We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very; Q' ?+ g4 h2 J& \+ N
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we3 H" T* t: @+ Y- X1 w/ m! g
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.0 y( p; _, o# {) V
+ V0 L, [* P2 N, |5 t" ?5 T7 iIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 9 R) z/ ?) ~8 g1 _30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 4 f* k9 O0 N; b1 Ia very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) @! L$ C' C4 e& z; i I
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort) w' h4 w: H, @* V0 T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 v0 D+ b+ |6 |$ abetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the# a- x I/ _ {# b
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, " H& |1 Y/ C3 d& Q+ x: H4 Swith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.+ j' s9 v: {2 N, l' A, @
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but & c% R+ w" B# ?5 A) P" S$ B9 U$ pnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not1 f4 O( h* O) V* f5 Z( C/ L5 ^
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 {5 S$ u% @2 K! v. _" x7 [+ [- q
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through( b+ I; v0 K: u; U% `; {4 X( P
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.! {* k8 h9 N; v8 y; e
$ m) [5 X% ~' r( r) J$ ]
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,! S M9 U0 ~: S5 X7 K
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 9 \) E3 v# x# [: Z: S5 ]0 E" }6 ?" D4 S9 n(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 7 o8 m0 }0 _" Y: T9 k7 xof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the4 s$ F3 X# R+ B a1 X
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from+ z; e' @& y3 r, L3 q: s6 b) J
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes* n: {7 Y( j+ e
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 3 ]6 \/ s+ \- ufingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 8 P8 k: J5 L/ E2 d6 f7 l: q: ?5 \$ O% B: M. C2 V R7 I- O
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 0 m" }; H) c! `% s" {just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 3 O# X. o J$ G3 s" G! i" y7 Nfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ( W0 r* K) Z$ d2 N3 x: Ktourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ( H) G8 \+ L5 t D9 I- I; ja staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China + W: }# [2 y- r7 O jdaily 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, living7 f4 G$ X! b/ k) J0 _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went / p, r v: c7 ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* d- u- X) l* Z' i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give # _5 Y! |8 P7 L( H3 ^8 Q \$ c: N+ Kanswers to our pointed questions. 5 C( G* x. [- P2 h+ T! ~( E7 j9 o- ^- B* U/ E( w" c
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 v6 e7 I5 p: {7 b2 S ?( J, p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand f! A3 z0 f$ q" I. ?8 ?! ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ) j! y1 t1 L U+ Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams" \; e% H3 G& {/ O" C( {9 p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are; d+ V, s# @% `
medical schools.+ h' ^% w2 y8 H0 ~7 V
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the , m% O! @. T. w& Z% l( ggovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants/ ~: l; i. K, n1 @8 j& ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) z4 U1 p: [1 {6 s
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba5 X8 w9 P% u) ^5 o% Y) N
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to , L" T8 B5 N6 l+ B$ F: f+ P6 |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 [' _% R/ [8 @3 r! G0 m& yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 A. f8 U: \! Z8 [8 T4 w9 t
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' Z2 p7 A3 y. N; B! v
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some * Z) a2 M! c2 U# _# Vsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. + X0 y" j. J- L* D9 F* ^ F+ C" F! Q1 E" ?
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 Q N- y, x u
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and : F* O6 q- t# m1 K7 E1 Z$ Z& n* t3 g. ^supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people : p0 x1 L+ B8 M" thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: ~1 G+ X- D# S0 _/ R
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 n; J1 d1 B% o, H
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high Z: [$ J7 M# o# I2 O! g( v3 K' gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.7 Y9 k4 n' N6 J" l! a
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, I2 F8 s9 h# r. a/ b/ L
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only / L9 c) i7 y+ I# m% R4 ccharge the fee defined by the state. 5 c* U5 r8 x8 i6 ^3 s' I: k# \! t* |
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! N: R0 |- I$ C) K; x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type " z) s! s( A$ Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( E1 F! b) x' x8 V+ v( T; m
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel - Y/ }& r- [9 x0 X6 k# Rseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 6 z* k, ~) d8 R6 E- `; sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, u% E8 C; ^* T; m
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if & q6 H3 l& G( v4 F4 Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people * P* f! \7 ^& A/ htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 l% P, d+ D+ X7 U2 j
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 8 }, K! s! }+ |7 y. ^ bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% D. X$ p" o8 k, A$ c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 Z$ f* T9 a4 E* M8 S8 Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 2 M* K: ^" q4 O; f" G6 P$ H! Xare spaces.5 a* L! H2 i7 J( K2 y
0 _4 a% E: b o5 f
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi* t/ R D5 V; _; S9 w( w
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they $ [, K) r% a, N: F+ |! ]6 jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 M- g+ J' {/ w( c
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; O; X; ~3 e2 f3 ^; s
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the c1 @9 @1 @ J. _+ Q' g8 _% abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few8 r Z! o4 T$ @+ T: M- `# ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ m4 T0 t4 w- A0 h C, F8 L. }
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! H& j3 Q) ]/ V5 D; R0 A
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ! M- d, T1 }+ I+ E7 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 ) @" A3 h: B$ q8 d; R# Ospots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all3 ]/ ?. I3 @2 M5 e5 j
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very; _" \- o! O! |3 q) K$ P
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep * q g$ W7 C G+ K4 I/ h. g0 v7 q% V grecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day# v0 f9 S1 b6 {0 T( s" F
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ K4 }8 J3 x9 _7 q7 f
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms$ S7 R0 ]2 y% H9 O: L, }
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the, X# Y$ J! E/ c& ~
tourist area.0 i. N T! T( z7 I* o
6 l+ }$ W2 G& V1 \& N, z( XOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's! x5 G% ]$ N4 u1 c" w& c
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). / g+ p" T* ^4 ^" pCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were! d9 |9 N8 n, v
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + K4 X: s, M$ N! A1 E+ }* W
less leader-religious. & T8 \2 o: }1 L% [3 z5 z8 P9 I / _3 z% |8 `0 |- P: n% L* eAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba8 }, X' }2 _" ]
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big& R9 @" `, Y3 c2 b
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US2 Y8 q5 |1 ]% ]' e$ K+ N. ?' ?
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).; K q; m, D7 f' R; z
& R: _- \, _" }' _1 u( @- n( }9 U6 {, kWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the % N& D& c, o. Q( b0 U2 iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not2 E5 `" R6 j4 t
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 {$ a) j, ?" { Y$ g! K% l
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 0 f' i( `( `8 ?* hforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars" E2 Y# C/ h2 S& g# Q2 Q! }$ [
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 v' @3 F: o9 x; t( _( Y" T6 I1 D( dprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the / a# Q' d D$ xreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.8 y6 ~) }" s2 K% }3 _: `2 G
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local0 @$ t6 i+ {+ p, v6 U: | d& r
or visitors.2 B3 B0 `' f: Z( L
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-- 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 9 h+ y9 H K$ p( L; J. E
