We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' J8 d t# `# X) w7 m
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( u+ C& y6 b8 J% X5 X8 U9 qwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible., d( A3 }0 d) q/ w; ^1 G
. R- s1 a" ?- f# QIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 7 ?9 f H% y! F; X2 c: x7 |6 t30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in * }6 h! b& W4 Z- y3 \a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as : N9 n% k( F( H7 Fpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort7 C' Q4 _( G# c$ y# r7 _( Q. `8 H
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 Z1 U c- ?; X7 D* tbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the: t6 K; k) Y1 d/ f* H# g, H
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,; `- _2 V5 q D I8 e
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. * Y3 M9 L1 |2 B% ~ B& S People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but " e: l {5 a/ j4 y' Enames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not' x/ A: h+ ~/ x3 q* H
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 3 N. V! c, }) b9 vflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 7 n* F. x/ p+ Ya roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. + `0 q3 {' X1 D2 L" ]0 i" }- q# q4 I3 N1 Y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,% N# t" m% V) B$ |+ k/ f Z6 f
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool |3 `: V2 p9 A% r p4 w o(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top0 K3 @# [. }5 _5 O8 O2 s3 ?
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the; Q& t; z% C$ q* M# E o+ |
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 5 Y9 Y7 J( l- ^6 l* ~3 U1 M49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ; ?, l8 \+ V: x: o) mCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with7 z4 \# d% m& D/ u; u3 a2 t
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 6 Y5 W$ t; N7 T6 l, r" ? % M6 d$ B$ I- T! CThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ' |0 R: v# M e/ c6 Ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made0 |9 U# k. H* {7 y/ I% D* o
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba & w0 N3 ], U1 M* i$ t+ e/ I) ?tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 6 l9 p$ {4 p5 }' \( Ya staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China7 c' s/ g3 v( ]3 j* {' F$ I K
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" j' W: F" P; i, V) u1 W
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 4 b( ?3 }% Q" Z" T+ c+ ~on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 6 n x2 a: Y, ]& E6 v+ H' g" N"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 t0 I ^1 m8 `, ^7 w
answers to our pointed questions. ) w( n8 p; n9 |: W ' I% C+ q0 ^, k! gThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, . s9 i6 h( b4 p- C0 s45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% t4 g4 p8 q6 m) A& |5 L2 R4 A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 8 P5 I: \2 ]8 E. {) afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% A3 k6 }" m+ ~5 G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are , x+ W0 S( b2 V5 H, tmedical schools.' u* c8 S3 }. L! Q2 D( I
5 D3 |7 x Z( J& ^Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 0 a0 d6 ^) [4 y9 I% m: n( bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants . o0 L1 \$ X$ l: _: _% T* o( vto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# O* M" p. O. W- m4 i
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba! t) b/ D$ o8 Q* ]/ a, X
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to , r" b" A1 b G+ }2 I5 Vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There & U3 L2 t8 j) a6 Lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 9 ?' a3 H5 Y# C! f0 Rmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% Y+ g4 P- s. L
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ( m" }2 r6 x2 hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 m* |* ^9 Q R7 _* R
+ b2 X* E: ^$ R0 Q9 W( C
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, D _$ r% y7 c7 D' V4 @ y
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# |9 }4 i( S& X/ m( S; J$ `
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people9 z8 s/ T) f! V6 `/ T' a/ p! E2 N: V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good4 O, b; C, o9 U' a0 T7 h
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby / Y# K0 Q- l6 g) K( z, Hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( K: G r, A% t" u3 N) w- D: q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ( [, h& z: _9 ~8 J. F: k+ Z% }Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; s. s, U- w6 K; K5 g
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only$ X6 K' Q5 Z+ H% ]$ r
charge the fee defined by the state. j( D$ A7 a" Y0 M3 f# s. e7 r; R' y! Y" R f0 S
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get J5 \/ i; P* Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type0 S! ?/ i2 ?& `5 h, b5 G
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ; K! `) w' v4 _9 R/ Y5 z3 Q% ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( ?/ z- T) ]1 @: U+ m8 M
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 8 P5 z* j) B0 v- U) }working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on" G" {; y. |0 s7 ~# R; z
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 R$ q4 r* j) h$ J, A+ Zyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 4 s! K- |* D/ S2 utrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ a8 O" ^$ @! N% G( S6 d4 G
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that4 J) x0 }# p# q) `3 d
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want$ w6 |) L4 F$ E% e* w" m! H ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or- O1 `6 O! M. n: k6 Z5 [
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # G- V1 ~$ `0 I% E9 s# lare spaces. 3 U. a& l, j4 L 3 v D) D' }, @# vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 9 ~# j1 J7 r) T) Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 4 l! `9 ]! u9 d6 G* eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the4 M. D8 s P+ n* Q% o7 u$ U5 g
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 4 c9 o: k* V) s' J8 Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ; T' S! ?; k+ Z" v F; Wbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few' G% z- r6 ]# f+ b
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of" c3 e1 V1 {5 l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ! N- B/ W3 D0 u+ fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 P& y9 r9 c+ W
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 / `9 {9 X% ?( p# l" C1 Dspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all & t" B0 q. E4 J. J1 g2 Fthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very. J1 \1 Z a4 S0 q- t
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep; ~" P* o; r$ h
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 1 {: w* z# e* ~% |. t8 @2 asupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ {2 f8 L9 f2 @9 v: y2 w \* h8 t J
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms1 C! S |8 B, x% i8 G# h
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the5 S0 B# ]) S! Y+ L1 s2 g0 F: }
tourist area.. H* G7 U4 S7 b3 ^0 ]5 S# [
# |) j; {1 `5 d
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 D/ \+ o! Q5 j* l7 w3 W
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).& T' F, Q9 b- {) H* a& a
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 e0 N# }% \" @6 S/ K# d
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + h i* W8 N, ?$ n5 z! L% Y
less leader-religious.0 @% r! T) @+ j! i' q
5 ?1 `6 t+ N! i# q& O7 m
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ! S8 \3 v+ m5 ~government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big - Y- Y0 E! \3 r, fblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US J2 o& o- V: ]3 G! xembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). / ^9 s: C3 ^4 k* L( C0 G3 z ' N/ A+ Y5 L. w0 |* WWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the " _ |: u$ j0 y) I9 Xparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not1 h! T. h, | v2 h8 w0 b
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! p! f$ k. `) A3 v; }convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for. T) k8 Z' u4 H, u) C" I* h
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars + ]9 y7 n3 Y" j! ~6 E(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 3 W `2 V! |5 B7 c" Rprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the" h& ?6 N2 a1 x2 S, F: Z& ]
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.7 J8 s7 Y! x$ g, r
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; M" E% v' u. k
or visitors. ; o/ n' f8 P/ P; O3 K/ t 4 q: n/ _& f6 t3 m' i+ I* e-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
