We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very: O ]9 X' x) N5 J& ]8 W% I8 Z( \3 m3 V/ Q% ?
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we q7 n+ O0 j9 x. b V8 S
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.( N$ e6 @, c/ X" f! ^7 Z
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 3 h! N8 {7 b9 i* \& J30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in5 w4 p, I6 ]' S# l" s* V
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as! z9 `) J0 w. s+ T8 ]
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort% a# c8 l+ V' [% i( z/ P
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ) |+ G9 ]2 M' h0 xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the1 ?( k- p* _( k$ x1 L! P. w' J
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,; ?# d* u7 z0 k2 H
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. , S0 v; O+ s4 p* K People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 4 M) _1 a, d6 ~5 dnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( @$ _ g9 {* x" v4 D* J% h
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our8 N! H7 P: K" f- F1 `5 @0 g' p
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 x8 }2 t% d4 z% e3 U) |
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* r! x% t5 I6 M* ?
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, # V2 }: M6 P3 ]low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 7 q' u. o2 Q- _, e(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top) S: g. A- G; p( q R% f$ |: G
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 5 g; L' C; B3 z# u+ T8 E/ W; D5 pstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from : V- G* O' } G5 M/ A+ `( z49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes9 y% X3 \4 |/ k$ ?' G' f; A9 I
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with& v6 U! w- ]. U# F3 a- e
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 7 h1 ]2 Y3 x! I; q" m- H 1 w* W- Y( v& t4 m4 zThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are& v5 k2 L; M+ V/ N
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made3 z. D9 m& r% F4 `
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba3 Q. V# Z9 A6 u8 d
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having# U9 ?" u @: ~9 D
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China# i5 E; P$ R: p4 R
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, living5 R5 d6 ~6 N! U3 P( W9 L0 F) p
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went J- `/ [! m0 ^. F3 N7 ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,( d$ ]0 ]- f4 y
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 4 P W. W/ }: y8 h- g- Z [answers to our pointed questions. : q! y* p0 @2 B, e 6 n0 N% n1 L7 M( W, q3 `' wThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& p& ?4 g% R" N5 t7 k
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand + J6 Z6 H1 n$ u4 V ?6 Aout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is4 S3 _5 x2 u6 m
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ; z, h' F+ K* n: c. g/ Yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are9 P9 G( f& }" P3 }
medical schools.3 u' O; ?4 m5 w: m2 P2 Q
F4 `; |6 U" z7 |Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the# ~& d; }) V- h0 p; E/ B
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants $ o! x( c ~* A8 j8 L, Lto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) w9 n# l3 [. I/ n7 z. U3 G3 A" M% oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba l# r" H0 v( O% xis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ( O% R B6 o4 Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 0 L* j# L) v; n- i' cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and5 Y2 H: y2 q& h! r1 b) Z- s
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 [3 z7 H" K r' O
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: J8 M# ]: y6 ~8 {! y' @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ) l; N2 Z) [9 ]$ V ]$ U( E 3 Q) [: l. d& R: sThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 ~2 y: e8 q. `! V
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and . r2 e3 p! n- E/ X- m. h8 Msupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ' k9 I" A _5 z4 {& N( Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ( P# i7 r+ |* e/ ?: Sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 m* G ~+ W& T$ k$ L, E
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ N0 M) T8 c' ]/ a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 m6 C6 S; }+ F7 B; n vDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When , i+ L9 k2 n* a9 s( t( [a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& S: {/ o/ K6 A
charge the fee defined by the state.# U6 T* |4 p: F% H1 h
/ _( C) Z( ~# F. O& p. uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get4 s: J; H: H2 E% n5 L
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type . l* a2 q! @5 L$ D. A4 R# pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: ?: J1 _( e9 B6 p M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel + ]: w- b. U* M! @* j( x4 B1 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 S/ a2 `1 g5 L8 X, R+ S* w' s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on' G1 r, w9 X2 V$ u: k2 H
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 g5 Z4 u5 O# i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people" c/ p' j2 P, E4 S" W% { E# _7 e: G
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ! ? W% \; F5 @# [: nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that / c# y9 }! k4 f! s2 ?3 Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want * O- C) ]9 C$ Mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 1 w( T, W' J$ \6 e% zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 c9 P: l7 E+ b! G
are spaces.; G, C6 D( D& ~) l5 u
. X7 y5 c' P, C/ J3 nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi , G* `2 _3 F% V8 @8 k1 gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. n5 m2 C9 U0 J' T1 `
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the - f8 J* I+ W' K9 R! ]+ s2 n40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: J! d- R8 _, `1 G; ^9 G2 D) Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the% B! C9 b! I9 V& V" r
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 M |/ D+ O, B0 H: p; ?2 ~ u
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 6 U6 x! y6 U. G/ ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it - B3 t5 z' r/ V+ p# Mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. - s2 m0 h( ~+ H( ^; b% W1 j% z 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 " J+ @, Z" ]1 u. D; {spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: M: a6 F3 H; l" Y2 k. V
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very" m: l$ R2 _. i3 }( a8 G$ y
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep |! Z) b% Q( p& M( ^
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day . J9 a# W! D/ rsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of2 L# ?* p. R0 @$ i, }- G/ f0 r
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms$ `: c, O0 w; g9 m: d F" h
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ( x1 F. s) [/ u8 h+ U' L/ b% G5 Y* ~/ ftourist area.3 M% k" K' R$ r3 y/ M
. n8 {% p7 W( f" c' ^# |2 V6 fOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- x) D! |3 D G2 ?
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). , Q& t5 M( a6 W* i' SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ' p {) J; c% s& }2 l5 beverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # x/ K/ W3 H# v7 a5 m9 ~less leader-religious.& Q% ?' ?- B. W$ Y* S
$ @9 m4 m9 [# K) Y
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba) _: |: f B2 t4 b8 M1 ]# n
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big% z" ^. g/ y# U) ?4 U
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US* U1 T$ D1 ?$ v; C! \$ \+ B
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 3 Z) C2 I& Y: Z6 X2 P- I/ ~) L* L" K2 I0 [; N |$ C, P
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 1 Z3 L7 f% l4 x8 ]) sparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not9 e4 N3 t: S" f3 {8 Y
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1# G" L5 z$ t, O: l1 p, I
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for5 U, u4 D9 u% S R
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars# j+ n7 T4 }1 F' s' _8 Y
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we : S& X0 ]* t1 a) L7 x/ z9 u+ a: kprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the7 }0 `8 `% t! Y, x
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 s* ~9 |% e8 o% [# r' P5 `3 s& `4 H
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 0 ~0 f. q. J( ]9 B" Y+ ^. |1 R6 nor visitors. $ }0 O" t3 ^, s# |. O. b( @! c8 d# O. B
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
