We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very : @$ z7 c& e3 h) h, minteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ; n1 K! h/ [4 h# I( E& t) pwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible." B% W4 l6 a4 x r9 i! Z# S
4 w/ p* z3 _: l8 nIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% c$ x+ T: s. X3 m
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in & s! B' o/ i! D7 c. d7 E5 |( Va very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 6 i5 U, C; q& ^. q; hpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 4 u0 a- N9 A0 j+ B4 zshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep3 L) X' G/ p( }; ~! a6 d; ^
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 F6 {; g C8 L5 ^. b* c6 Elobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% U4 J1 U/ Z7 v& b! s2 w
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.+ h+ z- S+ |- h( t1 h
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but; l3 l, P8 D1 X* g
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 N: a# ~7 p4 B* C
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our/ h h6 l$ l. D" w0 f
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through6 m' d( J" p( O
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.+ E3 l1 D5 N! o( x. Z, R8 I
; z9 E' ~, _5 T. B: f0 I- v
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, Q5 {* E- J8 D- c& W, r$ k
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool6 \( U) C% |3 P4 v, Y J
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top6 f0 |* v5 L6 W' J9 \
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 8 {2 C. X' ^5 H2 X9 L$ zstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from) F% R2 h6 Y, h- N1 q
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 0 t) r. w# h' l8 A- s1 a5 eCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with : l3 i) u* o7 g. Kfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.0 R }+ g# t; N& c
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are; t* z7 f4 b+ Z: q8 F
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made , R' h! C q/ Jfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ' I/ b f' h* `- j/ e8 r' N/ ktourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / D D+ {& {# v4 r3 V. M0 ia staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China % u3 z. W* E8 e5 J/ l# k+ wdaily 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 # |0 |# E/ `0 d9 wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went + P: y" M5 S$ A, c& son a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,- w. @8 j! }1 I7 \! N7 d" A
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give S$ J6 Z1 @8 l, b0 A% ^answers to our pointed questions.# v2 Y% `* ~$ C
+ i5 D' U# T; t) y, R* R" m0 yThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ) t8 x! }' X: P# P45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ( g2 R/ H" O% ^1 {. Kout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is1 j/ i8 x# J7 o( [0 h
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams0 N9 `( U2 v) J7 p m" y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& ]; X2 Z0 o; f( _' ^" k
medical schools. / J" }4 I y/ u $ F% e& i6 R' R+ A) ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ l; M( b0 U; d0 ?' I5 H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 9 C0 H4 E2 z! Y& zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ N4 K- x+ v9 k0 f
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba7 B, C% v+ {0 x+ {* n, l0 q
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 t' Q7 }5 |& g7 N/ X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There / @! |/ G% f P( q: iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and & y! [$ ^5 m7 nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 ~9 C' f, ^" B/ r
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some . D9 ^# r) p1 rsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 0 u5 B% v. c: D- }: {: ^4 ?2 x/ Z, [ + B/ L& X8 I) v {& NThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no, c' {7 N5 D- A9 U; D4 B
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 0 j8 U1 S# x7 `supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people . X! C! d3 A0 c2 s" Hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good - F+ m* l/ l, i7 R/ r9 mthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby( ?% N% `$ _* V3 u% g) y0 _0 ^
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# ]9 S2 X, @8 _$ g) R, _9 d0 u4 m) F
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.3 d q4 d* L, E# e& u; [1 W
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When3 g+ }1 v( w | X7 K9 h! W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! O, x$ w) b6 w6 M1 P e
charge the fee defined by the state.5 g- k, p6 f& @0 \5 G$ {. v8 S& m$ R/ @
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get) R8 c! n j" P4 D# w6 @
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 6 v+ ~: [) Q1 \# \9 vof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big* p7 K* M* B( ?/ _; {+ Z4 e% G n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ) e; t0 c; O+ v7 o4 Pseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 2 ^, P; x$ T: R8 }: m( oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on6 u) N1 k: _% W, A% l! h
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ |7 q0 p3 k# ?! H u
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 9 h& s' M' g1 x4 `trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 2 I; ?$ e4 h% C: k5 i, }+ B7 Uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ J* D4 I8 f! r! |- z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want / B$ R6 v$ D7 j. d5 oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) s: v: m. x; T: a h$ I. s6 |% ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, z7 k4 y4 T. o* o* c) P5 o5 y& h
are spaces. n/ F4 d& J# u# B# b$ T # Q. ?1 K0 [2 J. h4 S/ NThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 k3 }; F1 m" B h$ q# L
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 G d' q7 ?* Z) ]
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the + g- O; V$ e( C40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 K w7 H# @& V6 S: ?8 @% f
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 v* t4 T/ ]2 l( |# `
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; \" A2 f5 G; h8 t
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 8 \! G8 S4 {2 c, ]! ^. ]car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( d+ k) M* k5 m- z# o
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. . e( H/ v; }, F7 q" Y& u+ 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 beautiful8 H; x" I' ~) s% @9 Z
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all+ O# P" m/ P* L- Y
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very. }% T' w& R# K1 N4 a
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep * s7 ]- ~( f8 grecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day " u5 e* Y0 O) d' b! Xsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 e Q/ f7 j4 Z& [6 R9 ^! S* F
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 w- S; W5 f4 h Q6 u. a
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 y& ?3 B7 F, o4 O0 i9 l* Qtourist area.; G( k& i8 r4 t. B3 y) B1 R& l
. `, s3 Z- G) L6 V/ qOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's) [$ l1 d+ q6 h' Q& d$ S5 q9 Q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).; P+ X1 S! w2 Y7 o
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were & Q7 Q6 }+ R0 V5 [! deverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 4 \& a- Z R ]less leader-religious.+ R; |5 f T# o( j, z8 S
$ h$ M1 I; ~4 c' X5 cAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 0 D6 s) b/ G8 dgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big! Y6 d& u M) L! x, A
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! `! E7 E: j+ q9 Z$ O0 Tembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).: |% _$ @: |: i/ r; F2 p
# s. X9 C# S- ?9 e `2 @, |9 j+ rWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the6 l( d2 v+ A. P9 Q- `
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not) Y0 W6 n3 R. X+ b/ [% K
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 # Q/ c; x4 L0 m4 i+ L* x9 Uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for . j( N% ?" `. rforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ~( d+ V8 r6 Z/ ^
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ; m* x* G) H9 O# j) cprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the( F& g6 n: N) R) A/ m4 W
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 4 _) v% r2 f. QAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local & f2 k$ m# B5 {5 O3 S3 J8 |or visitors. 9 S8 [+ {5 k* {* S; I1 S: \$ k: V+ Z/ s9 _7 `" n
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
