We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very$ {/ g) L g$ M
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we( r3 W( Z8 o6 O$ L" k/ p! ?
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ( W3 H' D& S. `# h( y6 Q ' c7 e- j. F1 N% c4 ?/ SIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, : ?9 J3 D+ m& J" \30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 3 D l* H6 v" }7 W; p& ^; ~& R: ?a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 0 t' F# X4 j5 _- a$ y9 ?! Y3 apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort; T9 N+ j4 E5 s
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep& q( W9 a; N$ U, M3 F* c
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 2 v8 I1 u! R/ j4 M' o: `2 I) y/ |lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, + |5 |3 I$ H% m/ t- z& @with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.* t' B* d L( K3 Y2 Z9 J
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but! S# e( b9 g. V9 T, s
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 F0 R9 v7 {, p( V' jexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our7 v- J* _, g: z% g- Z( a4 \
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through * r2 o/ j3 U2 j1 F* J- K' za roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 9 z/ a" s) V. }7 _2 r4 b* ~ 1 d' c/ R, k, a8 jThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 6 n! a; {+ m7 X- Wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 9 E" U+ E/ d1 R* [+ ]4 @+ U0 ~: `(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top % d7 _# o {, mof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the. g; F! a+ \: t: i& N+ @- k
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from8 T3 [: F2 k n _- _
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes% |1 y. s5 Y: m& N. R# _
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ( ~3 o( n: `4 L# Dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. % @ c4 s& _; Y, Q' V) X : |) K6 S3 y/ z% CThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are / y+ {$ N. O$ f* c# Ejust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made3 d2 u; l- M! p- z) T- l7 T
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba8 d* ~4 Z4 l) w
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 8 N* C" }" Y6 J# X, n* Wa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China # K% C9 q# @3 Z( Z! J" ydaily 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. o0 ^: M% m+ Y, m- R
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ) t+ l$ w: V6 xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ( N# o; L3 O: ^& ] `( e4 k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give % R$ L' H* y- r3 l& z0 S- sanswers to our pointed questions. - v3 w' o& h1 x( m7 h( W' m- Z$ E. H0 a. \
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,' B8 a0 a0 B: c* ?0 v8 v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( O: O/ O; Z0 c$ U) [4 @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - F+ O% G Z" w4 _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ U: h& `- d: F" s# i3 }
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are : F/ ^: h6 `& r- l, U, w" C# ?medical schools.6 C/ [: S2 G$ W# t
8 w# X1 I# d3 K9 }7 b6 s- zEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. T7 ^8 z: ?/ C) ]2 g* S
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 3 `" ~5 Y: B. u# k6 `8 E5 X) Ito go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - ] ]' y# e" ^; [+ \assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 c C2 @+ M' H' s
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 Z5 P; G5 \- k$ x% v. _9 p3 W) _
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There * i! H$ a' f, v% U: mseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and+ C2 Q; ^0 r3 C) j: A, n
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk/ }8 L3 \: D/ |5 Z: [ y; B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 9 d* ^+ h+ X& m: Csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 S( W( H3 J+ T0 Z6 ?/ b
( Y- n' |# Y7 v e1 \, B+ _
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ! o$ U/ X# V, V& j# [( v; V1 Gprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and + Y; U! v+ D2 ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 f! T( m+ q# c, r6 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good : U; U: ~7 e2 x8 _1 f) H: I& R; }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: B0 _: h( @- f7 Q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high+ ~6 t, d$ o" P
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ! t$ z$ H' P4 d* fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When & _: M& |9 I( y2 w: Z: ^1 ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ! l7 t: b r4 x# h- w" r+ D% [" Rcharge the fee defined by the state. 7 j8 y e5 X* H6 f l4 Z8 B: i( X/ N1 x L0 L tThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% e, Z& Z; K" J/ y+ h6 T5 W
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 6 N7 O T* k6 ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 4 Z& Q2 y) f) ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 6 f2 _' M& e3 y0 aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the + m5 |7 |$ @$ o# d- Oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on , o; _9 `! c3 \% F4 aschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ) J3 ^7 Y1 @4 myou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* M( p" m. T* O( K2 q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch9 J6 H! u2 \# e$ P( y3 [0 W
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that " `; |' @( U, u2 tpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) X8 V$ P& | ]5 j3 ?1 K0 I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 3 M& y* e, K' ?& X/ [+ P6 G" H# zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there + }$ o! N R& ^0 K) \4 Xare spaces. 7 x5 h- ~& ^6 x% G! J q( L1 i8 R" S+ \- w
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 z% E) ^5 k, Y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they E b0 j1 ]; A. g2 J4 L# qown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" w' s U. A" N0 Q3 s1 c: V$ G! y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 0 U6 C8 i: i1 _: } O. ?- Lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the , E1 {6 r+ J, q8 C1 k* |best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few+ i* M7 ^4 Q8 F- T3 R- V/ u$ \' i
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 4 y, |% U8 k6 H: T8 X3 {: ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it - e# I$ D5 m6 J- `( G+ Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. & H9 z) J' |! P$ [& R0 c# g 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, H. x w+ {) Z u Q v$ o7 d6 c5 n
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all! Y. x b' B) c; t
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very " l9 S% N a# J- slimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep $ q) c0 G* H9 ~4 N, I9 E; D, Precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day U$ ~ E( U4 J1 ^, \5 d4 w# v
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of* m* N7 B* A4 Q t. m
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms" |8 U( @7 m: G2 z+ |
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 7 C/ K9 i* }0 ^3 U8 ttourist area.. j2 G# {0 p- _" U+ ?- Y
8 S7 a* e' I8 g& x5 e1 `4 Q: VOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 8 C- ]! d0 b l; [) v |6 |pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).( d u. U$ ~! T& m* A0 N s" j
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were. q! T% P9 J: I, ~! |
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ) T$ o4 t2 Z$ u# s
less leader-religious. + S# I" a! a& w O1 }' o, W' V# f1 `" z, b
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba' ?1 v+ w' f G" O/ F0 k! ^( _5 R
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big: I8 E7 B1 E; b5 C% ~
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US . s! r- f$ R+ q2 ^$ U6 i% R9 S! C$ {embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). * }/ x5 I* _# w. C+ I 2 c: K( P8 _7 C4 ^% a) yWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 8 u* }! R' N# ]8 `' Mparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 H/ h% Y& S+ z/ i% y; B/ P0 z
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 & J0 U1 i u7 Kconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for " D/ }" X0 j# [, ]# o& Gforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars / f+ J+ l# f) x(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we; c( b0 O% E, Q. x1 o
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 4 J+ h' N' f1 q7 {# Wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 h1 e3 m! C, y# p, m: R
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local9 w K! j" `' c8 Z; C {
or visitors. # F; c7 E* a3 t ^2 ?6 K" P3 t' B7 f+ j
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
