We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 7 g) T0 N; l* P; \4 V _interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 0 s! q! G! d9 D [1 f/ W' H7 U6 awanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 3 ~( j8 Z! T4 m+ q* f; g- x& |: l* u5 b# v( H' \8 f
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, j# C) r4 t, u$ f* P' |
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in% I D8 c& [. \; G7 {: ~
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 e6 ?# c8 N( p* g, v
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 q( k% H7 x# ^) ~8 L$ U# u
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep1 e) \/ S1 h+ H4 T7 ?& E
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 f8 V% L% h. j9 Y
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all," P* T4 c S# C1 d3 M% K
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.7 j& P7 ~" F4 A$ E$ G
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 g2 Y( \$ ^0 d7 }0 b' b
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not$ i: j4 `) G! k3 |8 c
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 9 h1 N: b) |) Bflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through / `; V, r5 O- Ya roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 |8 U0 j* \% G+ K& b! U- {3 n. p& S. H$ Z
. h4 T+ x4 H: ^2 j
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 6 ^, b# V. I/ f# _+ l$ wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool . I3 H' }! N; x5 T" M5 D( t f(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top" g3 Z L$ M/ r, C
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the / O5 } V2 g1 Z5 Lstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from5 K( F3 @" C0 P& H: r9 z4 U1 o3 w
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes + z$ }, D1 @. k, D9 _5 N# [Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with $ r# W2 \3 Z/ d! B2 r- Pfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 3 v9 {! c+ A2 s5 G) h, C% A: i& v& B+ U% F( i! S
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ; C/ _" G) R: D* I) d' w- Mjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 7 D; Y: B& o! ?! V1 H" O3 `for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 4 M/ l3 q ~, O+ ]) w7 V ctourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having( H8 u9 J. P1 _
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China* n+ i& v8 D1 _3 U1 M3 O- ~% G
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 2 o# V0 q- I, f# W3 Fstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went & X3 _$ l! N% @$ Mon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide," {5 ^# q$ ^5 [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ v. o$ f+ {+ o) M8 |7 ]! w4 W5 ~, H
answers to our pointed questions.* S% v( c+ f- X: a
4 K7 e" @# {0 I& {
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, + {0 w% D6 ~# p- l45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 j2 w4 M9 I" H3 |7 ~' g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 7 m% r( C# G. K3 n% {* x/ Y Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 9 ? T( Y$ r6 W" mto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ' U* v, e6 V+ Q: pmedical schools. # n& T; R4 W0 C" a2 |9 i$ E& } " e K: }" T. b6 JEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the * x9 `: t. E, y: w/ c! ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 R( U3 h: Z8 s0 I
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years6 F: |- E8 t" g3 c1 p
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- W% ?6 l& ]( U) b" G$ @" C8 c7 m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- T7 i! v6 F ?8 d6 K
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There & j; H% `2 @8 ~# A& Aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 4 d2 \' K" {3 y0 Umostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 9 U" N5 E7 o; @& v* Bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some. ~1 D& P* U1 }2 P' C7 v
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: E1 u; t; v* s6 G
" N. c! X# [: g$ N2 w+ }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ( Q5 q4 P% J& s4 G$ y! `- tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and [" O- n& |- T* Z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 o* ^, k) d& e% i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good3 n7 w# L6 ]2 L: x% q, n) ]. q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 1 n- [% z- U F3 W g, {sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' v4 r- Y3 t1 y+ Z: l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 4 n$ O2 h7 L! ? H' M, \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When + L: |( }) i4 X/ |3 y; U0 ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ Y9 L: J9 q/ I
charge the fee defined by the state./ j/ T8 U$ F: [7 M0 i% w5 |
o4 d- q6 ?( w8 TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: q, |* X" `" {! F7 O& Y3 h4 F! x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type! z6 n7 X- d) B- J/ Z7 G
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 j2 d" A1 X! w* E ^7 P+ m9 T7 _
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel2 a& L$ \2 V; U7 p% w
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the - j; y! w5 m) w1 r8 B- u1 V Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 8 @/ I) l3 H" m; R: i3 vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 8 Z l$ l3 n- O$ G/ G6 Nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 4 z; H) d+ m3 q" vtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 1 l6 k: K. n9 e6 E3 m1 ahiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 E# }) x) b( p2 e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want % f1 L! X$ n0 r) ~) dto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or / D/ v/ G8 z' R. k6 g ^/ Ibuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 |) \+ w6 F. F- ]- {
are spaces. : _2 K) [( a) @) f2 L0 B U2 a1 z' m0 q- K' Z7 W
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi8 [; J/ V9 Q: O& F7 I/ d s
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ( z! d. f* b2 @' l5 N. x, Nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ) x" C! r6 N* }/ o* o( w40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' Q. K, `- y' d
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( I, u. }+ w1 D0 e3 P6 e" \
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; R4 @- b, u5 u# H) l8 t6 z; Z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of+ e+ ]" h0 j8 m% d
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! P( H2 Z: Q+ x. x: j% i
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% ]/ A3 S. e0 r6 F6 R
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 _# W- {; N: b0 ^+ U& espots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all % T* M, y7 n0 @8 H" Dthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very: s0 x$ N1 V' @0 Q, F. `. O; t
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep' P% x1 C) I$ ?
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day! J3 W) U5 ?9 s6 L- p
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ J" ^7 l' p6 \# Z# N! v3 Q, J
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms p+ i, F, e/ ehave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the, L9 V2 O# q2 N% {" I6 V7 p( l$ d
tourist area. H- ?5 i5 i: n1 `3 ^ _ ; W: U0 a( \2 x( P* R8 G( zOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: v7 D: }' A5 `6 w+ m
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 7 R: D' Z, d7 M3 a) v! k/ M$ `Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were4 c0 U2 g) q G& H0 t2 o- E
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps [: a9 }% y( Kless leader-religious.0 X! c, t$ v1 S8 s
3 U/ l9 t4 [+ YAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : o8 Z) Q [+ s8 H+ Cgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big , e$ ]) Q: ^: J% f& `; I! Gblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 6 `. y2 s& ]! M" Z, qembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 9 A) ]* S/ l- s5 S) ~) e; {+ |% |5 W3 B! Z+ h; T) _
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . M4 [! ?% N! Y9 u% _parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not* z. i; Q$ A/ x" f" ~7 z- U
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 0 I# W9 W! m" Aconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for& [$ a/ `% g2 v
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 6 K: l+ F+ M& N( B$ q _; d(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we/ P: x- _1 O8 M# k0 t! e
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the' B4 [5 k0 G) p1 Y1 o( [( V( P- |2 p7 r
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 M- X( N$ n8 u
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; i2 w3 U3 V8 l. B/ ~# z* m8 e* S; w! z
or visitors. 6 N0 r ^# j& G* U: I " f$ b" n; S2 V! t-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
