We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very : B/ a, C1 V! ?4 ]interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we1 h W$ ], ]6 B: W: u
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ' z7 V$ I4 t9 R* w: b+ Y$ h7 ^6 b) w0 J; `& i" _; ^$ [( Z, m
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 9 y- s6 U2 A4 i1 k0 e; ? K) s30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in " `0 E/ @/ m( W0 o. \' @a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ' B T9 K1 D9 x; }3 k1 U6 xpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort5 O8 T. Q& W8 {1 r6 Q1 t
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( i/ r8 _1 j/ ~% d& X$ `8 m
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 X5 A5 a" a9 x+ a# `) m5 J/ zlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% T! X& a5 A- N0 f+ {; [7 \1 U
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. . |2 h2 C6 I; x. M4 V3 f People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but / P: e- ^4 U% ]9 G1 _" k1 xnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not- C6 J t' X( J1 R
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; f0 }3 N) e8 M }
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through% Y5 q/ c" P/ m9 Z/ O- O
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.9 {, v' @5 h/ c# a0 l. \ B l; _
9 Q9 |1 D& |$ GThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ _/ ^- V* e3 X+ Nlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool8 R' d0 ?" K1 s. M
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( G8 f% r- J1 M/ Q8 [% Jof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the! Y0 M1 v9 F2 @: _! n) P9 Z9 Q
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 7 U0 X$ c: n( Q' n. \# ^49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 5 s( n; N3 y) ]' c' b& e% RCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with. N! l- ]( b* S, j: E! ]
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.4 a3 w( @, O, U( M. P5 g( K
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are x0 O+ J# Y& h* Ojust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made F9 C+ I. q# X1 M3 {for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba : @' \0 N2 V9 `& i3 Rtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having3 v; }1 s+ C( V0 ?$ o
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China. ^ n* l9 c: V2 F2 b; g, p
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 ) X/ ~4 x! V5 n3 Q9 m' y! astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went6 P# t2 s, d, n& S
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 0 N% a9 ^# g6 p1 U; D5 q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ; H; x; `( y9 G# r2 s0 m, eanswers to our pointed questions. $ u5 x' t3 P' @/ g% D) A - y6 Y9 {8 t) p3 R6 YThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 3 N6 ]" J! t! `, s9 |" C) l7 v" S45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ' m* [9 x1 v+ d* f& C) Fout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is6 T4 J$ U8 n+ T
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams $ y- P; B$ X( E- h2 o7 V' L2 @! @* b* rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are / b8 m8 R; U5 ^* {medical schools.' ~* j( j, E: z- h! t8 x
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the % F1 A! C( u# h% ]4 qgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# b8 Q8 h6 I& \2 H/ ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 0 L/ Z0 o1 t: @; I. [ l8 d! c+ Zassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 Y; f- H1 L) U4 x1 J K
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to + H) P( x/ Q5 i. Z/ R2 x7 Lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There % L4 ?1 n9 z( s8 i J4 ?- W* Z; \seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( y) }6 d% O) h" Z# D) F0 j
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 6 I, }% v2 ~% J4 Pshortage which the government is addressing by converting some * Y% D/ k" t' X, q% T% U+ esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 1 B$ M. N! c% \7 p 9 J: }. G, p5 H$ @The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no8 ?3 t. U. k' e
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and \. @% |9 ^5 e- |
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 8 M5 x" x9 N& Y+ y- @have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good $ a4 x" m/ S3 l1 i( F. |thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- h8 J W6 |! z( r( j
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high: b1 q/ p3 i% w3 V+ O D
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 w( ^* x0 ^6 S! Y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When/ @& a* T) D% D- C% D
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, f5 I% R, h/ e
charge the fee defined by the state. 0 T ]/ b" w( R) g+ y . d( ?; W$ H, I: w0 S' WThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get/ \, u- ^! O! D. n6 c0 Y1 Z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type # m5 q: `% P D! b# M$ H6 J8 ?' _' Rof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 s: a9 Z! ~/ w4 K' o
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel) z" G6 j" r) ^; X! ]# D
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the % C2 B3 P0 S- jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on & u: K$ M/ V5 N6 fschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - `( ?9 s& o, |8 @: y# Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people , q, j6 U2 R& ?trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" @# e8 P0 B% e- A, \( }& t
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 D: }+ y) J- e+ D6 W* P8 ]
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want & ^- d) {7 Y9 o7 _to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 6 ]7 C% W3 Z6 @4 ^buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there _, h8 c2 H( k( _6 O+ O- n
are spaces. , I ?3 @- _9 ]. V6 o4 _& R c0 l+ T8 c6 @+ g, ~( Z/ L
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; U& C4 x0 d* Y7 M: P
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 8 r5 c0 S) M0 i6 g6 `$ C8 lown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ; s1 I# C) \3 x7 N+ u7 e N Q. @40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different # L( O1 P6 X9 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the4 \: }/ o9 `' R9 ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few* _! b3 {3 H+ i2 A( y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of * w! v0 y4 {0 R" y8 M" Ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it ' N' s- C- d! k! e- d, [, Uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: m0 J, G6 N, \; 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, ?# }! r5 o% H0 G! ?4 y3 j% e
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 5 s: E4 i" N+ Cthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 4 R. T' ]& k& A+ j1 Blimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 6 g* Q9 O) U* |: |recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 9 y" K5 e3 m% `. j( qsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of4 Q a5 a) n. j4 u. l5 n. G, R3 @
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ; s8 P( V) Y$ f# c# ^have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ; x5 ?5 E8 O5 Z/ @6 P; S: {. \tourist area. & O5 b6 a9 F! G $ X- W: x+ @1 L# `( h, k% b5 \9 _One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 7 f% L# b- Q* K9 C$ m) Z8 _pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).1 p2 W) }- ?2 n. i# {! m+ S
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 1 C& Y/ `* I' _3 t5 weverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 u' y# R! g" T7 X1 |6 W9 ]; @less leader-religious. . g7 c q+ A ^) O; Z* a ' O, T- m$ B3 {" IAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba" x# Z0 C6 i; C1 Q
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ x& ]* d+ g" @* ~black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US - @) t. w& s0 l! W. E: [) |embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ; ]2 W/ u' ^$ }0 r0 u) S 3 r) D4 A( g9 v6 U$ D( ]We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the. Z7 h+ u1 a8 U$ U/ R6 `
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not7 m" A: _% j$ Q& B, H& P/ a
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 6 z$ B( u$ S2 M" a8 y+ ]5 E+ uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for+ z; e% H: X0 S4 V6 ]5 U
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars6 v7 x- R* O3 b' b+ p# Y4 a# N
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! C* _& e* Z$ r- ]probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ R6 ~) a3 `$ ~- O1 P$ E
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + D% U$ `, I- V1 J4 DAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 2 a4 A5 g5 H7 M) for visitors./ U: k6 |( O) G: J! f2 v" e
9 @! ^1 C% t0 o* \
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
