We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 9 n+ w, V# t/ I. W: v& }interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we) ?' \( B: R3 u7 o) O0 [' ^- m9 N
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. n( y9 E9 V' [6 y3 v+ ` 3 | z8 | W8 L& N+ ]5 dIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,( p6 G# E' \% D0 c7 q7 t
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in . ]: n6 z& K4 K. p1 j# y; P/ m& Za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as7 S% C* c. Y9 ^) @
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort7 o7 \3 W8 i2 n$ a `, ^
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / s/ s2 X7 e* Nbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the. O* |. O3 G3 _5 ?, p9 ]
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,& q4 X( l0 B. U+ M/ g0 @$ K, l
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.7 K; D( Y( K9 A3 i: S3 \+ r% ]
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 1 j# q- ^6 {' S) Dnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not- t( N( ?6 H S. t% i. H& L% K
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 E! @) m- r2 {3 F7 ?( ]
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 9 o" c' ?( U9 a, ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 |& X9 H, d# C2 E B
0 n, e3 D7 y: P2 F' [The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. W# c/ ^- |" M6 Q, w* p4 i) p3 q" i
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool3 Z3 s1 s! v+ R* ^4 M3 U' q
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top4 s4 R' [, {9 J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, a$ ?+ |9 ]. ~2 H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from, b9 h! Z5 [9 Z& {
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes3 s' W: k% o2 {3 r
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with; s0 o ^% [8 C1 G
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., [& i* a; c. R" H1 S% Y
9 c' F' Z; I8 i& G) f4 J! |0 qThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are # Y ~' i4 p; f2 S# J0 Xjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made' T/ m4 `% u3 u% g
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 3 n. X- E( k9 e: D' o3 Wtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 5 p2 K* p0 E* @" f) J& ~7 Xa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 2 N; E+ [- } H6 U1 [6 @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* c; M& `) Q5 ~1 V3 a9 t
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went $ B, d: W) b2 a# c0 }on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 1 W3 L# I' G2 P$ [6 C, L3 X/ K, K"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give - e- [% V5 F/ F$ d1 zanswers to our pointed questions.: ^, n2 N; Z3 O1 v6 |& @1 {
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black," `4 N) t3 M# L! c5 y8 K6 Q, p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand " I: ^" D4 T9 B3 _6 k) g& ^) Q* T# nout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& \& f6 [9 ~6 H! B( {( j
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: H! a4 K* ]5 h+ e( n8 B- H5 A- g
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 j% r9 \4 W; m2 Y- W+ I' z
medical schools.* j, I0 O( J7 o) w3 ~& P8 R2 \
2 G& a0 J0 ?$ \1 ~4 \Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the & ~9 c. ^$ ]) A Q7 S# ]government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: X0 ]3 D4 D9 q& n
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! u! l m* N e$ T) d! {
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 0 ^2 E6 m8 H3 q0 B9 {3 O Ais from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, C( ]9 ?" P5 E* M. `* J; W6 g+ h) [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There : [* U; @0 L/ n7 @seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ f4 r- I" p( m; ]1 L
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk . M0 Q' T9 o. j, R9 P( fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 _8 R8 g: p) s$ S
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 4 Q; ^7 ]0 O$ m5 V: w5 P8 Z & t7 M' u. z- t: C$ Y v- u$ A' ^The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no& F- A/ L' c: O
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ! d2 z& e: O: v* U7 V* @2 V t( ]supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people * y, \3 Y' \! c$ p# R4 {have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good & L% N1 c& ]$ |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 G0 n+ I5 J0 N/ a- K q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 D2 G9 j* ~+ s9 ~8 i" k1 I, e
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 3 N% W" H$ u& z7 [Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When( f% `- i$ M# _
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 6 k% S( {7 H1 Icharge the fee defined by the state. : n4 r" s9 R7 n/ z+ A 4 a U- R0 u& O8 i* k3 d5 uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get & [3 z5 a6 q: [6 Xon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ' y# L3 m3 ~2 J7 O* c+ J& Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ' H, [! M; t* ^" g; z wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 3 s0 O9 X& Y. A( bseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the& T) z. C! ]$ ^9 [) U+ Z% b
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 8 L F3 d5 E2 g* i4 ~schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if , \8 m, F- o; p& j5 ~you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ V, c# J4 a' R6 \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 9 J0 \3 y. D, O) c1 W% J% qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that) A" } u* {3 `# a6 S7 }) R
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; b) g* s% Z& k( _- k% ^/ i! R9 w! D8 W# Y% z
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 A. J: e0 R0 \# q3 m$ v6 x
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 1 N* t6 g* Y- i+ aare spaces. . c" k( u/ M0 M2 L# Z3 a W K7 P- n: J' b" vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ) l4 ^7 g8 s* eto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 C$ S3 X- i5 M6 H; V! O4 f- ?
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ~5 y- E. ?# ]5 f0 K. g) \40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different : U a2 m2 b2 Z' W+ K8 ~# Fparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. G' {4 c* ^7 W; x! x4 L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- u7 z' M. ^6 h. W5 e6 h2 g9 Z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" d6 @; B) ?& {/ R4 u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 P, r# D! S: G7 _: b$ H
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 q& Q+ R) c- u8 `1 G% V/ C
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 8 i6 q+ }$ N* nspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 0 u2 O4 K: ^; t: c/ W2 {/ jthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very* O; M, i: }" J/ q
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep % V9 w$ I0 Z+ Q7 C1 xrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 2 i3 L: o$ {9 Q3 Osupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ' e4 b' b9 i, A& C/ Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 |$ ]1 M7 Z. l1 A _, ^
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the; J: B( {% m) [0 ]/ y. G2 x
tourist area.7 v% u, b1 r, l3 H- ~8 o
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ) `" {4 [ [6 r* A: p5 k3 Ppictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). - X: c: s$ k, ^* U% |2 B& JCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were) f8 G$ F. W2 P$ L( w' R: @& i
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ) C$ i- j ?8 h7 {2 Uless leader-religious. 4 \3 `! @9 @0 V, t4 x6 F, r# [, j) t! u0 B# g3 B) V: [
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 M/ v: O/ z% s) H# Z
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big# u4 @$ ?' J& k |% h1 W
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US $ G" b% ?: q( x0 f. P7 l- ]embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* j9 y7 |' B2 ^- f3 u
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the - P: f T" X# R' N5 V$ ], X& X6 E, sparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not% d3 A T4 {5 I2 G& s: \
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1. }8 T7 a: g% ^& k9 b
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for: S9 \: K) t8 B& {5 Y- ^# Z0 b' D
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars* U- r7 D3 N/ [5 t+ o( M
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! @" J k- W9 F- z& K( ~7 \. iprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the4 L: ]1 n" B- t" l+ X" G3 W. o
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going." f8 c, w$ z) W- S. E
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local % K) l5 M ~* ]8 \0 lor visitors.# g2 O2 c+ O4 T( Q/ H/ Y( E
- r0 J! v" Q+ u; w- z-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
