We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very & E3 a/ F6 I2 Winteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we* S3 u0 O o5 J; R! k! K" `1 {
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.& i% j# O& a) V6 c8 t. X
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, - U/ L% ?- o. C% `" y30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in 6 _! U7 B: v3 L2 c. N+ @a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as0 Q8 I- M% K6 s* j
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort! y* {- x* O( F7 C0 n) @7 e
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep o k4 r) s% E3 n9 h" J9 v
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the % l+ I$ [/ C& Q/ R) U5 klobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, - _5 m) P* G2 V9 }/ J+ ]% D+ jwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.8 l9 d! X) F1 `( |1 m$ f
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 8 O% M/ a. s( Znames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# q/ @5 I! a" ^
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ' p2 G( A* O$ C+ K$ Iflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through - q, M: j, z8 k2 U z' ea roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. & U" L! y/ l' J; D # n, H3 z$ z0 i1 P; BThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,* d6 x& V( [/ \+ ^9 `; x: R
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool + R; E# X: I" A* y6 m(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top # H1 V! T. N: C2 o. Z4 y' d, Nof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the) l) ]$ G4 J" S$ D6 E) g
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from % f( ^1 Y9 f, } o49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 8 T0 ]% v& f9 x; Y$ aCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with % v% o% K. Z. ~4 [9 l: Bfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. * V& I$ i7 X: s . f8 e. x4 R* B' R1 C N sThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 3 f: F, S+ Z8 [% q; Ajust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made / a; r5 J8 l; E7 g9 Zfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ' o* A0 t& j0 X) ]tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having3 ]& V: N. ~; l$ P3 @
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ c( G0 A# ]' f$ x/ V5 `
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 ( g1 h* U! f! ]! q: V; gstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went- Z$ r% g6 Q6 t" v! Y" W
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 0 a n0 Y7 }9 D7 d3 |5 z9 J"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 9 G9 G8 o6 c0 t* A6 X; vanswers to our pointed questions. 2 e2 Z" @, E0 V, `+ Y$ d) j+ R, h 5 D& v; T0 }: z' j: |* \8 [The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 j4 ~. T0 t; {# n
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 3 \9 k* }) l9 _9 Sout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is/ i+ O# X) E* S8 E+ C. m+ e
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams4 g6 \- {0 N! y2 d6 G" h
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are % q9 I3 `2 M) X x8 T s% \* _medical schools. 6 r& u% e/ t- c6 c, g0 }3 p* T4 O$ M" [" q9 A
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ( r) G* w$ g& G7 @government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants6 q- V& o6 ^0 ] A4 F1 A' z
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 4 V( U% K( y" B$ P# J5 P) J3 Iassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( o# l' s- e. L; c
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ) D V2 g; _9 q7 y! z4 j/ Vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 6 L2 s. Y* a& j; l4 lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and1 g* z) m- z! M- U% U$ M% L6 H* }
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* z( |! G; x9 X& m: L
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ; e& @9 @1 _8 ]. @& z* a; W! tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. " B5 L! m! T- u" I6 v7 v2 @+ @* [2 p! [5 [
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no2 n* I6 J4 R1 B, v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and& M& {4 @# d6 }, V
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 U. N# B7 X& O7 M4 G
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 \, |" H( F, m
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: Z# |4 b$ y3 L# @
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high! U' {. P7 Y" {3 J2 x0 d9 q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.2 E+ Z7 ?2 `6 |: y0 G8 ^
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When4 C' t3 c& a. n# a& S6 ~
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ! e/ X5 @( d' _9 m1 b! rcharge the fee defined by the state. 4 y8 v8 }* s3 @; I , p8 W8 r0 f! X5 cThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ' h, z1 B8 \+ |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type" k' {5 M6 W" w; W
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 ^: H$ P J: y( N) C9 E [4 c9 R- T
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel p1 |. c. K" R' B4 ^' V
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the + X5 E/ z+ |8 o- }: e5 q3 X4 Rworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# C1 @8 | M$ {7 N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if \3 w u2 { X7 H* g" lyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people : f, l- O% r# M: H6 B$ x7 Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 J' `4 V! `1 I+ s! o- \
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that * }& @8 \! c, D- t( A: k, Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) m" E3 y6 H( g
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 9 k: \* y8 M3 c) m) ~buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there * ]% S* a# i0 W+ d2 _8 V: care spaces.( H. g/ {: @* m- b9 r# v
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 5 D5 L2 F0 G2 [to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they / g3 I8 T' e% n- Pown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 B) x8 O, W( \/ e0 t) F, l
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 }8 i- Q8 g- Q+ o0 h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the h* j) A/ m; E; }# a/ t- P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 5 v6 q. Q$ j6 A/ ~( F3 [: k, |. Fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 8 h' T4 o* U; `$ K( n, jcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it / Q" n5 b3 ^+ S+ [) E( p/ T# @is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. {" O. `6 V8 X: [
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. {/ w' F4 T9 j0 w2 sspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all. C( n. |9 K, z4 L
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very1 s2 b: [! M. U$ n" z0 l
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep% |! ?+ @/ {' ?: Z- o: u5 R4 y
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day % u, y" F8 v( J- ?7 B3 Q, c5 _' G0 }supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ f8 ]* R, M- d6 L6 Q% B! N7 F
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # `0 o( I! W1 R0 E' R# i+ Bhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the7 e- a/ |" c) ~6 ?! k/ f4 r
tourist area.! V ]3 `% A, q7 {, Z
) O& }/ d( g! Q: ]. zOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 o3 l; z$ p, }% J! _2 x) g& Epictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).5 t0 F1 [8 M2 T/ J) m' E- \
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 ~( r2 p7 u3 k: u6 o5 p
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 `) i+ y6 f( y. {" @9 g* i
less leader-religious. , f; w0 O. L" l9 X1 `. q# {5 C8 o6 q8 t4 M! D4 z3 c
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 4 Q) s! A: _- G) f9 ~! V* xgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ p& u* s# _3 O' L% |8 jblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US! O; @1 S5 Y2 \- z# A7 S& t( @
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( _4 Y1 W6 B/ s6 E % R1 o% p( y$ Z8 ?We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 6 n: M4 }9 P8 xparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not / ]0 i" D2 L' wthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1+ m2 k1 n0 x& G8 A
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 5 d* @8 W; C5 b8 C: |foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 5 d* b# j+ M" j/ Y# A+ m(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 4 {+ u' ?2 I# |! e* Y. O0 F+ oprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ) W4 P# T# }9 ~ n. e y9 d( ^real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going./ J) [0 n3 e! e L
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local3 s/ R7 z+ G/ V+ K
or visitors.2 x8 {/ M) L3 z5 g4 O* I
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
