A. l2 }( b c; R2 N
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba2 u; b+ d4 N8 F( O
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 4 u2 D6 }8 \5 f" O3 O) z' {9 ]* Hblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ' w2 m( O8 T, @* ]9 J. j0 Gembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 6 N$ Q! {2 a' U$ y$ E % W5 y8 C, A$ ]# w( B @* {We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ {* u! W8 Q3 X% V( p
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not + x4 j$ ?$ A! s5 {( Sthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 6 I" o5 _2 [4 d6 jconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for: v& n6 ? q* ^0 S9 O S4 p
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 2 z* ~ l: s6 n/ G(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we N) F7 [ T% Y pprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the/ q8 z4 r1 ~7 `; ^1 Z
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.$ V1 F. g( y9 F* O0 d
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local& u# Q& P+ b" ]6 ]# A$ q
or visitors. - i( D" S% J2 u, N5 K! B + G8 Y$ Y( u$ v( t-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
