We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' Q) z" w) L% s/ }
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we+ ^) M3 @; s7 R* U
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. * [# [, s- J N! A# R$ K' u& a 6 L4 e( O; H+ X; D2 H, g8 SIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,4 }7 R3 ?# y2 S
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in3 L# k# Z8 i. n0 ]+ ^3 |% a- T) x. G
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as8 Q8 M6 C v: P
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort - X i9 Q4 M- K2 N' X: Tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep' k& G @+ ~7 Z0 o1 x! R
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the + o2 t$ R% s* K* @! Dlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, * c; M( p( m& twith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.5 K) E, C( }. l& Q0 m$ y h! B% p, k
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but8 \0 b& N4 Q. t6 r
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 {: I) i: v4 s6 r$ ]0 Y& A" { ~exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our3 {8 Z9 h! P2 f$ f2 `% S
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 a" J$ X# D9 ?! z0 X, x) ^- E' Y
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ( q5 i* d1 _& r; m) t' v, ? " @" E/ p0 c: G: _0 OThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, # R9 W6 x1 q, R8 b1 j% I% i, v& `low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ' H! L- F7 A! {( v. ]' l(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top& }: X3 r, s* X4 h) J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 2 I1 f$ M! _4 s; [stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ) Z6 U- x: J. W7 C9 h% W8 `7 h49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes, G" P0 K R' O* i* f
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with( _# e2 Q6 l$ q; c
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 8 g9 o9 x% c- n 5 Y9 s1 ?% j3 I: a. fThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are. T$ @/ e9 l5 M+ J& g! \' J* h
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made' M0 A' g6 ]& o$ q: @! P
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba4 s. B9 U. J5 M; ~. G8 W
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having6 t3 ]) p% j0 C. z$ N
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ) s5 C4 z$ g8 p, G+ M) }2 Z! hdaily 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 m4 G, d- \6 Xstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 b1 b. D0 i* `/ S
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. w, a8 N# J- w& z& q& u( e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give * ]1 q ^; r9 R7 R$ Oanswers to our pointed questions. 3 m, @+ U/ ^' Q) H: F( ]: j 8 [% I8 S3 q& k3 Y- O! [" K' yThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, $ J. w9 u# b' z: p" a45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 5 U f9 d) o; H# l# Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 _& u2 [; W3 M' I0 s J5 U1 q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 4 ]0 Y" t$ G+ J- y) Rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / I/ ?4 ?- _3 u: t6 u9 E, y6 K" O' dmedical schools.+ S+ J5 `- d% M, A, U
+ M7 I, G( d+ \4 c4 k) y
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 8 X: u# w+ ], R/ x o% Jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 B! U1 W# n+ H3 v. y# ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 7 O) Z2 o, Y" B( Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ) N: X. I% w/ ^& @is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 5 b1 }! M1 u! E" c B# a( Cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There : c( p4 Z+ m- U! Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ! ^* s" S( M( t) ]; @mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ R' s, k1 ]" A4 {4 M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some% C* C( P+ i! s/ W/ ~8 O$ J) E
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., J+ c6 K3 q4 P; u* `: o
# a9 X' c# z [7 l% v# R% O, J
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 X( u4 F7 u& G% k. V
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and # F& N6 C$ T0 vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ! l6 x& K4 ?; @! shave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% c9 r4 Z% i7 T: B
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( m$ b+ U# l5 R' {( c/ {. T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ v1 E+ @8 s' y' U( s0 k' G
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ^% S* I6 e9 e* I7 WDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When + g/ r7 l1 A9 R Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' E* s4 q3 M6 l: ?! O
charge the fee defined by the state. " y/ o7 }6 N$ A, ~1 |0 n) T1 n* J9 n S# [/ R3 u
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get - K- A; p3 d5 q2 Q$ A2 ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 ]! s, M! @" Y B: V8 t jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# f, [( W) r8 R0 v1 p
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel/ u: S( p1 y1 X+ |2 N; L5 i# i( T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the: {) H5 l6 |4 L" s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on . v- h/ B4 H/ B* z3 t4 E1 r8 h0 |$ cschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if) i9 F& x" g( b4 Q# ~7 S- h. w* ?
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people, L) L& A0 d7 ^, s' z' v
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch $ ]8 ]" L @& f, U6 n2 S/ Uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; p1 v# w3 l% ] i# ~2 a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 H% D# {, z0 A8 k; ?6 L' }4 h8 t
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or9 ]' u+ i. w; _$ V" Z$ z5 A. z2 Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 2 R! G' B% {8 y# K5 R8 w4 ware spaces. 7 v c1 z: W$ D/ H) g1 O2 U5 I7 I9 M- r, x
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 f1 W7 d5 r5 t) q- l( r9 I, o* Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ \% F/ E1 A% |' Q( k$ ?8 ?$ n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, W/ u, l3 i& u$ D; ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different . H8 p% o5 j* h6 H B$ L- vparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the , ~) W2 z7 ? [: c5 mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few T" T# ^* p( {; A0 H4 G( u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of. L, W2 c5 U) w' _2 Z% ]) b' O9 H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, C, |8 L! X" ~# ^
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 @2 @7 P% u y; S
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 beautiful0 n/ U9 j3 B7 U! e, k u
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: D6 ^8 H& v! t
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very , m! l5 ~7 P( m9 D/ `3 @limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep % x: S1 a; E; E/ H: C$ V* O [recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 4 z# o2 G3 n, [8 V' k" @) fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of3 m' I/ U! J* o, b6 |- j! o
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # f1 f' G- D! `5 w; thave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' H8 W6 q" {* s/ j" C7 b6 v2 i
tourist area.% D/ g- ^: D: I" d
' h$ R; E, ?" s7 n3 bOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's3 k5 ]' B. w1 Y5 y) A
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 2 E! o& R: I: C F/ kCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ) V+ p6 V, ], y9 B1 b, D( eeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps % g+ A) p. \0 h& d
less leader-religious./ P7 h1 V ?* Y/ ~ u
; b& T3 H1 m) @9 P- r
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba. p* m; }' h5 Z3 t
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big + W" { f2 h% A4 r" H$ dblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US - X4 x) Z% ~$ Vembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 Y) G) y/ ?$ l0 P
9 y/ ^8 ~ l! f( o+ U2 P
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the% z" g- V; E" \+ b. i( Q
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not1 @0 o* P4 m9 b; J+ k* W4 p0 n
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1. ^! m2 Y4 A8 _6 v# H4 h6 t% k; e
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for/ [1 v% b/ v( q# h1 K8 \& V+ D# D
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars / e1 F! X X- i0 |! r(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 H1 ~' A% _- }
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 ~" J( j5 A7 V& ~8 [- D
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.. X# j1 N5 S, M9 I- C$ x
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 8 I, F3 l3 a3 M. a7 R! L! cor visitors.9 M( u6 A% E4 a& W
& V5 j5 B0 ~6 y& |; _
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
