We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very# I& O+ G3 I0 k7 a
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we a# k" h0 t9 X0 F& v: ]
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 1 o$ A8 a* r4 q ! f! e8 v' i3 r5 L cIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,) N7 U, ~% h9 O
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in* z9 a3 b# O2 \+ f' D' _
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( P! V* E8 X- v" t3 V4 D9 W
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 0 \. `* o8 r/ mshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep2 A: ^6 V) ^) m# q. P% |
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the/ q& S4 G* f4 [+ [! k, J& z' s ^
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- r& p% m- ]+ p% n5 P2 U2 I6 f" [
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.4 g/ N+ W- r/ W; Y' I+ ^! g# b
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but / n' S) ?5 D9 w0 ]% Snames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not0 S% z; E+ C+ Z) h5 m# M
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our3 `: J* e5 Y6 z
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ! [9 `$ `2 Z4 |( K, [a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. - g- q0 J( ?! O0 r2 ^! ~- Z& @/ G% I9 A
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, , l* a3 d# Q/ U0 T4 Ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool( F; [- }2 k( [1 |. ?' G1 M) e
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top / v; w0 F, _: t1 Z8 _; q' Zof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 5 _8 H& v2 T! r; K8 {stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from! v- l$ u" C7 b8 h/ ]! h3 m) {6 N% o
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes % I3 n- V4 h( C1 A6 l6 @Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! g& {6 H: ~$ a8 c
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 3 ^2 L5 r/ K# p3 I# D" b3 z) w# d8 @7 R& N4 o: b9 b
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are . f) z+ s& i/ T* U) X2 S: R4 ljust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made$ V0 B8 U0 m- A _7 l5 }
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& a! }% D$ K) ]1 h& d/ H. B! s
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having4 O' U! u6 u- ]/ p2 w
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China1 @" ?: m W) r' v$ D' H9 E
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 5 b. ~' W, O# K( N; qstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went |+ ]! E1 \$ o: S8 F! R" N
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, # q' |# P0 m; N# b! Z. a# ?"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( D, F6 `8 v7 Z
answers to our pointed questions.( C$ [- u) _0 E1 B* Q7 N
. Z: S& F1 z8 q( X
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, # w, x/ }% I- X0 t' U# |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand! A# \, {5 }' B, p% O# {( x) S! o
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 7 I& s1 M$ ?8 d9 q! Q9 v- g7 ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams) [0 B4 d3 v, y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ' e( Y% l6 w6 a" s3 i- `7 zmedical schools. 5 L/ b& a4 ?. k: p, w 6 m! a" c, U! M$ @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ D# v8 j3 W6 G' a
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 0 w) q5 O3 S2 p- Sto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years8 _' H7 X9 j. j% _
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba' r/ N* E* @ h8 B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to # x e) m" Z* `) |! d4 R% vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 6 u- @& A: V' a" e+ v8 j. e2 A3 w8 iseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and + W: M; r* I2 \ P `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% S1 V9 |3 k9 S" A+ I8 J
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some : W5 O% o7 p' o( X# k" q6 _5 Tsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. o! s$ Q1 c/ ~6 _- b
3 R; C( Y3 H3 P+ x
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no/ {5 x- A6 ~; s5 `& X
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and u3 Z2 A+ b% v0 T/ u) T
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people # d) Q |% s7 l) hhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 s2 `, D% v1 R9 o$ P
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 7 @( w6 z: |2 Y3 Usitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 4 n9 u3 s$ k" Y& m: i2 gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ d1 N9 u7 |. f; N: |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When: F8 ~/ M; Y6 S. i& }7 |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only8 T7 Q* m4 V6 c4 ?
charge the fee defined by the state. % Y5 d! V& R" S1 K: G 1 o9 ?) J' i8 K- ~, f% M$ ] FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& p7 v* Y# p( F5 E2 B. Y
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 8 J* r5 D6 z2 {- Q2 N5 H0 V6 l- Zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 h. @- l" [6 |# Z9 G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel , V% z, s, s$ l. iseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 ]8 K' ?# ~- r) j+ K' h, Y
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on $ D8 O6 r5 s: ]schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if / R2 ]/ @$ L' V$ ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people- a# f2 f1 o+ ~1 G$ o! A
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch7 q* [9 }6 j+ i
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that - q9 w8 G" g" Q& f! cpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 0 I. N6 V3 F: l Wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 M q! k; D* z$ L; {
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there # ?! C+ c7 B; l# ~) S# {2 Uare spaces. 8 E* z$ ]) d/ k 0 I0 G/ t' }) M: X" O, \" pThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi & G/ g |! L$ E9 D2 ?to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" h& Z. `& Z7 D! u# Q) J
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: t, N& f% i% I% ~/ V: ]- q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 7 S8 D- U$ g! n( A. w; g- aparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ! h N U1 R9 Z. ^1 a& n. Abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few9 T! j: S v- {/ I1 @, t
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of3 B3 h; F0 A n7 q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, U$ M; u* A9 W! n- {
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( U5 e( W& i2 G* ^; H0 M, t# M: x
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 / `/ q+ @0 ?: U3 _+ v5 @+ jspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 e8 C! f$ X- [% _
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very* t K" N9 Q( r9 }; Y) L0 O; _' S4 P
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep % ~6 W5 \3 C3 U2 K( v8 D& J. C) ]0 \recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day2 @. B1 w2 U# g6 u4 \. J% ?, g
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 5 S* Y5 z' [, q/ B, k- Lthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # _0 m$ I g7 P: |+ j& Phave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the7 q) r- m( S7 W7 B5 B6 \0 W
tourist area. ) h) t$ s4 r z1 c# ]% E l 8 j9 ^4 C5 A+ S3 z& kOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's % \5 T9 j4 B# F5 u( Dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 i+ R" q1 T# P* Z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were # [; J: T) b. Y& peverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ( A7 q/ x% r. m1 W4 Sless leader-religious.3 E# `& U5 P. y# _. Y5 ?
* u7 U; u; E( T9 ]( G: B& n
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 2 I' T2 K; f' W0 u. I5 \government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big) y4 n6 w3 l2 `5 M6 m! r
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 9 \. a! p, I: Uembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). & ^) {! f4 Z$ ]" j. A% H# D6 c+ x 7 D: Z' X& q1 z( @We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the / P7 N- T! { l2 `% fparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not i5 R: h- T& @& {0 C- Nthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $13 z4 s9 k, v1 X: s: E! k) [+ p
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 7 q7 c- L9 ]4 [7 w; v9 Kforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ; ^& [: x5 W! P6 o(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 D! @% D0 B- K& G( h
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the+ f' v; ~4 T2 {1 O; c8 d
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.9 M; {8 y0 ]0 P
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local' S# D& }: P* b5 W+ Q8 G" W! p
or visitors.8 }) Y: g7 t# ?! W3 V0 H
5 W5 }5 @- W6 b! L, }-- 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 1 z' ^5 L1 f9 W8 M) a+ N6 Y
