We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 0 v0 H. X8 E* B. y O3 Iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we m( ]% _: m; swanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.! @4 J1 d7 j3 l9 \8 u
8 b; r% Y: U F. G, e' TIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 6 a; H/ m( K8 B4 y+ ~( D% `8 |1 G: e30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 7 b9 s' _9 X. r& E* Ba very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ' {6 X/ y) S: R7 l9 _/ f5 g ?. bpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort% {, X/ k! y8 M9 p$ p% ^ O# b2 v
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep; E* d0 v! o5 j7 f8 r
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 B4 N% l4 s2 F+ g, c
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,2 o! q$ e4 }" V: @
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ; U: `3 V4 B5 W: B: b( M0 t People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 8 }$ n9 O2 Z. d# s8 V Knames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 e7 L! |/ \% ^4 K: b" K# `6 zexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our : X3 W8 Y ?6 D5 \& Eflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through/ ]+ j3 C+ v; g, X2 k0 M6 d
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 6 T* j$ G& l* W; ^$ ]0 X. i- e2 Q; ?5 R; @4 j3 S
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) S' o+ ]( C& t: ?3 z8 q
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool8 A) i- C) W/ V& k) N. z1 ?
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 2 X6 S6 \. q A& H, Bof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the8 N, A3 @& a5 {$ \5 t
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 2 n; t' S& s s% G9 _49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes $ |6 r2 ]8 C' P8 m% cCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with" Z. ?$ O5 J' {! U+ H7 ]* n& Z$ ~
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. " y5 u) @9 M1 B7 m& [ * |% E' d( d( sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are1 _( w# F+ }- Q6 Y+ [
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made {- Z8 D6 a9 Y; {0 i$ B
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 1 z: F/ ~$ R4 V3 d" C! B6 h" ytourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having : O1 m: V/ x6 \9 C) r0 ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China " J# d2 R( w6 J7 }3 Bdaily 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, living0 h& h) M6 ?1 e$ I
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went * K; R& Q. k. R s) Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, $ R8 W3 Q3 V0 ~% X" T$ V, c3 J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give a+ n0 H! { a9 a2 L9 e) V3 Wanswers to our pointed questions. + t" _: ^8 d0 d$ M1 v( y7 v' i/ u- N% u6 G
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 M$ q# {& D, C# l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 H" J. [ |2 Z L4 x" H
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 ]$ v. M& k1 B7 X( W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 U# [) K! z/ \5 i/ w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 9 X# v- q2 x/ h0 j9 x* W1 n3 tmedical schools. 3 D. S: D4 o+ B7 Q2 u9 K3 P, L5 s8 }8 z; ?" _6 V
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 6 A1 h) y6 K1 Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% R; k9 T2 r' ^* t& N( v
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years k/ j: W4 [2 W1 b, sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 7 L0 A9 c6 ^" ?" r/ P, sis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 1 k/ h1 g9 Z4 |" d7 o/ c, A+ dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ' B$ n) J' f; q- g# rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ q1 Q# @: J1 l. a9 f
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 7 T/ i# u( D B) W& ~1 v( z9 mshortage which the government is addressing by converting some" y8 Y: Q# b( `4 U
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* ^8 N. }$ j, P! D& c% B7 @5 N$ B
0 D; A' V! E5 J; yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 K- t5 s3 R9 ^0 r v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 3 {* ?+ l, O0 lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' H1 { P* G# j: l7 c5 i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ! w1 u8 p+ F. D3 f8 cthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& B/ s6 F% |6 c& |, o) p7 H% r
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 3 K8 d: K0 |: w# rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. * o7 s( J$ {, X/ FDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 9 k( ]+ e, C, E- e- }a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 |. U s/ s9 H/ l# S! @+ O# P
charge the fee defined by the state. 4 Y c U5 ? m+ \. y# j) N6 M " ?2 l# p. j) Z" mThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get " n# u/ T, y, T2 r: s0 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 4 S: S! `: e! bof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 3 d: G- {7 ^; @& {) Q& ?/ ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 1 R8 R2 ^+ f8 V( U( B' O% n4 T! aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ( G& S/ v' U- u8 }" I5 I' E5 Qworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ( o1 g2 w+ R: c. u) K) w) u1 Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if & U) D Q; g4 z( Lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people , }2 Q6 e! d; ^5 M1 g f" wtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 6 }2 t$ C* P. u# |# J" |6 zhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 A6 i1 o) G5 ~3 J! {# i- F
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ! P3 g- w( D$ \3 g$ S1 jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or4 I! J, Y _5 t0 F( j$ O* a
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there4 A# A l" S" @; z
are spaces.- |" \, R7 q# ~
" Z \. j) \1 N* \) ]: r8 Y4 r
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi % M8 g+ C7 l! h2 X6 rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 2 W9 y( W; ^3 } Town a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 6 m$ _3 L: Q3 J1 B40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 B) l7 N. D# |( b
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- x8 w2 ^% v6 P7 m3 x
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few : o( f Z) y, Anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ) p+ g v- u% acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* i9 z5 e: `; o8 Z' Y9 M; d+ M
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ( t+ a6 i7 l" 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 : } G; C* o6 ?# ?- N4 k: Rspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all - I4 C' x9 {1 b# j" h+ ]4 kthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very % R% N% } L/ Rlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ) p$ _5 A2 K5 K1 S" Rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % ?# @( l+ ^, |0 w! d! {supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 p! E* ^( Z9 d$ T$ n
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) M* h; z& `' k( n2 ?" z, P" d* X! n1 `
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the, c* Y, ~5 e* J6 R9 s
tourist area.6 I5 J0 v& _% s+ @9 Z& U. {
5 G& z+ c5 B- Q# \/ s/ fOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's# r* B( I8 G3 c5 X
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 1 B! y" S; p; @ \Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 b6 D3 ~2 N& u9 x( {' O: s
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps % J2 S. Q8 U/ k: y! L: ?less leader-religious.# J& h* z d& q& F$ e& q9 l+ Y
- j b0 M! f7 [) S9 B" UAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba % v. y0 Z& U/ \3 ?government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ Y, S7 i" x/ E5 x6 a/ tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US& z" O/ l+ u( J7 z: N
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' N9 x. g K- P
$ J3 R6 K; ?' |
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the# L3 A& A. i( C" H. q% V% f
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ; _' d9 L$ b+ B7 y% V* \$ qthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1: M; Z+ W3 @( |+ B% z; {5 j
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for , }0 _: A |* Nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 9 R9 P, S+ j4 S+ g' `5 c$ l(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! q# G" }: m( O6 n& _probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the # s D$ n- _- C" Nreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. F& r4 n) H+ d: H0 W- a. u
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local) P Q& o4 z5 A8 p% |6 g0 [
or visitors. 2 A% ]. } `5 N8 F6 n4 k2 S 2 v1 _8 ?+ Z3 z4 {' N: |! l' t-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
