We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 p% e% A; E# N5 E3 Xinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ) F6 c; c3 F- n3 y: zwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.' }/ U+ r# N+ m) f
# a# |1 F, q$ G, g G8 AIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,. H \2 i; a- r# @) U7 _7 l
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in) x G" R: R6 N, }& H& l- k
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ) y# @- j; F" e& ?' zpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort( c" s. w$ @' D0 f4 z5 G
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep& t2 B3 p$ ]* K9 l( l
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( K3 g* j8 a u- S
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , q+ M! C6 [$ T' _1 Awith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.4 _: ?' I% l' x, b* v& a0 y
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but $ f1 \. l) K5 v2 u) qnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ) {2 _5 Z) f& P5 l1 W0 Qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; _/ @' n" t. v" z
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through- \# l! M' F+ t; W% K
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. % C, c; Y. n5 W/ P' X, a- i' [. ~: V
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,5 \+ w$ L O, C3 _' |. p. R
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ( d) Q6 C t( o+ n$ f" V4 Q/ s(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top - s5 h4 ^# `' I% }4 Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the% g h; z* P4 c R
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from # j( i( t; e; |1 F" P4 I' d& R49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes + Y, M& m1 `+ y4 K# R& D- o2 xCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with* {: k- X( T& [9 I U
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. * U+ a' y3 I. C$ H4 a4 ^; r' n. F" m
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are8 t% r: D1 S! r7 U5 M9 G" _
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made # l: H, A* S) s; Y. cfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba + K0 |) m! F1 G6 ktourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ( P& E# n" y$ b4 C; ?( ka staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China - c6 H9 _$ v( ~+ X" a5 C3 ddaily 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, living3 e, S3 B! y4 q
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ! u1 P" {, V s) t! o, Z& o- Uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 q5 \+ x; @) ?4 a"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; N3 f6 |6 W7 E$ k
answers to our pointed questions. % w+ s# N) ~: g3 `+ @7 v4 m) b5 F: b! S0 A" U
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 6 f! ^2 \8 n: j% @' ?7 O& E45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 7 F1 D J* E' M7 V% D; G; e6 Uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is, M& C; }+ m- o/ r2 Y* s8 X5 Z+ z
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% H- ?4 B z# c2 @3 z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ; y. ?! X1 _$ {7 K0 S3 o. _; {medical schools. 6 k% ^7 O- S3 `4 V+ ^) Y" I: a) b' W3 O& Z$ d! r5 W, \
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the # [8 d5 L/ Q% G/ r$ @7 D& Mgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ; Z3 V( g" A- j; pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 T) u( R7 S! H% p9 m. ~: \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 O+ K+ P9 m* m' w0 z' l* C
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to % ~) D4 O/ \+ p2 a- O; h( N; fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There$ d8 m5 P" y" m* O* K: p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ( ^* _/ w; s" }8 \- L/ mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 v% Q7 g- v) }2 H( f' p
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ' v2 V! }+ Q, }6 M; G' lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ! ~+ F3 t9 j$ E. t a1 N8 f8 s5 u ! N6 \: l# j1 o" a5 v% l# c) DThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no' c5 [( R6 L4 a7 z
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 {6 I& ~& x+ M' Wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 3 |5 r( k' k3 Y; K3 \have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 8 p' W0 d! K- E9 H! ^! j% a" }# Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 4 Y" T) y0 F3 i/ a: {. G) msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ~; t/ q/ M! S+ [1 H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' T9 [1 Z- [4 x$ z$ j; h( f, |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( A g) P1 n. h% J( a" e' ka lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 I) r, E6 E F2 E
charge the fee defined by the state. & x5 K8 W0 `0 ~$ T# l0 v, A1 {! I! p+ U
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get , m$ p, k. H+ U* Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type d: D' \. o1 u( O `) z8 V+ tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big - |- {* m/ @! t+ t- g) E8 `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel1 N: R, i% C1 _, i
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the + [+ _% a7 I" q. a2 W- P" T/ ~working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on. L& g, ^* i0 c9 G6 r
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 8 F& K& N& Y- Zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 L7 L4 [8 Y5 |0 t# _% J
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ V8 h* O( r% l: }% H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that * q& [' ^' F8 G- Bpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want # m/ ~8 N8 V& i. ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ; @( b2 H' S; N6 I0 ?buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # B; j: \) H' L* P$ y" qare spaces. ( k8 k- [5 G* l% p 2 | @- q: \3 Z! k6 j/ z/ iThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 }, q1 Y8 O t. }/ T% i) Q7 I# I) B6 E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! b- ~3 a# [+ R: _" D7 v7 Z
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the! p7 T5 p. l0 I$ P7 Q9 P4 \
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different , i" e6 }' m3 k8 Q6 @0 U. `0 uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 3 h( a" C# P' M0 Y+ _! Tbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 6 Q: j. U2 U# f- X! fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; g A& D9 Z6 b" n2 `. a/ u/ u" H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it/ d( U5 V( Y" N" S2 \# M" |3 Q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ( m! A0 G- V. e' ^" a 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 7 A+ [0 m" \* s1 ?- {9 ?" O/ c& @spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all4 G& {$ ?/ T/ f1 V
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very2 v( ], y0 ~1 A" U
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep % a4 n. G5 H/ |; l$ n* Trecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day6 {6 {% F, h2 P# S. g
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of : U8 E& o2 Q* w! H# gthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # W; }$ Z1 i F9 s4 Ahave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 3 O1 ]) W7 F- D% _2 g, |2 ]$ [( }tourist area. * U: L4 q- e U5 C$ s+ n9 B2 x# O0 T- d) x4 {- T
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 2 T U! N3 [3 _; W8 n8 e2 Ipictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). % [( L# Y# i5 f# s% p0 I, }Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were . |1 @1 d- S3 G+ L3 f/ |, yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 @ i. q4 C" \: {
less leader-religious.. S7 z* {: W( ?8 V) D/ ~; u
9 K0 N- W( ]8 L9 O6 `About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ U% j; r* W. p5 ^
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big8 @6 ?0 x0 x8 z9 @7 t
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US0 K7 m( P) M( e, T i5 G
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)./ t* y3 G) Z0 T8 p5 W
7 D8 J1 M7 W2 {/ H t) M
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the5 ~4 O" A; |" @7 c# ]5 X
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not: w# j6 Z+ t+ [
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 b0 O! Z* ]) T g5 v1 R
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for7 _; q; _% x3 I L2 v4 x! p ]9 K
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars - }4 ?9 s7 Y0 h0 j(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we, l i. S7 Y5 Z$ M
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the3 |4 h: q" y& ^+ T
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.$ n2 U5 w0 J0 R3 s; ^
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local $ r) D, ?& \2 }7 j; c; s+ ?or visitors. 8 y2 e* m' |; H! _+ {$ U 5 E; p+ q0 b0 @* Q' D! Z) {5 R-- 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 + r" P+ v0 P- A6 N* |& [* }% E0 v2 z n
