We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 2 N- |( b7 a: c5 A6 J' Y. L: ?interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we / m) j& x, ]; O) n; ]; e( pwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ], q# x6 W& P! n
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 0 S% ]3 f6 ^# J. v: Q6 @30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in $ Q+ b: ^; V$ B; A/ `% r0 @/ da very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( G$ G, Z4 q7 X
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort+ o$ ]8 R6 Z, o. A
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep. W+ D5 b) w6 F2 \# c% f
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the3 D/ M7 C$ V( ?% w+ ]
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- I) y' @5 S. M. }" S
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; }5 c: D. ], R. z. J
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but+ p- p; q; q! `7 b6 |: v% w
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not0 i/ @; } z) W7 @2 r$ U
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our9 ]5 X0 G9 L+ |6 p/ T. M6 s- e" f
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. t0 d! [9 Z- | y# w2 Q
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.$ X* T3 @; |& t1 s- o$ w
' Y$ a4 k7 P$ AThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,+ ~: t j0 \' N5 j* C+ h ~7 v- U$ |- r
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool! C: e4 G2 q6 j9 O4 ?
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 4 U) ], V2 |% L$ yof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the: P( b. S8 c; `
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from N$ b& d m( x' B% s49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes : {% F! }- E: a& R5 vCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 G; H9 t4 u: r) [. e/ ]: ifingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.7 E1 }! f3 B' w U* A9 N
! Y3 b2 }, o, }: d+ N' b0 LThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are5 j; P& L+ n# f! |, e( F
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made8 P- @0 D. F6 `( j' m# A: H
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 4 r8 O$ l1 s. ~; v& {" Ftourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / U) P/ ~. A: {' ~4 i* Aa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China + I1 y3 N& Z( Idaily 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 " D' V) q5 y6 S" O4 k5 w- ustandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went* |( |% A' `0 d
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 1 J& [( O! l4 H& ~"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give7 Q3 v3 S* f3 }2 V9 W& p
answers to our pointed questions. 0 S) @5 u8 R) h% t# l / m# b" a% ^0 V- o1 b7 JThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ' `, H8 b; q1 Z5 q9 D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand . u( Y( M% d d9 a ^out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" ^" V5 D8 F$ q* e9 b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: e6 L4 J' |: Q I9 x
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 9 z+ j3 G" T" i4 ~5 G; Nmedical schools. & M) |2 p7 n) O" z: c : a# {; W+ }2 ?' B- o7 G. ]Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the $ E7 q* D7 @4 h/ Y7 l6 Wgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* C, {# Y8 G, X9 y( a+ x
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 0 p% L: _, l! @4 Sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba% `2 s. b$ _) o; N& h
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 7 d6 X) _* G( Sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( K; y1 q! w6 ^$ C3 S2 x9 u5 `) Sseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* k s. L" F R, s
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk - ]1 d% g( @- n" }( v, |/ }' b( Lshortage which the government is addressing by converting some0 D" g$ g0 I2 w6 V4 G& \8 V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.% @) Q8 i! @) |( i) v) R- z
0 n4 E! }' s) Z( W. B" DThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no$ L% t; k7 [ E$ d' d; @# p
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 j, z5 s0 z4 \4 z! W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ) Q& O$ l0 g& M2 N' c9 a: [have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good c" A0 u* k' z q' I
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ! m# F$ h, ~# F1 n, hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& B$ o0 P% ^( A% b/ B& A) L# G; f
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( R) h# g, q$ d/ h& K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When U6 O2 _* {" [1 R% S# u9 I7 xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only T/ j3 Q+ C+ ?0 [, _( k, S
charge the fee defined by the state. v# y8 U- P/ k X; P/ ]/ |' ~
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get- B" v4 N* X6 |) T* e
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ( @; o' ]3 c& C/ ^0 Dof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # c1 j% q7 ^# L- T1 g% f ]/ ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 K9 X& ?5 l$ ?8 c+ P, S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 2 \7 u. N8 E) ^8 n; jworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on - t8 _" r6 [8 H1 G9 U: E8 D4 O( Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if P" N( _' o9 n. h! q' Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people " p! l0 i5 H2 i! P. G' ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ' I. Y1 V( x- V3 {2 p7 ?% K0 {1 Jhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ! V6 @# i4 n8 o8 }1 z7 npeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 T! D) W; P2 P$ t# K
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or* Y% K t: H% ]
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 M- f1 g5 T$ [* A, I B! T
are spaces.- J( \+ x1 n* ~8 W
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ( D0 n$ `) ~! `7 j! `, Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 3 L$ m$ H# Z0 G- _0 I9 \. Sown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the - [" E: S; ^# m0 n- D40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different8 w. N* Y. v6 z' Y0 o! Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 5 e7 X& Q6 H) i$ i5 L$ q2 u- Wbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 4 @# l1 m/ ?7 A, anice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 5 p7 R" F1 z! ~car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it $ T3 A# Q3 Z- J9 T0 {is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 4 f/ y- P; {# I z2 k# W* K" G 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$ ^- b# Y' B4 A' q+ Q1 Q) D
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ' M1 E* F/ x+ r! U6 l, Kthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very/ q2 z: q1 C, P9 h, |; w
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep , t0 i. p$ l3 F/ E- qrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day# E& w* k5 J- X- P( C" n. L) e
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of& V( Q' d' |$ G( z1 v. F" M
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms3 w# k9 w: T' E
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the3 b- Z, N5 V2 b% A% ?+ E
tourist area.* B! g% ]- n1 X/ ~7 S, x6 o$ H2 T6 E
* T1 W1 V0 W V! VOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's6 `( U6 j$ Q: K, x- I1 Z0 I/ s
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).- q' @4 v/ J0 U' P
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ) [% |* ]" t, z3 r2 Geverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 z4 B( y. v6 q4 f4 Lless leader-religious., v" i5 R6 T. x n0 z: N
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba , u6 J N+ e( K: l* x' K" G* b& @government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big" m/ t" @, m8 t9 a
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US$ Z4 [) _6 e3 [2 g5 v8 u7 Q. [; D4 x
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). r) u* S2 m: _% Y2 H& Z1 e* a/ C h- N( l4 p
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 0 y5 t4 A" F. }9 pparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not + I( v! l1 _7 d, @% [the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1: |5 m8 R- a; H$ f; U
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for * ]* D$ `2 Q n& ~! ?) Lforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars5 s3 }/ A' P V% m j
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we q+ k& l u/ C! |1 f. D9 W Aprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 5 B/ x" d: s. d. B3 {. \$ Y- kreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.# X# J2 w& w' ]& ]- Y9 J" ]
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local3 \7 o7 V* }" ?( E
or visitors.: o" v; X5 k# _" H5 W1 O# f3 ~
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 0 D2 d$ r$ K. @) f* h+ O
