We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 7 [3 n) [. _ ~* Z) @interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we : T2 @! {9 @" |9 l; \, A) Bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. # T2 e0 g2 H* \, U [: ? 5 Q$ j1 E& O b) PIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,/ V5 o/ ] B; ^/ s
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in $ T7 R0 B" j1 B! m$ {) X& ja very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , o1 A5 d1 k X, f6 X& ]2 G. upossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort $ @+ }; K! Q- K7 M. \7 p5 wshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( o: z* ]$ _1 O# s$ x4 D
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the / l; P/ p( H+ u }2 [; k/ |0 xlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,6 R% r' |6 o) @1 z6 d) k
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 1 J7 e/ w$ F2 u People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but d, O) h( Z w% p2 W, L
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ( N' G) O# @0 ^6 ?# Cexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 7 i% |; f" \9 Wflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through / r* \8 J8 K) u* M9 y3 y+ ]2 Pa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.; i ]% I; ^3 H9 t" }
, d; S: s- p! m- O7 a0 k
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,' J4 D5 n* ^% `* q
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool - M2 A( C( G* ~4 H(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top . x8 |- I* H7 Fof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the . a6 r; W- B. `3 W9 Jstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from! R* g2 P" m5 t& `) W- O
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes' d- H2 \+ f b0 X3 s0 |6 I
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 4 ?% r, b* F' n% E/ dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 v; A2 ~5 H A( g4 x2 ~4 }; U! `
0 L# L5 J, t* o6 F, x7 X
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are! j* l" C6 b) s: f* l. f8 n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made) U( u/ b1 M w' _- I
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba4 T9 A0 B! f- M" K' Y) e' x
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 8 A0 B" _! V* C, ~3 L* Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' V4 s6 _; c' [" l/ j% Q. }
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 " y0 {2 x2 J) lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& d# W' Z* P. b! |6 E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 6 S2 H# Z+ I* w' M"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( Y6 b& q. v+ r6 j% F+ C
answers to our pointed questions.$ K. l2 x! K! }& \
% K$ T* k6 j1 [* W% e- g% @
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, : X9 M/ X: Z$ {9 @$ K& h1 u4 A45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! g' n6 b# o9 M [! ^' y2 k# I% V4 l
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 0 c& [4 K% |/ V) x) C" Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, o, ^, e; {" t9 r* `7 q2 k. p: F
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are , W0 b# u( Y7 i% |: n3 S+ l' Cmedical schools.+ h: D# ?! {# q. j/ i8 O/ |
9 V. P7 v' }( Y; g7 IEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. ]0 L2 o) U3 m, K+ e# A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants / J" C/ Q, R$ w1 P! a. U& T( [to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 P) L7 t) W% h1 C. } o" u
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba * p7 c4 J6 c8 T ois from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 5 n" T4 J$ ^9 E8 n5 dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- {* _' B s _6 }8 U% N; g0 _& O
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and / F4 Y8 T) w* J# xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& ~/ K; x- _' S) a
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 4 x3 _" u- E @# E% D# s; Nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.: x' L) c4 y" J9 R- N
) L1 O$ V6 \8 L ^9 M
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 0 R& C! V7 R/ w0 N9 F* ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& ~; G5 M j3 a9 [/ p! @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 c" n* E; h k& I. c1 O" a( v1 H$ g
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good0 U( u9 M7 D$ Q
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby % f5 B/ M! I$ }2 b4 j$ \* ? dsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) g8 K, i5 ^! ?6 A
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. * g' |8 N, U( c0 b+ N, ZDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ) h3 v9 {0 V$ }3 m1 s1 \2 ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& p/ f4 Z; x1 `# @
charge the fee defined by the state. + [2 |; Q1 \- d- I, g# V% m f . J* O! k& J) d' a/ A! U: W# DThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 d8 p: M2 m# l& H2 jon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 X; g4 r; F8 v s1 l: j0 d
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! X, u2 t. S% a1 D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel r8 x7 j4 @& `$ k+ L+ n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the & U U2 n* ~0 Yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ( y- Y2 Y$ p7 ` z" X Sschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if # X& R: ]1 E/ C) ?/ ]# [# Gyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people " j% r# C( |! ^% Y4 r+ ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 u" y1 F5 O9 q1 v, @. i3 o
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 Q- U; w2 ]& |7 g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 1 B) f: U& `* l: Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! X! c" `" y8 U' ~- G: \$ X- k
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ! I0 G1 Y. U2 f3 ~are spaces.5 N. L; r( I4 p# w
1 b& E! ]/ H* j% ~
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 3 G: f" b& ?2 ]) @8 G gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: p$ p( F$ h6 s+ P: v) D
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) N; k' m5 g# `9 w& I4 V
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different/ u& u; n! z0 Q- d
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 X" p; `7 F9 Y. k& g
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 2 Y! q' `; m/ dnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of- M% W2 d) V2 ]" ]8 p8 i0 @# R
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 9 q3 Q/ H, v3 _ n3 z, \' ?is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. : O: I; R0 g1 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 2 J- S- z+ A) }spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: S/ L" O6 y" e" _0 \
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very$ z- d6 H$ @5 V* v+ U
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep4 [( V3 t. n2 A$ H- t
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day & r0 H5 s) w4 U4 ~ \+ msupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 4 {" Q8 Z3 q1 Xthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 I" q/ q' a" m0 P- L% i( v
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 5 V6 L7 C$ m4 A! q+ G; [$ rtourist area. / z2 i5 k2 R+ B- {* k" L, V* D/ m: y& V
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 6 S( ^# U; S2 `7 Epictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 6 a% n$ a5 D; G+ ]6 v4 }$ q6 \ X+ \Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were! d P, ~7 k, x7 p; e1 {
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * i! @0 ~) p/ g3 e1 @8 }
less leader-religious.9 B2 D2 B7 o5 `6 o# d) L5 X2 `
5 k4 S' m5 g5 y( B
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; P2 F2 E* [$ x' p8 d1 A$ ]! W
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 2 a3 G# a3 m; B, R) }; O( wblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US, _% _$ k; B, v5 a4 R
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). $ s' C% L9 R; u8 g* v+ \) l! b% u6 T5 {6 j
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ]3 P& J, N& N3 W! Z" F4 w5 hparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not' O- l! d* I' A/ B9 T
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 3 z C' |- R! v* M) F5 ] dconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for , \5 ], U! |6 G2 O# Wforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 7 l% \& p8 u4 i(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we. A% Q: C9 Y' C0 E7 w0 B
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the" ?6 q- N( u$ v7 p% P5 Q
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + I6 U7 _" z& @+ o8 P8 Y" ?9 J8 {# IAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! [) N) a4 N- b- }8 q5 c5 W6 B
or visitors.) G3 F& R( Z8 a
! E# @+ M& E/ t d$ @; q4 K-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
