We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 2 I6 D9 V' n$ m" g9 _' i; g3 Uinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we- w; P& G+ v9 @ ^
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. C1 a- U7 |4 V $ P) u* l0 y8 h4 c3 N/ y, R6 VIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% ~- y- \1 M, [- Q. N7 c# o3 [- U
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ( z4 @( Y# c( S" R g$ R) W4 ja very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as9 V2 M# n: F0 V% R# [
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort, U, B' `# c" `" |- c8 p# v: Q: l7 E
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ! p- P' `+ |0 v& T# W. Nbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the' e w8 r" m# c/ A2 _
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,9 a, q) m6 o, F
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ; f. M; H' q: W2 S U# l9 [+ q3 B People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ! z% E) d0 o o; \1 }9 Z; Z* i Hnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( m0 l6 P, c* x' B3 \' m6 S. ^
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our3 z2 V0 k0 S2 {9 O
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 5 V, s8 [ {8 [2 T# k7 Ia roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 2 {1 y/ c( B5 w/ G) G. C; S ( w8 P0 h" O6 h) fThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 7 ^0 p, s$ U# L3 G* j6 t% e* plow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool i( A& H+ A0 u- {; Z9 R3 p' b! L(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top % M) p" ^( R1 q sof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the - d, S# l0 _) S( g- Dstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from r+ R1 K0 k) G' s
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 4 N8 Z6 n- b- m; bCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with }7 h+ @1 d" v- }fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. & W" }: k9 ~' e; W! i9 _. m" R! M 7 x$ V0 {8 q9 C( w0 y4 RThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are + O1 }6 J1 U1 njust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made9 \& a2 G# L+ d+ m! m4 H. _
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba! U% v) R4 C2 Z6 L/ C) C
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 0 @. A" S6 y$ ]: U* Qa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ( g: r, R; a( n* M; wdaily 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 0 K; E& w: C- [4 O0 t& r* G& d# ]: hstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went7 ^" X9 Z- Z8 u/ S8 G! T: `2 I/ U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,* p. Y$ @8 m1 V/ y u& X# c
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give & a0 R( g" r+ manswers to our pointed questions.+ | \( |! o, X
1 }7 F& R0 y# q5 m7 r
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! B1 T: k- M. K' p; t0 M
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- r; s/ G8 R+ z5 A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ( L: `" c1 J+ ?5 V: m# J0 hfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 8 {" I, l9 T# i( ? Oto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ! d W$ W& U* }' ?6 [. J9 ]+ Ymedical schools. + [) q' L$ N U* c2 E 4 M0 @0 g" p; ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 8 _& R3 G( X& D$ f( Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants % o* G: G: f5 yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ( e3 m k, m1 B$ J( rassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ! ~- r1 H- |8 Y. k/ H: j! Q3 Cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ' _9 E+ R- A! Y8 |8 |( u1 qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There) _; n/ d! A) U' Y! N5 A
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! E' S* W9 m4 B0 x1 s" y& E, ~
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, _ t8 `: ~; r$ I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some # ?- V0 s5 z$ G" \: n: t' g% Usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. : j3 b3 W0 h: }% _% \2 o2 z " E/ w) u* _5 y1 ~' i9 `) }The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no: a# U/ i# y$ P3 H' w5 o k+ J
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and " I x; k! d1 L x: C% Z Ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people & H# k1 m( h0 ~0 H1 [/ _5 f6 a0 ]have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ' U, y8 |$ b$ A. b& @1 }. @. m7 Bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby - w" v! c- k5 g& V6 c$ |sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 2 ^5 U; b$ _. z3 Y# k( K- C4 g7 x: Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 V4 U/ e. x# u$ p5 c5 w/ C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ( C1 C2 E3 e8 C0 q! O& a) c. J; }a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- a7 _) N4 C+ x$ \1 |- d( J
charge the fee defined by the state.& s. W( ]3 a; {- R9 f& Q5 g' F
* d4 I$ K5 q* X7 K' E$ ^9 TThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 u; r: X) Q1 [3 G% R
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 6 ?* l5 K8 U0 ~) k# Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big. l( |: I7 N. n% V3 F7 f
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ; b2 b9 _0 K% t9 r, n9 Kseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 3 @" C- x( c0 {working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on : `/ i+ d+ [0 i1 mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 R+ q) L8 x4 I& ~: } O0 n, k
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 8 g- ^& U" c3 T6 d6 N4 ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ p) a+ O/ B9 g% _0 C5 w
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 o0 l2 Z* G" R H t& q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 @: h: s+ k7 y6 z6 R9 E W
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. D% c# s; P: E7 b) Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there; i b0 a0 i" N2 S; A% d. H
are spaces. ) L, l6 X: z$ e0 B! e/ x' u' Y( t& j* \1 ~6 l6 v
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi + `8 Q( C* r; M1 i7 d$ @to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 7 I: O) @! t- |) Q4 Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 8 z) s; S$ ]3 ^$ R% @40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different $ h5 p" ~4 G+ j; Z* Kparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 e7 e6 n; j7 a) `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ x+ b+ c& V/ X' B! t7 A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; C5 z; c0 X, R" g% ]: C( W
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( j1 x- I3 ^5 N" u8 Y
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. " k4 a( e3 Y! Z6 F! N! A 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& q9 O, k( A a% i+ g4 B0 B
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 2 |7 P3 i n& }) }4 t \the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very5 O+ \5 |/ M# o' O
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 8 U# s; I. s* K: e" a# A# [recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day / B2 ]( M/ L% {& d1 m7 p9 B+ Hsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of0 z. e" [# r7 ]% | @% ]% r
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms* S- B- l$ _* Q- V+ Q2 v
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 \6 Q* u' M: Qtourist area.2 S$ I) K& i0 \; y
, Y- d. U6 Q5 Y0 n: o' r
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's( p. Z9 d' @1 s7 _9 z8 _4 R7 a1 Q$ Q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).* s3 @' k5 |. c& U( v8 b
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 9 _- ^- H9 Q* {everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 o- @( H% ]" uless leader-religious. ! M( M, \, Z# C4 I/ ~$ [6 c- n - Z+ S4 v4 m+ CAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba) o' B! G3 \- @* n" I4 I
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big # b- l2 u! h' }* P4 u/ L. [black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. l- }3 ]% j4 n5 d1 h. |
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). : N4 T% m- s6 t8 ^$ W. w+ a( X" `1 J8 U5 m9 B
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the. d: H( V) v2 j! ~0 k
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not: h/ y7 U2 I+ C
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 x% x; u; O% _& y
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for/ t; L2 \2 Y, O/ O: \
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars2 d2 } g: y7 n8 O. e
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 ]# r4 h/ ?8 m2 v) g$ v. ?; j0 Q. L6 A
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 3 u( P$ c7 C" H5 Rreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. : @2 M3 Z9 o# l( X+ h- UAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 2 p9 `1 K8 H( d/ o1 kor visitors.+ }) a& ~( z3 f/ Z
5 V9 S+ E O" i1 ~" B
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
