We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very, k/ k1 ~; _" ?/ g8 I p
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we - e5 j; ?# U+ f/ I( q9 k( Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.) ]! b! f- h$ N: p+ `2 B9 ~- {
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,# J8 V' t8 d$ j4 z& Q) @5 o' Y
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in0 n/ f6 ?# V7 V8 u3 N( z
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as / f' |0 x: K/ X) `/ \) epossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 3 b* y/ e+ r f3 K2 g8 x' O& |- zshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep : l+ ^1 n7 ]* d& l N) tbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ) W0 Q9 {; t, @1 c3 ^4 slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, : z- ^* ~& p( j/ }6 ?with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. + K' @( C8 o2 D+ B: w' O People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but , G: {; |/ R/ A+ }names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not , o3 b2 m: f6 t2 a" \' rexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ; S2 E Q, a) z8 Q. F" L& pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 2 F. p8 C, O h4 i6 M- fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 4 Z3 m7 P5 x5 }6 _% w. ^- a9 |6 H+ d# A7 a1 T! t
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, , H) k1 t, G0 `( ]low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool. _& I1 H9 o2 M8 {# J
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ ]9 W. j9 z4 ^
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 5 i% A8 b; {$ c5 mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 2 k: m# X' b0 J: F% \4 j49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 7 j5 ]2 `3 q T. h4 ICuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with) u' t% ~3 O3 W$ J- X- k" o9 N
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 J2 _# L# z6 L0 f
+ t) l% T6 l* L. a8 sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 3 {0 ?5 u! J$ Hjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ) u# K+ T: |/ g) i5 R& |) j- Ufor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba * U9 ^7 g3 B) atourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having & {* J; |* m: h; P8 j+ Va staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ [8 G( l. s! _
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. X+ m' K: o) Q) G, T2 ]& z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 5 h% f* d6 T$ I! Fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, / H0 c. ]1 t: R4 N3 p6 j/ V6 m9 k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give & l- j5 F4 n3 k7 |! j8 tanswers to our pointed questions. " m* k1 h4 O+ ?; z2 T6 n: _ 5 F- o( d% o* `% c- X5 SThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, + A* R! Q \- K0 Q. Q$ _$ A45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand & i u/ @- s' g0 t7 Lout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 d4 v3 o+ ^7 k* O2 b' a
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams : g# w4 L' Q# O% e3 v. H& J5 Bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are. t' _6 j) i. o' b5 n& F5 j
medical schools.( F. h6 l3 U3 _) l& S
% }" |& e1 Z8 \6 YEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ) W, t7 f2 T8 p' F* o- o' `- ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. O: a) ?9 B# U/ _( R
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) N4 E u+ C' ?5 l9 o% l5 I/ J) J# O) o0 xassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba6 S- W1 m' U5 ?7 X: K& K$ [( ]
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 a$ _' w6 ?: \ N1 _8 q7 f
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- } b8 g5 R% P% k; r5 U
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 4 G2 }6 J* H8 D6 [2 U% I* c, imostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ d8 ]+ \& ~1 e: o1 n
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 5 l: t& V5 W, f( ^- m3 ~& }sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.8 ]2 T8 j6 C& V7 I) F+ D+ t6 T
' o$ p5 N- @5 q5 @. N+ \* LThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 9 }4 R# C. X0 B. ?private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ; n d- `( W6 t1 W$ Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 C. |' V. H4 h% b; |1 h3 \
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 R8 }: s. H& |3 w7 [* r
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby+ O* s$ F: b9 X5 D/ e- W
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 2 h0 r$ U: V& b. e/ G" odivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ^" Q# i9 [' q
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: f% l0 d7 k' n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ! k7 s7 K0 E' M5 d8 l. icharge the fee defined by the state. X9 S$ u y" \2 B 3 B) J. _; g. [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 1 ]2 A8 L; a3 R- e* ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' P8 i' ?2 \9 v+ r9 |& h
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 I+ y5 y( b8 r
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 8 `( Z8 J& e% q9 ^* b% Qseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 2 u' j. p! O* S9 fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 ]8 i7 J2 B3 \2 o x
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 |" {4 Q1 Y+ E U
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people / l# K( s; ^8 dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 2 Q: j% L9 n' N' l% ]" fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 Z+ ?# G" Z/ S) t4 ^' ^) U! A: c
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 C7 ^* n! s. T$ v% K! O$ x! X2 o% l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or & W& P( R! s4 o- H% f: fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 r5 {& _9 X" j/ L' `
are spaces. 5 E- c* S5 M2 h' @% y / {* O4 m- Y- }# OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 5 a) F3 B: H$ d: }+ D/ x' ^7 e nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they6 x) t& p, ?- |( S/ D
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 5 r; S" }/ s' V, W( [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different / E; T7 |( o( yparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the : n0 }3 D3 G, K+ {# o R; o" w2 jbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ O& C: \; b& k* n, W$ M, e: w, A: d6 Z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 6 C5 _- G4 N+ p3 O& Ycar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( D( {3 a) X$ j' c/ {
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 7 A# H3 K, J/ _0 L 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 , C o$ Z" K& K; ?1 o5 y, Yspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all' l# w9 t1 `$ B3 v
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very" U2 m: c4 P' ]& f$ Y. k' a
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep8 @; j7 G2 r- E/ a, X! H
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day2 n# O/ U/ d+ c7 t$ e8 X+ i
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of' g2 @0 ^0 m8 d5 W
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 8 h; k) k! O8 G+ J- b; yhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the! R& v1 o7 ^* Q5 r
tourist area.* i2 ~3 Z) ]; o& N& n
9 m: D0 ]% _: }! d/ tOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 c0 ^ K4 `6 Ypictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 9 R& V3 G" `8 ]0 ]Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were2 ], ^7 D. E5 _! L
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 n0 {. G9 `8 B5 }# @. `
less leader-religious. " Q) h3 _" m. ?) K% {; x2 L; T% Q/ ?( U9 m9 D6 e
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba: q3 _/ C2 ^; | C
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big# p- f' s7 B" C& J2 V# }
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US % T6 u$ [9 Q8 D" G. zembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). : b, k Y9 V; r& O, I 9 g* U% T5 P3 Q9 j+ PWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the$ l) Q) I( t3 k6 V" |9 r! c
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not7 O* \2 {6 s3 } m
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 2 u+ }( p; M( g3 Zconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 9 \7 N5 m- a t, y; s/ m2 |4 C& Yforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 3 l& `: K4 @& L3 z& X7 x(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 Q+ U+ z/ `% N) v' B3 i# x
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the + B6 K7 ^! W) _0 Ireal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 k" |9 E; W0 ~/ n: `
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local: t9 _- c3 M) s7 p3 m; ]9 h: k
or visitors.8 z/ Q j. @; F" D6 E( ~/ Z
# r$ ]8 m5 s$ T3 X/ ~
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
