We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 G6 U+ T4 J! a' m1 x5 a8 ]interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ) _3 h6 Z4 `2 {9 ^; uwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.- H& x2 N0 G' O) W, Z0 M
$ Q5 f5 X$ g6 I* D6 g" k+ ~5 p2 y+ nIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,1 y5 z3 v1 x7 a; e# w- g
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in; n2 i5 |! r! Y
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as3 S& L" P3 I* O2 I3 e8 ]6 l6 G3 o% `! I
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ) H5 s, c$ O0 T1 m! u9 ]show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep * d- F1 X& k5 K {' S5 F0 pbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the9 ]9 t% T0 N- _5 k
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ; Y3 `: g/ O; K( O6 b1 I6 gwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ; F/ e, D- }/ q# @ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 0 w: W. d M. B! v6 a6 _8 V0 Ynames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 G' G9 Q+ ]) y( {9 p8 ~exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our# `4 A( ^ Y% \; p9 T7 ^
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through $ L- N8 c! j) O9 na roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards., J% [9 B B) R! g' R: k* j) h
, Y! `- M5 N( ~# K. z; r0 ?The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ L$ d1 o% v+ S# ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool1 J' P1 \* x" \( q% v
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ \3 P8 z0 `) i0 Y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 b5 s& }* Y( D3 w4 t1 n, V; s
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from & w4 B2 |. i$ t. P0 o3 ~2 Y% G49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes: Z8 t) T0 @5 ^' D
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with : _5 `7 e0 j4 k) d- Cfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., Q7 B. h! I' s4 |* _# ?
- V4 Y" x! ]+ R" W& uThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ `/ t# k, H% G7 Y6 h& Y/ N) Q
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! \9 X/ P% Y: y& d+ x
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba9 @' k F4 u7 m- `7 L) f( X3 ]
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having * z8 E/ C4 |9 {9 C+ Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 1 W1 I3 i9 y" j* B- u( mdaily 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: c9 S& M3 b9 F
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went1 t% K p8 @ X' v3 _/ N; `
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 0 s4 v8 Y% }) T: J9 o"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 1 b1 M a" {' Lanswers to our pointed questions.- U% }& v5 z* R" \
2 m+ O) [9 }2 P9 r1 _4 |6 UThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 a1 ~ R& m, t6 i3 j. l5 L7 F- X
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand % ~. |# n6 W, x$ s) i0 D6 Bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / s: |0 u* j" h# }" _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams : p1 u1 W) w9 a4 Q9 cto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 d" @: G$ v* A+ J% Z# j" x
medical schools. % o- d, O+ l* R! K7 _: n- b" y/ x6 U# g9 A) F r7 ?8 f
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) h; V6 I# i5 t" u
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 7 t$ c5 ^! s1 Tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# F' r* W9 M& S& E; o3 m
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 w0 W3 ?) Y2 ]% x, x$ m; s
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 6 m- Z; v- v* I4 I* W' L4 M& L2 F$ Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There . ?. K$ Y H( x- B2 ~* useems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and * W. s4 H! y) n& j, Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk h( Z) t! D" S: A2 C d Mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some, t$ D8 c. Z0 x
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 6 p. C+ _% ~5 o, o" _, Y, E2 ?* x, d# l6 S, U
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 3 w/ \2 B# a) z- _/ E k% P& Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 D9 u. \( r2 w8 [
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people - K3 u2 T/ g! A! \- g$ ?have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good, D0 |; t7 q: c/ _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 d3 ?; `: E0 b9 I1 G1 F- a
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 C; |( y( ]+ q. c; o! k9 Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 D4 k* \9 i; ?3 R9 X0 ?5 B2 @
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: [9 u. n( R! ^5 P
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 v3 F1 k& T$ u. l" D
charge the fee defined by the state.: e# C, e3 I& y. Q/ i# |
& s9 l3 n8 p. O: zThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 B+ ?3 Q- o1 ^9 R+ t) k
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type : V6 D8 a4 u( @0 oof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 6 M+ j4 A7 O: N2 c" }' ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel& W t5 G4 @/ e: X" U8 D# n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 5 }3 b, T$ i) C8 b* Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 A7 y6 E6 B5 K% r! S: b; g/ }# V
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if h% A2 i5 V4 o0 C( I5 L/ u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 j- n$ F' h3 B# F5 k2 b$ W" @1 u
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. `. Y4 d+ E; c( m% k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 8 j6 N* }+ r# Q1 ~' K; ppeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want" T1 c8 c) E2 I J5 J. c$ p
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) n, m a5 e' o9 _buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 a4 i( a0 l' _# L
are spaces.; G; d& w3 l2 n% d# J' \, _
- y7 E$ ? J1 T( N- WThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi , l- k" t9 h( F& hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- i' e; z8 l) N. ^6 j6 C3 Y
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the E, o0 _: l* {40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 h( d _ H- ~( Y" Y v* }5 p _
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. W- m' A5 B$ h0 |0 H# ?( C
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few / w2 }% y, }! S) z# Onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- e. E' I2 n$ s" G7 k; Q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: a) F7 w& w. K( y1 P: Y5 J
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 p1 v6 ]% L/ N% {
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 Z3 r* t0 F5 ]spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all- w3 W2 u7 m( \4 W3 C
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very $ J. r% u7 }) M* b: i( klimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 H6 s# P; Z( D1 m! B+ _
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day $ N1 w, z2 x( T5 F, Bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of : j3 r( r# @9 o0 v7 }3 X6 C: D5 Xthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms+ ]* K8 H1 o( [3 h4 K$ P
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 _2 J2 o K: \ u, p5 r$ a2 g$ e8 T3 w( Jtourist area. 7 v; l' v7 V- g/ C1 F3 y 4 O# [; W$ D! g4 y7 Z4 LOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's" E* R8 ]/ `2 m+ {. y
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).% a$ M3 I- Y& _! X" n5 l
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were / C- G3 B1 P4 L0 s5 O5 ?everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # P* _, b) f9 W: q+ p1 Q% T
less leader-religious.1 b: j0 C8 o, E' R( G9 w. h1 R
& O2 k' c* M* I* { wAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ( e+ R' O. H# B: g) {government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ) h& c! p. L7 ]) B! Y q+ l5 z1 Bblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US/ N5 V8 H U" O
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).( W; w) O7 V0 \' W5 O& J
* v# H% r) T4 n |+ GWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the % r/ d3 q/ R# \4 Y- P4 Mparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not3 v$ E) H' L* F& T" {' G$ E
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1" U: Q% f8 b0 t( `. S" l: m7 P
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for! M7 \( t0 {5 w9 q' |
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ; q9 @4 h2 r0 w( C! o! b(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ; l. ?: p, f- L# U7 {probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the1 E. Y6 D+ w& W3 b& [! Y' h% P5 G
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 6 e! l9 m1 g" oAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local T3 h7 m" }. m9 f- S! w' i
or visitors. + z+ j8 I% f! b7 T2 b. w, u4 n
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
