We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 2 `* L: P7 C; K; J/ s, vinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we1 i9 [1 p/ M$ W( q4 [" f
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.% K) P6 l4 T+ G
F. P& W; b' |, V, KIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 6 e, L8 m; Q/ G9 q0 {30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 6 o9 E3 v/ {% |: x; qa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 7 H% y! J7 x$ g5 n. }possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 7 h* a1 [% P( M# g. Sshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 S' `% P2 n' D3 \6 Zbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the5 l; j! P& ~: K8 T
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,* Y5 i- H: v; v8 f+ k2 b- m
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; @+ U- _# e* b
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but( l8 {& _' Q8 k! }# z. o9 u) o
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not. ]6 D- I+ T% _: y+ D6 n% r: W
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our) I! a6 L! K* ?6 g- v: ^
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ( Z# O! X, g' ]* _$ \( X/ z8 `( R% Pa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.5 Y$ `$ a* r+ E+ c$ b1 B
0 V& G0 t! V" J. P$ L1 k* U8 BThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,: s4 o$ A8 S/ r
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool2 h- X z+ s6 |/ @ [8 J
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top5 e! x0 e" \+ Z1 a8 e* H
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, F! u! ]4 p# \* U5 u! `
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from' q' ~- \9 O; E) P m
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes4 g( |( J6 @0 f
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with & O" C; o3 ]2 w9 T/ lfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ; w n0 l- @1 y {- a2 R: F I. T/ H6 v( x. X
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 0 w! n7 |( Z, j) Xjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made) E# G: v! Q9 {7 T( ^
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( l1 T+ A6 ]8 Z6 f; V
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having % @" k0 T! E4 k) B* Y8 T! |1 [a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China) o4 q0 Z/ n H- n
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 4 T* R2 }( k' x: m" Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 9 t8 r% u0 Y) m* J2 fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,. M/ V& p8 s+ u4 x- r. R
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ ?1 ~8 v ]# ?) H. J
answers to our pointed questions.. d1 h! R& \: w$ e& }
$ U6 U! q& h1 X, Z9 c; s
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,* Z. N' s" @+ S: |6 F; c# M; F
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand " t! d' q: i H6 E) [9 Pout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is2 [: {: D( }0 j5 t! Q+ v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams $ D+ u7 n, s" oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / i4 G9 j% U; l1 T0 |; Pmedical schools. + p5 D8 b3 }. p+ x& z, I6 V1 B8 u5 ~ ! v* V2 A) ?5 u- k# U' LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 l, o) T* j! m6 V" \ O/ ]1 |government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' \$ D4 P4 q7 H5 S% W. }+ `5 h# L# [; K
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( u5 m1 D. V; p# @1 T# D: X2 e
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba- s- s/ \" d4 f) k) |" {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to $ b6 I( ]" T* ~( A: h0 f( rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- F+ d9 B& E# ^" e& W, S3 E
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( j. E' J# V! R! q- U- G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 y7 a& u) x+ h. r
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some : I! ?9 n9 f) g4 ~0 Z6 ]+ C, Osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 6 S& _6 L# S+ E# h+ D% ], L8 S" l( Z5 l" g9 G5 s
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ ^ H& D8 j' h( a k
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and8 X! H3 n4 D( N; o+ ?. H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 8 o/ C7 l8 e1 J% u$ E* |+ a1 K/ Yhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 L0 D5 T/ U# n( l$ \7 U8 p& S
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 9 I, e; g% x5 a, K) wsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 Z% _( {7 b' R* s9 s. s
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 0 m6 b8 x+ n+ q8 ]6 ~+ \Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When& l$ [9 |/ A$ q- i
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only , Z, X& N" N3 V5 C5 Z2 G. Gcharge the fee defined by the state.0 x' `" r" v1 j: R. Y- q
# G/ ~1 \% }- A& z
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get X* B7 b: W8 V4 p- S' p
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type / M$ {& b6 g; x ]1 Y+ i' X, kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) V" S) q6 |* Y4 o/ M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 9 w; }7 W; }% U. N/ Vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the5 z( |1 O! M2 v/ E8 \1 e
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on% g. F. F! m9 z# C
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - k% O6 L" b- f8 N+ Xyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% k( o* a' e3 L, K( e) P
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch & G& v4 p/ k8 M& O' B( d" Fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! Y) O6 W5 h. F z( y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 9 R4 S6 r, l) `. Rto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- D# ^5 _% m' J; y: `) n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there / O% L3 P1 r" N, [1 qare spaces. 0 |0 Z# o" X+ ] ) U( h& C: w+ b6 Z5 G. I- J) vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ! a% ?* C! Y0 i" G7 Y, }" J i% Tto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they! j4 u, j/ j4 Z. B" F3 E
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ' \) J* Y1 J2 W6 i6 N: o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different : _% }. N3 i; Z0 y2 [" qparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ( F2 V5 F5 J) e' L1 ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few- q7 y* i. ?6 Q! k0 o
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 4 v7 | f- q; f7 M9 F2 s+ b1 s( Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& Y( e/ E! L0 T1 ^" b( {9 ^
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. % ^* ~ Z+ m& C+ e Q 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$ E1 u9 {% }% e8 [& }6 S8 {! v5 n% r
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all " a; ^* L$ g% d/ Y8 P$ [5 _the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very / w* K$ N2 s4 W" c m- b4 xlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ; U( y. b% |/ V# r* ~7 hrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day : g7 X2 C$ E$ P3 u4 c! h8 bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ u: S7 x; Y# n) I5 V
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms6 y& G, [; J9 A6 k
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the B/ j2 N, b- _( [tourist area. * F) h: z- p- _/ O ) v. y6 _4 M6 [2 i) ?One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 H5 M! N$ Z7 f& H/ G. \2 g! Xpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 y/ Y) F( Z* s
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were2 d( J2 x( r0 g5 Y; t
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ! ?- j8 _6 S$ H- x0 Y- s& O
less leader-religious. * C) T" J1 [& L+ g4 @/ q % V& t. W, Y- a+ }2 r$ p1 }: CAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba . d4 p( Y6 m1 z4 Cgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big3 p/ V4 _. i/ ~& }: m
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US: v( E7 u. Z+ o* k' k2 U" n+ Y
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). " `0 W6 D! ]" M* L / p; |; t" e; I! T$ ~$ ^' tWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 0 l# G' ?+ w2 ~; y3 ]: Z2 ~& Bparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 3 U W* x; [2 c7 W7 c. o7 U8 Bthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! n! J- C1 c$ D/ B2 h% econvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 i7 p# E2 |& Y' K) q1 }: o$ u3 ~
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars : n: W- B6 _* j( ?4 ^' `(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we& x! f6 l" T9 y2 B, e# h+ `
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ ~! ?2 @8 T9 [% T3 ?
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.* X' K+ y5 D% h3 G. i3 B
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local & B0 l) n* [; R2 w Cor visitors. & ]& r6 I k N( n5 Y$ f* ~. ]# W* c+ b+ s# p1 ?4 f4 T( F
-- 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 ! v3 N$ M* F/ e% E( E, X
