We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very" A; m" Z0 P X6 F1 M9 b
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we . T' [ y/ \; E6 R8 @wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. . Z9 t+ J$ U5 o# u+ R ! m5 @( S- J# n$ W9 Z# |5 Y! l0 a& nIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 9 P) O/ @ d1 |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in( D0 ^7 d- R$ ~& J, ]
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 ?& R% \: e" `% t* j: K% g9 P
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ' z) N8 m F& o) H2 C3 qshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep$ B& D; t) z6 |# X: \$ W' S$ R- L
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the/ y) N+ w: E$ g. W& L. v
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 9 p2 d4 z; Z; W4 _) e& [with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there., G$ U; V O) S' [3 T1 X
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but- w' U h) |' m7 ~1 ~- |$ I
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not8 {2 W) V: g! E+ {! j! \" [
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our h: [ J8 S7 W" @$ a8 ?6 I
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through) c5 L- ?* A& \" T( {
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 3 r' o( Y8 E6 |4 }# v. Y7 B% E' L7 I) @9 F$ F8 r+ |
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 5 F* J& z! b; F0 U2 }; N$ ]low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool- ]4 g7 n% d5 G0 z
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top. v9 ]( l1 z: P
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the b5 q) g+ y* a, P8 f! `( _6 \
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 0 ]9 l& Y) l' c9 A49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes * F/ `8 `8 V: @/ ~( ]Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with & p# n+ ]% G8 g; M3 Q7 B* Mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.: s1 V0 L+ @- Q& B0 o4 s
4 y; C9 g5 a0 r/ w% M: k
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ c# F9 ~% E' B3 m! K
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 6 U) s9 J% y" U. L- D6 G) \for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 3 K. ]6 S1 s+ G& Xtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having" _% U" Q4 g1 ]: z" g
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China8 S6 a- z R6 T* }+ @& n
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 ) j6 X' e* h9 Z% z2 L1 U) C* kstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 s2 o9 ]7 _2 ^8 [+ b% x
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' j2 i1 q8 X$ w
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ( `. [/ |' L7 H/ R( C/ S0 ?' @answers to our pointed questions. * O/ i- w( j* n! s" g 2 I1 G( d( E: F( U- G5 O; sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 e9 \4 K6 X } T
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 o" |! F/ ?, Y) i4 S8 n
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is * w$ }% h8 v& ~3 f$ S' m% _# yfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams * r; |4 O9 \, W2 I0 @- Wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are1 C) u; q' s. w/ i7 J+ s/ m
medical schools. 8 U/ U3 O0 T5 j$ U' Q& T, Z; G6 t5 N, V
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 N9 [2 l( {8 |/ Y
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) ^6 M1 q7 m! A; U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years , F- A X2 B) s5 R% B1 eassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba x- I: K6 V1 M7 Q% y4 i6 r! m
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to/ F1 m7 y! i1 a7 b' Y$ A& m
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There - q. S# z. ~9 e r3 m* Pseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 j& x8 t* R/ g, _$ j
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 R" ^ X" c7 I W. e o) }
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some* J! @8 e5 y `( J
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., ^* Z/ f4 L8 B1 f. }7 v$ k+ \1 n* S
$ J) V; [1 I' W3 S$ ]The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no $ p3 j3 s3 m+ S* ^% a$ @4 `private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and ' I8 ]/ r3 q7 ^supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people " ?- L6 }( E7 R& M; thave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good J" U# R# ]4 c: ]thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby / m/ _* v; s0 Y& O3 l9 H4 Ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high . ]; h. i/ F. K0 Q- ? adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." U, Z( p& ?: X% z- C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When; b6 K* v) x! w+ W$ e" A3 K, X6 b
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " F" r9 g: q# C B. O/ P7 Q8 g, I6 q4 \% Bcharge the fee defined by the state. 2 o! E( F7 g9 W: j5 b V # k6 Q! c# `' x8 CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get : `. P. m) N4 N0 Z3 ?) x5 _( o4 zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ; E& j3 X) E kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 U3 a, V% Z; u, u6 o4 M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 3 k' `+ r4 t- h. ^7 b$ M2 eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 2 Y# m/ q/ A/ C! Q* @& Lworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on \! E5 A3 Y# \) R: c3 Rschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ B. ~2 b0 {) @6 y6 U. B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people8 V( M; S4 R; M% I3 T0 F) }
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 q2 E# ~; \1 j7 d& X4 ? u2 {
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that - \! Z( Z. D: i* z$ @" Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 n+ K) P3 k9 h2 D7 L
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or: k; \: W6 b8 i
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& {5 m! t; S7 `
are spaces./ ~8 h3 Y/ T; A+ x
( S0 u4 @+ c* b8 z/ R3 Z6 pThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi . Q. K$ a9 D+ }3 C% L& J6 ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they % m/ }9 ~( Q2 U& Q# u7 ? Z4 `/ Down a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* s# V" F& W4 }3 A. R8 Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ P$ D! D& F5 w- C ^" g( I
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the # ?, u7 Y1 |4 M. Hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few) v0 G5 e% B. y6 v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of ; ]3 V8 M7 }* c1 d7 y& pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& n6 l7 @; E4 ~- C! U9 F$ d
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 2 ]% p% x% s7 C' k+ I 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 $ _+ G5 \' [# [0 T3 R" Gspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all$ P) b* M3 ]5 i) l
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very , C3 Y4 O2 M4 l& ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep2 U2 n9 d3 j L% I( L- Q, b
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day; W- ]( f) h) F6 f5 B
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of & e" _+ ~! v' I0 r0 \4 Xthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms3 q. q4 v; y! p9 K% q. b
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the : S% T; |8 G: vtourist area. 8 F f3 y5 Z1 |* p ) Z* c4 D& |2 M7 I$ l6 Z$ Z+ J# a$ nOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's % e" |% C" ?8 w! ]. `pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). D- e/ ?" a4 t! S9 q1 f$ ?
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were . `0 B5 F6 A+ g8 m8 peverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 H. _% x S$ m& H, d# x( m
less leader-religious. " e" k/ n+ ?" b7 \2 k2 l' P- G) [5 O5 V2 N. C* }
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba , H% I k0 r& R& Igovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ) X5 I- u, [5 `black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US s' V4 m" @ k% R
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( n1 k5 d+ \! t1 \$ A* d' n0 p" ? 4 Z. r* T: {9 E% b; ]& vWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the* y) _6 L8 W, H+ f. v
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not$ E+ O2 f# ?; [, B/ ]( Q6 ~
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! U, r4 S9 @" q' t$ e: |convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 T4 n5 y" k7 {- a0 k" t3 Q- s8 ~8 e
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars& J+ y! ?" X* f/ R" l
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 H8 t) v f8 R0 N' s# e( a
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ( c5 X0 q4 a+ nreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 4 G& }1 V) `3 A3 f# }4 o' YAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local / ?" o4 C7 q cor visitors. 2 Q+ r- }8 _8 L P# u2 e4 j/ l& m-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
