We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very . M/ F( K) ]# Y7 finteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- s1 X% ~7 K+ w0 r" A5 A( U
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.0 s' x* x6 } M7 {" `) {# s
# b6 u. R: ?- ?' Y4 \) cIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, [0 B% o. X' u! j30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 2 [0 }+ |6 z1 R l" K; \, Ga very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( W2 r7 G$ a/ G& B8 u: i l
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort, N y0 g7 h. ^, ^5 b( c% I
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 5 S: _" C% s3 y# \& bbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ; H/ G2 X' P, |& o3 m3 slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 5 b0 r/ A" P* `9 \" n/ ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ( l9 }' W5 j( j, ]7 W0 H People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but " [. T7 d* u+ n* x. inames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not; C9 q3 H$ U1 ?
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 5 ^, l( Z& n; `# v2 s4 wflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 7 X$ ~$ ^8 {2 m3 X# T& v$ Ma roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.& C8 F: D# ]; L Q x1 |0 J- s$ Z
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, + G' {% w4 v5 c- J2 Y8 Slow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool0 }% t! d+ |7 h8 j* Z. [. ?
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 1 p* I7 o5 f! u+ K: mof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ O5 I8 w0 N, ~& _; `& mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from Y% Z* b! Z7 u: O+ }# a4 K' @9 h
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes) E, O* r6 M9 r
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 3 d$ j' X3 g/ |/ Xfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.- f& D$ X# n3 m9 ?
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are2 C. s+ ?0 y( [6 T" K% n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ; c6 f' O8 a- u0 G% B7 N" Z+ cfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 6 H- u# V6 C) |tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having " k i B; l: X' E1 j" ]a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China/ ^3 B6 Z1 H8 t1 I
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' R, Q* I' C& n- y- c
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ( n$ o% J) U7 h: o, U6 d5 { Qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ! N A; C! K9 H9 V1 c1 ` o3 M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 7 a: D7 o6 x% z4 z2 L1 t) zanswers to our pointed questions.- @) f2 ~" _5 P, ^& w% r! A
5 ]" u/ U! _7 t# z- w/ WThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. w! r& o$ f6 `3 P
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand : |, `0 x1 r+ Z2 i2 \- s8 yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is& i- _# h% @: M2 M
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 L* v. B& r. q3 a
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ( H3 J% J, R) \% Cmedical schools. 4 h( e0 q- c% ]8 L% f& b7 I( H" g; o) d5 s, z; [) D! D. i
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the2 u: c+ J$ y* [& A% I
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 M7 @. D1 p, {2 T7 T9 k1 Y o( Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 5 Q3 k9 |( M0 x/ X( g3 A" P" }: Sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 R4 o2 k9 L W# S" `is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. U; B2 K* l+ G
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ) x6 X+ s) W' q5 K {/ Mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and# I/ c7 ~, w1 d4 E9 Q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk + |( k2 l- e Dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some * m' h6 I. F: V- lsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.' G# f* N7 E {3 |
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no. _8 ?4 [; B7 K& E- D( M
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 ^. [' ?9 q' gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people : y/ i& t/ f8 ] k' V% hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good + f7 w4 E& Y4 F% b' h( |4 o# ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 2 w* E3 b, f7 }/ l3 ?sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ) C* ]9 a$ k7 ?- ~3 Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 ~, ~% O/ I# S/ {& X- U$ E! a, L
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 V7 J8 a6 l3 u8 W* ~" V' v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 r e+ ]" ` Z8 C/ D, W5 G) A& }- c
charge the fee defined by the state. ; y+ f: U2 |9 v " |0 t. q/ S# l, ^% ?5 YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 h R& m& w, W$ H, m7 z8 U2 w" _& }% r
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 3 J* P, l, p4 p: `# ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big : y1 q! b' c% C/ |3 g1 xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ) J$ Y1 @: A5 S# I/ jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the # P' L( }: O) l3 R, Sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on # a" k1 S5 f; Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 7 p( D! Y; J; U) {+ U" xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people) B3 V; i1 G3 A: ~$ o
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ; p: T: `+ k2 nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 7 _* ?3 c% v @- K9 b/ }- Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want }. o, j7 B9 pto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or " S8 h) {6 \! ?( f9 p; Bbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! t3 p7 Q j. q5 ^$ C
are spaces. 3 t% N% n# |; _( R2 n3 t' {1 h4 M3 J, E. Y) Z' e# S& @$ E; f
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: M: c; [/ _5 F& p0 q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they # i7 s5 T. W( C1 [6 eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 z% W8 ~8 V! k! k! O0 w7 x8 w# X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 L% W0 e7 P6 x" m
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the/ v+ G! P2 g! b9 H4 f
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 8 @& v: c* c! F8 snice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of D' b) o' L* f/ H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! |# h5 P) X* i+ x* P, [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. : v6 z( y1 ^" j% A/ 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 6 J" |5 u$ k, x+ K6 e9 s& Mspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 3 `- I4 V! f# X2 l' v* gthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very8 I d1 _& E1 Z7 c* @
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep / H3 y& G9 ]0 trecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day # S+ H# D% u& }& P& [) csupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& q0 A$ H4 i9 h/ l; ~3 g2 E
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 5 F" g$ G8 ?3 X. H6 j7 v0 Shave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the" ]5 x2 o5 d! c; k, ~* M
tourist area.9 A/ S, I* }5 E1 B9 t7 s3 ~
* {) U0 F6 }% \1 d1 Z$ q iOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 9 M1 x/ J: M( W/ tpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 v+ V4 \% k6 a( B7 c' E z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were $ J* v, ] i6 n" W2 P$ w# `1 Eeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 [" O% s* q- n* h& Vless leader-religious.9 O' F- \$ x) {! ]- h
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ e1 U4 Q! {- f4 ]" ?
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big# c9 W+ B; k$ R1 A8 ^( Q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US' {; o* U* Q0 W" p9 A
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).2 M# ^5 s, f6 d, t
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 8 y4 Z: p$ ?7 A( K, j9 H9 Mparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ( J5 y: P) W8 _8 athe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $15 f4 u& x# A7 X; {4 C0 _$ O
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* H; q1 @6 {) Z# t
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars3 m! d2 s' L% E2 l
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ( X( n; B1 i7 c2 T; e% I. rprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ a7 z4 o+ i$ |3 v- n- v! Z
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.( [: f- c; N6 [. L7 S5 [. z) y! ]
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local2 ?$ P7 }1 r# F$ M5 C9 T
or visitors.; x( g, B/ z* {
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
