We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very& e }8 `) ?& ?
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 7 K% I% V% Z' j9 A$ gwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 4 o# B* A' u) V! L# T; d3 X! [! w. y9 [3 G- N$ b
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,/ J# v# S3 e S% Q
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in2 B8 q9 s6 X$ Y: G0 t& P+ C
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) f( N' o9 c# v" p0 ]
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 7 q$ R F9 u$ \# k* Z" @show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep9 j5 a2 {9 W6 F* a
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the3 |/ u: ^3 P, q0 S
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, / t3 {, [; C, J8 |# wwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. % j+ }6 X3 T1 B# Q/ I4 V' a# ~ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but % Z9 R9 [% @0 i& Q" u% M5 r S, k) rnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 4 v/ D8 U8 G/ }exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our& c3 q) b: X8 i* \9 A1 b, h2 ^
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 8 P4 C; P# v" ?, ^+ y& {a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. + G5 r: d* C" t" T6 h3 ? ! k* t% v& |9 tThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, & `& r$ T; Z) s2 ulow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 4 y; K' l5 \5 E(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ Y' B" |/ S: ~. h vof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the# J; a9 @$ [3 N+ v
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ) j4 C2 k8 ~$ k49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 W* t/ A& m# K; p+ I' a
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 4 {/ Y/ _& P7 T+ H% i" O; Lfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ( K) N, I2 K3 t* h$ V5 M) u) L, P' g E& j
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are6 S b G% c% X$ n* G" n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made* |7 h9 s9 r& K1 B
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' B" p5 u8 W1 q
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having8 {" \+ |' |& P q9 u; `, O0 e/ d
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China1 S: u ?- ~! f# _5 U7 a: u$ ~# i% r
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 I6 G* M0 Y6 Qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went " Y5 i7 K$ Y6 b; s5 Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, H5 G/ m$ p4 ]- J1 Q8 \! H
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , ` M; w4 {/ N% }$ c8 \answers to our pointed questions.( V7 e& {4 v% [5 W% S+ h4 f7 `$ b, S
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 a9 Q: C6 N. s6 f0 |( f
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand' z, F* |. k/ s# \% D
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ) X/ f8 y7 ^$ i$ _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 3 u& `; ~: |6 C' U' E+ {% Pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 0 s n4 e. [' H4 \; amedical schools./ _& v$ r* s3 J3 [# i; `
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" A% e1 f5 h9 V# ]3 B& R
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants* v/ z! C# X, ^0 d y
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years - w, t2 z& i/ i; r4 a# Passigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba & K4 L% M z* O eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to / U4 {. r3 X+ A* ^1 h* mover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There * ]3 ?$ |7 u# c/ y9 o# A! _! N! a% ?seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and n: w. r- g i5 j; Y
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ! {% Y! |+ Z. D6 i5 G6 B: Vshortage which the government is addressing by converting some, L+ l0 g0 M/ d/ Z
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 3 b% h9 N9 e9 H4 h" a6 o: f$ E9 A' r+ w" \# I7 o: H: \
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 8 ]" V( T: E2 H Dprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 6 X9 }8 [& J, t& ]5 U' Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 s/ z+ }( T8 V
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good ) U, p1 Y( L& S2 K/ ithing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, W3 D L* w8 I8 q( i& Y0 o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 1 |! h. |' Z. n9 Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ _% F0 u' j2 Y: m' F% \
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, l; O- q% x m! Y- _ A3 p
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 8 D* D6 O' R0 L; Fcharge the fee defined by the state.' g- B& i1 W1 ]* h: {2 m0 N
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 E% E; s; ^7 ^5 E4 Uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 4 r, d) G2 P8 ~/ U/ W8 {of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 N' t2 e( A- ?
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 5 T* O1 c7 B; O2 M7 t$ J N' ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the $ d9 N5 N, J' x! D5 R% xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 Q) @2 j) Q" j/ J, W
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 9 D4 \& n4 P- i3 k" q. eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 1 [/ Z3 d- ^1 Y4 R' n, ^trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ m3 d+ R, E& U1 z4 R- k2 I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 0 V3 C" d: l8 B3 `6 mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want + Y3 F' E+ m- j& F+ {to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or # l" G) r& F4 [7 w! ]0 D$ P+ S9 \1 k3 @buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 {2 }2 R- c% ?2 s
are spaces.$ ~/ f' l- e* k% U8 `$ \
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi $ f8 ]5 x* g! a! R& j7 e4 T2 wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. L5 r! \/ `/ n% G* {
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the $ G6 }/ Z! Q, r" y: {9 V! M2 X40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different6 y& y% L. Z, B- H4 `. D. i3 `
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the6 t, X% t# p: Z! ~; {- A$ g
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 p: ^5 T: f% `8 j2 ~( C5 I
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of " z; ?3 t& O) s" r' M: ^: `2 Ccar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 g3 p3 q0 S3 U9 o
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 3 ^ f' v8 L; u% Z- } 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 beautiful3 v7 i1 b/ T7 F) B7 q
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all0 ~ I3 B' d; D0 U, W, d
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very) ?- T7 m8 x% d! z2 M; z: m8 r
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep5 m1 b2 A9 m- s# t0 n- n
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day9 Q3 y3 Q$ f1 o+ @
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 0 U4 _$ A; \0 Vthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 4 f$ q& b x7 u4 Vhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the+ s" D7 y. u, o8 M' H! J/ J" P
tourist area.& v' ^* f: E% V+ A7 o3 V
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ! y& [' H4 N- |; Fpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).3 Q: ?2 \! A/ I ~$ _: h
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were / `9 t; @- r. j- X g# Severywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " J2 K* M& m9 H, ]: ~ _) U+ Cless leader-religious.2 \ K. D% U+ S
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 4 S) i: ]: ^% {+ Y/ cgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ V; A6 F) x* V* v7 z7 Pblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US9 L0 s0 y# M% A
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).$ p, ^- ]7 v, j) `5 i2 w0 N. d) z
( S# i$ Y3 o$ y- _We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the , s' X4 z8 r1 R" q1 g* a/ @; bparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 2 l. C5 E3 @8 _3 Z4 d. s5 ?7 ]the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $10 N4 P( d; B. k
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for X, W0 T/ X( k* a
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars" r5 U' H0 d4 k. D2 q v) l
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we ! x7 \5 e/ ~* B' R2 g3 Fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the5 b& S( P X( n) A& G3 {& k
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.+ c9 C4 N1 t: M6 r9 o
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local9 ?0 f* I) V- }+ C( O" S
or visitors. 5 Q0 g) D M) L7 n0 M# Z* q, K3 n* V- p% ^" R0 J8 d
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
