We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very$ ?: o5 k! c! F, C) Y9 ~& Q7 Z
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we& [, G* ]4 }# d' c r
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. . J/ I6 ?8 ?9 O; Y9 M- _( z8 F* n& o
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, - P3 z6 `7 [% ~30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in , N+ w) |$ P) n, [a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as E+ Q" g/ l+ x5 ?. f4 g. m( R
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 5 y+ D9 @& G: v7 K& p. X" pshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep. Z- ^8 H1 S5 g3 \7 N% R/ g
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 6 h0 P9 w5 h; o( ~% k3 y+ F5 d; Slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,/ z3 {0 [/ _% z
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.( F" y7 P+ ]9 ~1 A
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but' q- a+ n9 B, J
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not3 i& `/ |! e$ P9 Y
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ' J6 g3 T! r' D8 a4 d* gflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through; D1 H# Y; b% K S9 N
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 4 r+ f! P" g4 T5 [3 V% \# D9 b " _6 w: w; h" `( C" s6 vThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,) C1 Y( r. {8 M8 b9 }1 F' _+ ?
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ) J5 Z( n7 m+ a(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 6 b4 k* \( F8 X3 C8 [; F$ hof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the % t' B6 H. O/ c" K8 Q8 c4 V/ Wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from " I! C- \* V& F1 W49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 7 ^7 ]6 c9 P# W4 y$ rCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ! { w$ T3 n7 z/ ~- V6 @4 ffingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.. F, }. T8 C3 i7 x1 y) E
7 ]0 A) T* q: A
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ; u( R# }6 _3 g" l' ojust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 2 g; y- J& f- vfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 6 M+ }& ]0 {! F; | Atourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / F+ n2 q) |! F9 Ba staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China, d! k6 \, @% P) U3 f
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* q% X2 v v$ n2 L
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went4 i5 k" P: _2 f
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 x8 w' }/ k$ s/ O) }6 Y+ y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 q/ C. a3 G8 g6 r/ |, M# x& k
answers to our pointed questions. ; u8 [) |: b6 T. }4 j/ t9 x% N Q
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,0 w! L0 V3 [# c( P+ x d' A' D
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 C7 V9 p% K5 \- C
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / G. @7 S* B" d" J( W0 {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 7 I% g" ~- m8 j9 U i6 \# Sto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 U- j' S8 t+ j. Q7 f6 w- w9 B, S
medical schools. ; f* Z( {; `, {3 R. _ 1 l: U5 A7 t4 ?: p3 \5 ~9 oEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 @+ N9 J* z- A5 s. v. F1 e
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ( H- {6 W& d/ ^9 y/ p" t+ Eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ( z8 D$ K! e. x0 {2 ~4 Oassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 8 q5 F) Z7 }; T6 v8 T8 W. [is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- o, V% ~3 a& \! a
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There- z0 v7 ]6 i1 k& ]' r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and2 o0 D4 f, u! ^8 L
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' P& J- F" k$ P% c7 l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some ! W$ Z1 S4 p. y8 h7 M1 C# osugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# U" ^+ V z U( L9 Z1 a
) i! n' a# ?1 L# y0 }/ TThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ! |) S4 j% H; A& v# n4 l0 Qprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and . L/ K% j% M" B1 a: o; C Bsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# X% N) m. l: ]+ i6 B
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 1 h D$ @' K b7 B. i4 r+ V4 athing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, \- g6 q4 f2 H2 H! k: U. \# V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, p) O- n9 b# t0 U% n. m
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.# p2 P: q; d v' E* I& I: K
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 9 |+ x L. o9 z' _" D/ J. x% za lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( P& X0 J( c; H* }( o# i1 U) H) n
charge the fee defined by the state.8 S& R1 `. v: e& ^( I6 Y
: s( S# R3 p# h {5 S/ [' BThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ( U& m; E2 H9 u( |3 Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 M S6 n' r% a' ~
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big$ A0 ]9 \" F! C
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel3 E& G" X! s/ J, o, T6 f5 h
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the / O5 Z6 b9 ^$ i" _$ tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 5 _1 ]6 Z0 Z. \: B4 P* {1 @; D% bschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if8 P2 v/ W& p7 O9 g& W5 }
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ G3 T: j1 Z: W/ y5 y& A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch , B9 j2 Z* F3 thiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ) `& W$ P% s. c0 Y1 I: n, \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want b+ g4 g( x- R: B7 O4 y( s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or # u( t6 t2 a5 D1 [2 _2 ~$ K$ Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there / B2 V- p6 [+ V% J6 i( T! Aare spaces. * A0 B' T+ U8 a& p3 T/ ~+ M. M5 M% _5 H6 a$ q" P1 F
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi " j+ F" o. {) E+ }& i* |to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 4 M) N% i' u c% D4 _3 H5 [. vown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the `3 U" Y# W7 j2 d t4 E
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" M/ e- K* [# `2 v1 X2 F9 h
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ d. L; q* |6 L6 @# n
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 5 I @% K3 l* {) qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of " ?! u# J- D, gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it . C! E. U. x" k) d5 m/ jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ! r# F, z1 N: _* E+ Q0 u 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 / | w$ c0 F- {# |" M. I4 Zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 3 e. n! c) U& Z9 W E+ T3 wthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 1 v6 R7 c% Z7 i( ^9 Ilimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep7 I; Z3 J! \( f5 E% a5 p
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day8 i% o' [' R% w" R( O& O
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of - j. ?1 O; `( ythem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 3 X+ L; `$ C5 ^- m; V/ uhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ! N0 x A) s4 [1 a# k! Ttourist area. ( J+ A) F8 s4 j% [/ O1 h* V' u. H L- o! p% z. V
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's1 _5 v4 F5 P' i
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).' a: L. @% E* o
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were & z; l% c9 F: {& T1 H- h6 Meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " a7 s: L9 s& c/ d r8 A! Dless leader-religious. . Y7 d2 ]; ~8 ^9 }3 p( | 6 _2 J! ^6 q# u* n! ^9 EAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba8 O3 b' D; p% `$ w
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big # z( H" H4 H2 F% I4 d1 I) Bblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US) v2 s$ r' \# r0 x: y
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).& y p6 c& V( j% A2 I% Q
% V) \& `. N; R, t: ]We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the & |9 l/ K# b' e' M4 l; l# yparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 ?2 l s3 G% X4 t; M
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 9 W+ t( g9 Y1 A7 F7 @' kconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for + a# U6 h4 w& n; Y6 r- `! X, u5 Nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 9 ^' k2 g( ~8 |$ {9 G* F4 L) L(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 5 l+ O& E" k( |& P: jprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the2 D7 R: Z& q& o1 u& i; S4 e
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 8 ]- l2 e1 k5 dAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local, {6 j3 ]* K( b$ X* M: l
or visitors. / x# u: s1 U2 o y+ o0 @" U, k& e# [7 ?, H4 Q
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
