We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very : c3 i% K- M, B. y9 _8 J7 G8 kinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we$ C* F [1 M0 X0 j; q
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.! w/ Z m+ O1 N4 y
! d& q4 N6 ?0 r- F8 {" yIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, ( V4 a. J; z L( l L+ c30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in* C' r5 u5 n0 ]- o" n7 j
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , I; |1 x) k8 epossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort* s! V8 P# B: l( Z1 {) Q4 g# S, Y( x
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 3 E {2 ?2 u- F- M; j obetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ( ^" b# A _+ h! }) ?; Rlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 3 G f, ^- J/ h( r5 r F8 x, hwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 8 \. q! A' C! z1 n2 P2 E* r" R! _ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ' \1 i4 P5 @4 w9 unames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ' V3 [9 G% |) M' b7 q4 e! P7 [exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our/ `5 M+ W* h+ x/ _
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through % F2 n2 X' _/ O D! W4 Sa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards./ J, V0 V* s1 C q" m
+ \4 Q$ U' s- o; r: wThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, $ g3 ^5 q* o& l3 P8 {( wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ) G9 \2 n) j* A(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 4 {2 ~; a3 w" F$ G( M& I# A; bof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the2 x1 y: O4 `( M( \
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ' f- d9 @- _5 l; X$ L9 @49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes. M/ e$ W; c7 ]7 z+ y
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with - i" i: h' r3 Y$ S; K+ vfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.4 R: m+ m( K2 w1 K
9 U& d+ b4 @( RThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are2 t: A4 p ?/ B! K2 p2 l
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made* p1 T) ^) w4 g" R
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& q" ^! h! L$ c) x. [& c* \
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 2 e+ a3 l7 Y5 l0 Ta staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China! V$ I+ _. q. C6 H
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 $ O7 E y) X" Ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 k1 E! |0 k. i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 7 q: W# A! \ D' A3 Y# v"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 t) |) {* U9 m) B. f( \
answers to our pointed questions. 8 p4 G- z) V1 g% E& G: V: }& h% p0 J' k3 _6 ~
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, & r# z. F9 s" h45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 f" z) ]& q, y$ v
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is : e0 B9 I+ Z j0 v7 K4 Q% Ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* _" |) V$ I6 V! |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are * w# @) X K3 A, l" z5 o. jmedical schools. 8 t! L% ^" b$ g : ]+ ]- M9 D4 v5 F) `/ nEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the) C. D1 B1 |* Q% W7 u# z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants' w' i5 v' R. d8 q2 S! b
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: i! y+ F4 D1 s% A/ @1 u V
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 4 N1 n/ J2 L3 @( s1 m- W! Fis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 4 ^# i0 a, ~( v U; s- M, Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There r- u3 m' ?: W6 ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ?8 A( \4 z5 K& emostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk : S) k2 _8 V. ]shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 6 e, o: c# m$ v% Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ' p$ R, b2 ~* l. ? , K- D6 E" ?6 U; e0 d8 y$ AThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no5 L* d" S# c/ h* t
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 4 v$ Y/ a/ Q8 U5 ?1 ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people . k0 A, |7 w/ phave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 6 N3 L& B4 ~; B( v* n! Nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 w/ D' k4 p& t* n1 p J
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 5 {1 g3 n8 |) t* ^- H8 P0 fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.% Q h% v9 N3 @% t
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When " H& P% o8 q3 X" X) ~8 L) Ha lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ; ~+ u! `2 m$ S' j8 J. r4 Tcharge the fee defined by the state. 9 p3 ]3 r3 `: x G: s 8 [% C2 @! f) \# ~) wThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% g7 w ^, b3 W: ~# l/ Q3 |" V
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 6 \, ^& J& y3 k0 Vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ' p& C8 @/ G0 ~ Mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel( w. S8 X0 `4 {1 Q9 e+ C
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the ! R9 W/ [ F* mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on + O' H% M8 j& G2 A% Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, B7 G( }2 ?0 }' P
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 1 r- U+ Y& Q, o. E6 N3 X& x) Jtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch " t# H5 f3 {1 L( khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 7 s- K. S, G; ^$ U* c: O7 Dpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ( r! ^& }- r2 Hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 Z- G/ T' U2 D5 J7 x0 O
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there " p- [9 `3 V- v+ H8 q5 m: |are spaces. : U0 ~0 b: ~3 k& h! Z9 L; Y6 f , {5 S0 W% o, R' t6 A& A) v& ~1 f4 DThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi5 B4 M- B5 v* r
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: @) C% I# {; d
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 1 \: w M F7 V9 _ C' [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" d5 B" d- Y% d# Z+ X* ~4 B
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 Z+ o) t, n' r, H9 l/ x2 ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 m+ H$ G: F9 P, w* o2 s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of - ]% c) I7 j. ccar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 r% a/ m7 N, E, {% Z- K
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.7 {4 ? J2 E% g/ o2 Q+ K/ ]& j- 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 beautiful5 u) i. i, I f
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" ` P7 ]# x2 N9 B8 r! T
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ( D6 i" s- S3 |1 b( \7 Llimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep: p) [( A) w; z0 @1 e
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day* N: m* ?2 g0 Q8 F7 \' r2 c7 _3 K
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 6 h9 g# _0 u' N5 Jthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms! T- B+ d4 O) r' \% I1 a
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the7 J3 I' w* H, W% a9 a8 X' `* k. n
tourist area. 6 M7 o) Y8 m2 |/ b3 n9 J, M* I2 G' u) \2 C) j% J7 O) Q& q
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's & u$ `2 c: O9 {' v# vpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). % v/ H) A1 w. d5 k6 n- S. PCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 2 b" N+ I7 z0 h ]0 M6 ~% jeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps . f/ z W+ D7 J* l6 Y
less leader-religious. / Q- D( j" O. e" S7 l( u0 F6 M) p& t# p3 P" @; P
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba! ?' H6 I/ [# o! g( h" H" h g- [
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big/ q& t( ?/ M$ A. L, T8 P
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US+ n# e _7 }' \- w7 t' Q8 m
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 7 A6 A7 O3 B7 B, z5 q/ Y- T: |0 A * q- n4 K6 C. J- F' jWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ) v& e# s' s) B j }9 Lparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not* \% i0 ]7 o$ L2 i) G3 _
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 * f& C5 {- U5 b" L/ ~% i5 c+ xconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for0 C1 D+ n6 e# r$ P
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 9 ^2 F7 G2 W4 ^0 l& K4 e& \(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we+ K% D$ ]1 A6 J5 k" d
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the; K3 y; F' j$ C" ~( i
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. . i9 D: H; {" VAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 6 K( }0 }: x0 M% r2 G" _or visitors. 7 C6 }2 e) \4 ~$ i9 g: M$ ` ; P% U* ^: n4 _$ \8 \0 q-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
