We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very # p& j" X# f2 ~+ [6 Linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we$ } Y" b3 t# v; Z5 |
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.# i# F5 L7 Z9 u9 g: L9 U" W, m b# Y
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,& ?. g# ?- Z2 o, E0 G$ R
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in * b7 j$ B0 f3 K4 v7 `. ]a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as/ \' y1 n" a3 t0 c9 @
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 0 N# {: ?1 _0 y9 r& t8 {. M0 |show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep7 t8 E3 d* V' H
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the% N: @7 h- @5 m; j
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,! R- r' [1 G4 l& o0 j) ~+ p3 F
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 f h& F) M' r* f6 z$ x# D! X People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but7 H& s4 r' B% W; e
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# v/ i, [0 Q i, t& w% l$ s$ d2 o8 ?
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 t, K4 g# i. y* V! ?/ b! r5 ]flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ( Y* p8 @" F+ Y) Va roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.3 x i* Q6 U% ~9 P" U# r8 C
( W }' i4 p) j6 EThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,1 m2 d* r/ @$ N- v) s0 J _8 l3 V
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool8 O+ h- v1 k& s3 f
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ C7 A$ `+ W+ |) B' N$ `" b; B
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the- w0 O- {) o- E% u! A
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from$ _% z0 N' v7 Z$ g* c2 [0 @
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes1 g* I3 ]6 V3 I, L# ^ \ g
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 1 h$ s1 d- A" Tfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ' f5 F9 L# y, u4 a, `+ n/ k% B$ e
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are, o2 k* \3 N( g6 `" e/ f
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made9 s- g' s' ~3 `& S" v
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba + t" [3 J$ @9 U$ U- Qtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having " G- M' Q, \% t! s& L) a2 G2 W, ta staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 0 `7 l/ t0 X! Y) C1 s3 w( idaily 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 & ^4 t5 V* ^9 W1 @2 Gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went : b" O5 o- y& Jon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 i( @. a+ @! l1 t+ Z9 w' r/ y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 x2 v/ w2 O; d- i# x
answers to our pointed questions. # a3 ]6 A$ Q2 T, `- ?9 ^( J 7 K0 p' F& a+ gThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, , K S7 }) q4 e; Q45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand " T* J3 j6 I8 t. Nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is + Y0 d ~1 ~, o0 m- [free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams l: Q9 W1 |3 F2 Y# Ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) W' k8 Z9 b* ? z7 n- R1 Q5 ]
medical schools.3 p. c* P, m. M
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the % }; @. I1 X- |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ r( u. I* o& n. }& ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years * @/ g6 W9 x8 D; }8 o; oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba % ?. t8 [8 I* ?3 nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to & C" `! ^: W" j7 y2 y! X& Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 _4 E$ \+ y7 R
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, b% J1 P2 L9 d3 i
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk % i H: u) o1 P% p! B6 e9 g' L2 K* eshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 L7 X3 S2 i2 \7 z5 B. b1 A! Q' V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 t5 ?+ k% h2 ^" n5 }. {
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ s3 C/ b7 @0 L; } e" K
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 H2 f+ M, M* L9 C' F' `, a* esupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 O9 O& y: Y1 Phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 j& t! G+ @/ J" _: x* M! ?
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby# ?6 N3 e, Y. {
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high* M9 |1 `: U O0 @; G# ?# Z
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 e5 ]" g j0 E: g* K# F, xDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ B& t2 {) \/ X) n+ C
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& c$ H; l p* [- t
charge the fee defined by the state.( k1 _, [8 y. ^* N7 u
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get # Q$ y" @" |% b5 |; Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type : a( b6 x, t) S/ _& K( }4 A" l3 ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: C6 V: \3 ?- D# t& z( s1 L3 C. Z* S
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 7 u8 _8 i% C/ @. o' H! s% Eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- X) a6 S7 @ J$ M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on. y: B2 T5 r( K
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 F- F$ R' M( G1 ?0 n+ e
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ) l J L' `: ktrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch* g/ X. q3 N/ ~3 J1 }# B
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' ^3 ~' \% z$ {# u7 I6 h& {
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 9 Z2 ]6 O! q- ato go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or % N0 e( y8 S% |6 g5 abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; ^% p. K. p9 G6 I& ?
are spaces. * r/ D8 ^! P1 G' P+ H+ [- l- x1 l) k5 V" x! X' P, ]
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 z( R4 }2 `7 \! O
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) F7 ]$ l6 a* }6 Q
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the+ ^# X! B# D6 w" K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% b% n( T9 A4 ]. s5 O, X V6 [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 5 n3 F1 i% ^- _' \best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few . T6 q6 ?+ i/ B- _nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 6 P, U) J7 {) s/ i. j0 z) _- zcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 N2 R8 N8 M4 h; k" |/ O- X# k
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 q7 I* N5 ~3 @' Q4 }% K) I
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 / l. [) i) ?; j3 ^. Kspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & S$ r2 U6 b2 z8 Z% |the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very / p4 N W. Y8 E8 tlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep1 t1 R* [8 j ]% b8 E* a
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day% Y+ R3 [7 z. H$ a
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 b7 t6 |7 K$ c( e* n, F
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms & }* i# M# B, J0 \- N& m# shave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the7 l5 y" f, P2 U9 A. q
tourist area. : d3 H: Q/ ~; j. J' x3 Q( a+ ~9 Y' N6 \0 M0 [
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 M4 D( B5 t4 H1 l
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 P2 V# N; T7 O$ \2 x' h$ C
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were, s' |0 `+ ^, \5 R6 Q& j
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 s6 `" i c& K/ j4 x) Fless leader-religious. 1 ]' W9 T: @# J* s0 e( k3 i6 T5 C
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ X9 z4 k/ n. S; w: Y
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big , l2 I; P! Q6 {9 iblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US5 r) T9 L" {( n# o& Q e
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 R3 r0 z; O( w0 }# r$ p' P
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the }2 W# z2 _& t- w8 P. c2 ?
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not# r+ w! |+ L* J" j( `) S5 L( E
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1- M% V& F, c; A6 q% K
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ; q' n# B) i/ ]' @foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 8 U- j2 k; G5 r3 \ p' e7 }* w. K(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we& f3 l6 m7 {8 s" u, j: d. r
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the& }5 l5 j, \9 \2 m8 c
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 k6 b- P- o- N) Y1 K W9 r5 @
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local6 h" t- x; Z- ?4 `
or visitors. 7 k/ @/ X& A: j. d2 r i7 j2 o3 Y; U; o! v3 Q4 z( n
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
