We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very % [* j$ x; V! d5 uinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we : r' X# ^/ L* O; I- Xwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.9 T$ k: T( h6 ?2 W a7 U
9 U5 p. W W& Q8 qIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% O5 \0 W* B! A% W
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in . a0 ~' s7 M& Za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as Z! Y' A2 b( G( x0 W9 M$ G. [3 }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort6 V6 y% V( D) v; L
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep0 d. y+ e# A+ u9 g" S& Z
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 ]) r( ~1 B- m- }5 V6 E3 t$ slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 8 X$ B5 Q' M! |/ [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.2 P+ w5 A8 j+ c: E% W3 W
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but - t; w1 v& `2 z: n- O* v C! t/ c% Anames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not) k: G( m: b# {5 ]" y: w: j% b: n
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our( h& ^) A. H( X! I- w; ?
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through + S, l1 D) U8 c. x( [* `& Oa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.: `. i( G* E& t2 Y s/ C
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, & V1 w D0 w4 Q4 E0 H: m( J" [low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool, ?2 S2 t' g( c8 T! f$ F3 t
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' A# b: S* ^! B) u* x% L8 ?
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the& @5 C& ~" D N7 G M$ ]7 h4 M& r
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 L+ |- Q, _, r0 E4 n, f
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 9 L( u3 H9 M6 Y% Y/ B; m3 xCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 6 v' u+ e! d2 H# y+ I, Jfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ' _7 t# M' M. o& E$ H5 h' ? ; j* o6 b. D: [' b, a9 O5 |5 T- v6 y5 EThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are * H/ @" s2 H2 W& G% `8 C: Pjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 4 e- r9 b) h7 `! O- F4 Vfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba" P: ?+ I+ c2 E( g: k2 T9 Y
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having) ~8 [1 {, |" p/ g$ a$ G; }2 v. ?7 w
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ h8 h; e- } y4 c" o
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, Z: o+ W" |- j- T
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 U& S- c; s! K) [1 C2 w
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 F) h. e9 F' D- w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give " M; I" @- n3 d- r& M2 H) Danswers to our pointed questions.; h% ~0 y. T& a; M- h2 j
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, o7 C+ m, r3 M! m* L Y: h45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ( F; L1 e& S9 `* P& o% C% f/ ? jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is # x/ {8 k9 w1 a$ c6 x8 {/ vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 1 |- Y- ? n! R5 I4 X( _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ( E( g9 ]& V1 v2 s5 @medical schools.% l* R- {" i# t7 R7 ?+ |! D
; Y" A% e5 v: z* n1 ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the : f$ a4 W1 y) ]: |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants2 u0 w8 ]5 {: ^2 c: I
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& j2 X: G/ ^; M' P- ~* ]0 _- h( [7 @
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) F# \1 I$ [3 K1 I+ ]) Q5 n; J
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to! @. m* S' i: h+ g4 [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There : n8 }9 K9 j1 Y8 R' l/ G, Kseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 6 U! s! d2 x* S" n, fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: {5 x! g1 N# U G
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* S; Q7 f- P7 Y; Q# E) H7 w9 Y
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 7 N5 n% B0 D. z) K# u# m( _; L1 w/ Q6 Z" ]0 E
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no- L/ p3 L) L- N+ g8 j' l: g
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ) B: U2 T; A0 e0 k! osupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 J ~* @0 c. a( I+ z K
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 M/ r: a x3 a" | l2 fthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ f. ]5 f. c5 ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& I( g) E( { P7 F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. , V9 L) B3 E8 O- b. b- d, GDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& i% G, j; a8 a# n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only $ L# T% I0 J+ ]; ncharge the fee defined by the state.% Z6 ^; ^" Q2 n1 }
" U* k* E6 | J: UThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get; W- r+ b7 ?: R2 h C
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type8 v) ]1 d9 k6 e4 [ _# E3 j R$ ^6 f
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* P; d0 B% f `6 r$ a# N+ H! v
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* y- F1 k4 p1 A$ r; i* Q: P) b
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 J9 ?# I' d8 o7 ?) X
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ; c% K* X: ^7 n# |- P3 T% d( wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 7 Y; D. T" ~, C$ Fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ B# I* B3 L0 k! U) y0 c
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 J+ d3 ~' g' r2 j; |& a9 O
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ( K8 r. X* V6 U! A& Q( Fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ k3 q5 I, z! m8 a! v4 @
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or" X4 ?& K, ]6 \) |* t$ S6 o
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ) ^4 H. s0 J* Z( ^are spaces. . h9 [( r3 j+ g1 C O' T4 z9 s! Y, f. V
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 5 }7 V, x8 {2 ~9 v& xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they . ~9 Q0 W% L& \own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the9 l5 W3 m" f/ z5 u' a
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different * U& g& s; x7 V1 t# W! nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 H4 G4 z' J. d4 o; j: d# F( ^
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ) m8 F7 o( d- j3 z) V" m) anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ( d- d- i; H" jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ' N5 ?& e4 F" q0 W+ d' g5 K& D+ m( tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. - q' N5 L" y4 b h/ p 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 $ @4 B2 ?3 ^5 x2 U& O1 W2 |' Hspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ( J s6 q: r% m0 h4 q5 p/ hthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 7 T! v+ u3 |. ^, }6 s- W" Tlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ( u! g' S8 k" vrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day) }: D" S) e# W! o$ {7 I
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of! B( u/ E# R ~" N$ ]1 L
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) c3 f& h5 |9 \8 R
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 d) W! ]1 ^, j6 | I1 y# ^tourist area. ; V" [' f- s) z$ Z+ Y* V 1 U5 V$ q( P6 YOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's , C; U7 j) b) h% }# W7 v' mpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). & |8 A$ w2 Q3 y1 @# Z! ICompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 z9 j1 O1 @ p: }
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps A3 d5 q% r2 D$ ~2 \( `5 f$ [less leader-religious. 1 O X( X8 s% E+ _ / n+ l6 }6 M5 Y, i( \1 |About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba t; }# D, }$ G S$ Ogovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big * p, H' p/ u6 B" V3 [7 n8 f3 xblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US& ~, g1 f5 L) X( |8 F! N/ f( z
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)./ s+ E; s# I7 T/ q. P3 u
7 r- F i. q8 C4 F! RWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the # t; g. @: L0 w& W+ G$ pparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ; Z$ Q+ x- L' |; Kthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 , k' f9 {" {: M0 S4 Yconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for9 {5 ^& {* f x' n, U6 C
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 1 V, u2 ~/ U+ x U4 n(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 h% w. J) ]/ v u. z
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the $ ~+ z/ f& w! f$ F$ e, Wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 Z t- l. @% ~: y/ Z% C8 l
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local # Z3 I% o% T7 f* [4 {# b+ ior visitors.' D( N2 b& [0 w4 [3 f' r3 m# v5 t
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
