We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 4 u# k, I1 C8 |1 h- `interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 7 f' W* a3 o5 ^5 E7 L; K! Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.$ p! N/ V; n3 H8 e
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 r7 @ C4 u- k30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 1 x7 h& Y! U% v V. La very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 2 ~, k4 X) ` Z& s, |1 ]* p$ Ipossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort& x( H6 K8 g+ v3 o& X6 I% q
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ) ] N7 d [2 R5 c" Ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ) U& W9 W4 ]% R4 E! N. o4 Slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,7 Z6 ^5 G# f/ _" [+ z3 @
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & C# n: _9 e# p" i0 d, J# s" e People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but" g- D0 Y6 X' k/ o; @ T8 n
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not/ R) o& u9 F2 J$ c9 Q: L% x
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 z; q" P9 K% Pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through% l3 R4 Z1 Q6 s# m4 `
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. * H# m; D6 j3 R, [# g" G, `' Z, N* o4 e2 Z3 c9 k' |5 l. V
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, - r0 K% k: ?+ A5 Alow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool " `2 y; L7 H5 B' M% u& F( t8 e(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top& G7 N' }+ w& `$ t" G! S
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ ~% w' F' U8 O+ Astars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ; u( U9 z7 l* q( P9 X49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 I" ?% t8 v L- `* ^! `4 m2 B; TCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with : g: r+ ^7 j* q2 jfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.7 b* W# P9 [: y1 i
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are* e8 m3 G6 Y! D
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ( [: ?! r$ }, l9 \, c# r" H% F! |for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba! S+ z6 I) p5 l
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having2 F1 R) A1 ]+ h& `
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ T9 k8 i" T$ ^/ A$ U% x9 f' l7 a5 l
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# h) w) M& r5 B# i# y
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% I9 C6 t8 @6 m
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: c$ _/ ?4 W1 I- Y" O _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 P4 ]* M+ w1 S! K+ \- _+ N
answers to our pointed questions.8 F6 m- o/ _7 ~# S3 \7 b
, h, y. }" u; }# \The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# q! S# F6 i4 U+ R
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; I+ G j' p; h9 ~! M: ]* ^0 P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - g* O$ h! D4 d; C! J% afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams& @8 n4 Y& T! ?0 D) ~$ g0 r7 H# m3 t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are: F/ R$ M3 I; S6 z! U1 x
medical schools. . Z; g$ M& p6 Z, { j5 z* k) R! O1 G3 O5 {4 S
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% L# B, v7 W( X6 v, `* g' x
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 7 A& d: i$ I, h/ [+ [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years, J& B" p- R) `2 }+ X& C
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 3 V! q2 e3 o) {; wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to * M$ e1 q+ A, l6 _: cover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 x9 ?- J& L! D$ i1 R& L2 Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ) M& q, \) U( @) z* q. V" ?- jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 0 z+ A- L" c; X1 f. bshortage which the government is addressing by converting some8 f( [. ^7 E8 x0 ]9 I2 K, `; o4 m
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. # ?$ G# _; w, }% H - M7 z% T: N; c* A7 Z% dThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no+ v) |. Q6 B0 a8 h. }
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, F% m! s" Y& u) O/ w. R+ H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people) E5 u( L9 a' N: n6 G& V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good: Z/ x( l% O- m; e, ?' q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 i( ^/ c. K! O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& s5 r" z, H% P( c, m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 a, R4 I. K E7 YDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When d) | f4 |' K: u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only & q% ]! s/ R+ ?) W0 jcharge the fee defined by the state. : `, w6 J5 M1 j2 d% @+ G . }" K/ O4 ?/ @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- {% H3 R. @ ]6 N' _/ Y0 a, l7 |3 m
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type , g5 p8 s/ v0 o3 n* X5 R; U7 Z) Q+ qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 _; r8 m; K$ }4 F
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* w- c9 s+ v% H9 H7 c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the # v6 r7 ]% N' ?6 Q$ `3 w/ a' N. Dworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on & }) D; X3 _9 ]* @4 r, L* {schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if $ c4 y! w) m3 }. N0 s# Yyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people + `" ~( d- O, K4 gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch5 w# _( N# U+ ]
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 s# e' U* G, D0 r; C
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ' z( d( y" O4 [ ito go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or % @& V+ F4 W! X& Ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there * ]. z9 r& e8 mare spaces. % s7 L O; I1 j5 h2 S7 J2 Q; @3 G" v6 s" r
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: ]1 m% I' r4 k& k6 A: u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 2 h8 @" |4 c- U' B; K ]: [" Bown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* k- W2 h. s2 }8 o# X& J/ J
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different / P$ {" u, `/ _4 l( L5 _6 U# x+ hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 0 |2 _* w0 h! dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 j9 H7 x) t& W8 V8 {- \: f
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" D* s; G4 Z. ~' c
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* I1 k$ Q% {& @* q+ M3 U6 t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( V3 C8 [- _# L# f4 E1 ?+ o4 q4 U
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& X+ k6 d6 a# C1 ~/ H
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all9 @* q7 `2 ]! s0 z J
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very" s/ r# O# \+ g0 t4 Q
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# F9 n( ~$ J/ @
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day1 t! r; S' ~( n/ v5 S
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of + C, {& E' L- t! h& _them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 7 {4 T2 A8 {8 e1 Q1 h3 Y' q; _. f9 Nhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 S+ G7 w; T& K1 W" X& Rtourist area. & @) s( N' N) `5 ~% Y6 A' ~' `, L: p) v9 l3 o* p
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's. E$ t0 z0 D) r% r: p
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ' l' d( @- y0 x& p8 H" `Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were + J# a C; G" G9 J: Teverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 Z F7 m5 u, d- t6 M/ I
less leader-religious. {. C* b7 k+ ?, Q4 ^, d+ f/ } ! Z' F7 B! U" d% u" K; T/ {About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba - Z- H$ A, t8 k- ]2 ~3 e# jgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 2 D& z7 F, T& P$ |) x! }9 }black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US : K: B* ?, x5 X) d. U& O1 y+ dembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% J; i0 T d# E1 a ?
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the; {# D8 c" H& O
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not3 b$ E" T! I+ i) P- n$ G) |$ p8 `! a
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1! ]" P$ o" V$ ~1 Y3 v
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 n3 S3 r3 _* M9 R+ D& X: A+ w& z. f
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars; t, r5 x+ L! H1 _2 O2 s% H$ Y
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 G/ r0 Z0 o6 Y) Q, a) ]
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 0 n" x2 R1 C, e+ ?7 v" Xreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 Z' V. @0 e! l9 G( n( dAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ) d) u$ o V2 o6 @. d, h& Kor visitors. # C' v6 N% L- C' n. y 0 w. P2 o2 B1 N- R' I F1 \-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
