We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' ~ d! `+ W4 \0 o3 T0 s
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we% a3 f; `6 r3 F G* O b
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. & z4 Q( ?- Z: F8 c3 | , L8 G' v S2 Q8 q# R UIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 @/ D( g& v9 C0 v# F% m" e4 U' C2 D30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in- H4 U3 m- y& N1 N
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 3 t4 }. [% I. epossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 8 v- x; ], \. y" m- e. Mshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep % L0 t3 J8 O, M7 g9 ~$ Ebetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 8 o/ \% V# L' o, H! C5 olobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,$ g" U# L! `2 u0 H
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. * m% Q4 r# L1 p: A L8 z+ f People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but) n. ~* R# @3 j0 Z. v
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ) ]9 N" d2 l/ g) a6 \exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our % B( p! h. O' o7 s3 d. F: Lflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 X% k2 K# u; y: e, Y
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 2 Y/ L# t; O! u2 G+ G0 s( w- h8 i+ C% e2 k2 s( k- _' p
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ) k! [/ M9 T8 t2 ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool) o" t- F2 ?* K
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( R. v2 p- c5 e! t/ Nof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 a0 J3 ?1 ]2 r: R2 z. V: v
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from% ]" B$ Q. _! b* p# k
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 6 M3 w5 u/ t" J+ i/ ?( lCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with5 \# ]7 @6 J# ~- o6 p
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 B, L: |. G3 X5 J1 _1 O
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ G6 c/ Z7 I( V8 E* z) Y. [: ?
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made $ w! p) H4 [5 n# }" v* i \8 Rfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba/ s& |# C9 _0 m& T& w' B6 W7 U
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ' g9 u' }/ U9 w9 x' Z8 _1 pa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' v7 w, L0 X+ U& @0 j4 |
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* L; m/ g. S8 Z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went L; ]+ N' u7 \9 M3 w* U% O
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, . G" o x$ M5 k& R"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& M% U5 K' F+ k% d" S/ r& t
answers to our pointed questions.! u1 q* F7 s' j! ]. N I% o
, c1 a8 h7 r' F& tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ( I/ y) d! [! e5 D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 G& G, y* {) J# X3 F' @8 V; |
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / i( ]; [& W- {$ q+ A" J% h3 Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 5 }, V1 n0 L. ?1 U! W( l, ?+ ]% Hto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 l6 X: X X' R) q; V
medical schools. , m- S% \5 ~9 y$ `. c2 ~9 x F& o e3 S% `, j3 @, C, d
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 B; g. ^8 f2 T ?
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants j, ~8 v& ]+ X# q# L. T3 ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 6 R) L9 p% E7 }/ x5 r1 U' i1 g7 Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ( W' \, g" A1 C2 B' yis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 7 \9 G/ m$ D% S1 z2 D" P, d Z6 {over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There4 A1 w/ ]% m' |. u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! ^" R* A$ u( I2 C2 V) g
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 0 ?" h% `! O7 E: {: _! Vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 v0 U/ W& ?7 y; h9 A' w4 S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.- e0 {1 Q- P ^) v1 e% v) q' y
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no % f4 X9 {! d8 b5 qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 w) l- m/ K% ? K; o _6 isupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 5 x* ?$ Q- }# M' \; g6 i+ T5 Ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 6 o" \8 g: |* L. o G: [thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' |) G% e7 V( g' v4 Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high # c7 U! T$ G% \divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. c8 [7 ]$ R. `4 S5 o* |4 m: PDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: b" u7 J. D9 E2 g7 \- t
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only . t1 x7 @1 o# A' `) p5 a/ xcharge the fee defined by the state.& I& a) b+ p& Y4 @9 ?, u+ X
) n" ]5 i# \9 A! hThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 M) c2 ~3 X; K9 ]: V: ?on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type % ~. r# T' M+ J! _of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big- n4 I+ f. F8 v1 F$ w& h) u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel : ^7 A8 g5 ~( N9 P, ]* g9 |! U; oseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 7 ?. n! p; b+ wworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 |! y+ P# H; s, m( E! T! X
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ T: }8 f1 ^* j. u y: z5 V
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people/ U* ~7 X" i r) e1 j, [
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. K' G4 A% p8 q( Z4 T% g! O3 x( p
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that L8 | P( e. [) W4 Bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# i; I. P4 |( l
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ! ~7 V! s% P. Q' C' R' jbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ! f) s) _% m/ `. N, _# P3 p5 k" Hare spaces. " Q! J, R% F' G2 T; q3 q4 G. ` 1 [! M) I+ T& ?+ d5 VThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 o0 ? p+ @0 T# z9 W4 a
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 k1 d+ p! h/ l% j
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 t1 G% G3 O- f. n9 Q1 _ c4 n- k40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ ]# U5 C0 K- o; q2 Z+ I! F3 w7 w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the & M2 n ]# O- B) h1 gbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* b/ O5 X: V/ y+ V. x$ [ u3 Q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of$ \% X0 c. h2 M; m/ F% d" m) E0 Z7 \2 e
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ; g7 X# x+ c( k9 V7 Sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ' j- u# A( P2 d. u. g5 i1 S2 Y, W 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 j$ b" ?, Q% J& Z% _
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & ~% d! {% @$ A: t* B- Cthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very$ s% U0 Y8 C+ |) f, |
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep4 Y2 z, M" V% k/ F) S. ? i6 H
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day " X/ ^/ T' o5 G8 _% h- Psupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 2 A# `+ `2 L5 w: c' Q# Ithem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms" @" k. r/ w* w2 h
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the $ D P! K& Z6 W: q! d# Btourist area. 8 V9 Y0 B9 r. ~% f( c+ \% P0 X* Y2 S# Z1 s
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 T/ i* B w- W; v% N [
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 8 h# l) m1 ?1 g! |& uCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were : ~' ~ V- f9 T+ x7 f7 Aeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & z- q, A( t9 j' X; e3 J' j& ~less leader-religious. 9 B" K+ b5 q, _$ e7 e $ Y5 x6 \5 z6 | z+ pAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba1 b. f. B: p0 y1 v) N Y- i: ^
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big . } k$ J, [1 o* yblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US " k9 I. i5 d" w( q" kembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). + v& D& A; l" i4 T/ O8 A8 J- T) e ! I r q/ P+ c4 W- I$ IWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ u; i5 n G/ I, s% k
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 6 g8 @0 g0 }+ L* Ithe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 + Z5 K- @# |7 g4 ^8 Oconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for % G7 J6 I8 L8 E& w3 Q* Lforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars - h5 u/ F% o0 E9 L# Q(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 1 F7 u; F1 v4 ]. {) g: O( K) ^' u. }/ Pprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ) P! H6 G Y. wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. # X ?3 N6 n% n$ f: h) ?And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local* K5 J. I* k; |' L) Y" ?
or visitors. * E" N: z3 ?5 i' }* |+ t5 c " o. r' l" G5 S i9 z- F-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 3 |7 c/ e9 a+ c; l9 q$ _' b) d
