We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very9 P' L' W6 K. n, @3 F
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we! Z0 u8 o- Y: E: d! R, S4 S4 g
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.0 s$ B2 T' Q* w, ]6 D
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, 1 F# r4 Y L0 k9 j5 ]2 P6 U( L5 u30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in7 C/ ?3 j0 T8 c. A
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ) H# D. m3 r @% U. i9 Apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort+ C. L* s, i8 S6 ] P) _7 Y$ s j4 L
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep / y/ N _9 Z5 T, xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the - P. m' ~3 F2 [( ]lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ( h2 b4 ^2 S1 c! z" \$ u9 Cwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.8 ?( z- p3 P5 d) N& H+ Q! S- W: s7 o
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but9 ~/ Y# b! h ]% _* X
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not * r& @/ A2 f! X# A8 ^exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our: _1 N" p" X) L' v4 Z- E! H
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 8 a) g* r6 N* Y2 L$ y8 Ka roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ) c; ^3 V0 n- _4 f% R" E! M % {- S# Z5 F, V7 K! TThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, " P6 N& G* H }6 k6 v. H0 j6 plow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool $ U( [. l0 Z, |" ^) |(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top* a, J- W2 Y! f4 A2 M( ]' h
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the " k; e8 n; I( ^3 }. U, ~, hstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from : P, x. C% I( {0 L- n/ M" W49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes( h' b$ R$ a2 [1 c# e1 H" U
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with% e2 @0 p' e6 _) [
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.) r0 Y5 y4 t$ f' o2 `' Z5 q+ N
R: m. M/ B0 ~+ z8 c* W( d; @# MThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are , q' j3 i: g, x" H; a7 j6 Cjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made " y; l% Z5 ^3 Z( \2 |for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba % R) v! U8 t6 |) {& J1 ltourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 z/ n4 u0 K: ^ l. U; N/ M+ ua staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China; W O/ S2 a5 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, g5 e: S' M5 y! Z; H e
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went, I' u3 A, e# F1 ?5 Y7 v# Z( R" C( W& _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, l& n8 ^( \3 @( R2 Q+ C0 t2 Y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give ( y. H6 u, Y: z4 c! Q1 r. Ganswers to our pointed questions. ; ]/ z4 s2 T; D( F# {; }$ {# `6 M6 T7 [0 f
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, # w- K4 S" P0 f45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 z/ o! D; I0 X. T, g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is7 v* d4 f: ]1 @; q9 D8 _" P
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ) E7 K! B* s( ]9 `! ~; _to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 6 G, K+ m9 k7 j! Omedical schools.& q0 Y8 Q% ^" ^5 S0 j0 z
- D, G! g7 J; t) ~Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 S& C% f- j0 K4 _
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 x! q6 M6 }6 x7 y2 fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years4 O: p' s, \5 J& y5 A: V- D
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 u4 Y1 D$ B1 T5 d4 a2 t
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to7 B; a5 v( {+ {7 c# s, h- x
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There * a# n4 i. D7 _, f' U2 eseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and - D8 o; B: j& F# x1 zmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 [7 ~7 a8 B) k
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 9 ~* W9 `$ l7 bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands., G( ^' p5 ]* P% r
2 k& ^! b+ o# [! ]/ AThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 7 ~2 F% o2 o' A$ p; f3 h. D9 f% kprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 [, f: W6 l! J, K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people , B% h7 \" X* ?- T) chave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good; J( B; I) w: C* l! d
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 9 `# ^8 P6 P# q q ?. k, }% Psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 J( T! F+ D) w. A- w8 i udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 x( S4 n7 }; G A4 zDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- l$ s; l) f+ c* e. B
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + z5 {! ~* f: v! Acharge the fee defined by the state.6 u! X9 I8 b# X8 w) \* J1 T1 R
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( z, G( ?/ t8 b8 {' @, W' }
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 9 |: ]% b& @7 Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big! ~3 w, O0 O) w. A
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel , O6 z% _/ t; X/ P; B# Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 7 P0 [- m3 y/ b1 b7 {5 l& l* yworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 u+ G# u- J% |/ I: Y
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- W2 `* d5 y, |( [; C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people. p3 j; }7 t, V
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch \8 {% E# b; m6 T; g- d6 \& k/ ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that8 c! \( T2 J0 |. v3 L! l" h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want . q& _* h/ [$ E& t$ R2 `7 N% {. }to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ' b8 d! Y, f* h% F1 d- Q( \) abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- }" ^3 y1 r; _1 B$ y! R( `: w1 w
are spaces. " q5 N4 c4 T/ e% w: @5 ]+ T* D 0 w" E7 t% S( `/ LThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi! c" y' J6 {/ i) B, c* {. k. M
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' S' Z+ a& T" P, ^
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the - o$ E- }4 ]; L( m$ X# y/ b( f40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 S9 ], b& K5 ^) a8 C9 g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 3 `3 X: p! m1 L2 ?* obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few : a" A1 |! k2 S1 Hnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 7 m& J8 E; x! E" W# }$ J6 Ncar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it w$ L8 ?1 J# l9 pis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 Q2 |# Q' a- x% b4 V
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. d/ W! U n( X4 b! [ @5 I
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ; w0 s! U. ^: M6 athe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very | _1 I9 x: G; y* ylimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep; h$ U/ [; j; z
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day, a! \1 p7 o; G8 W
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 6 e% `6 d+ J" _8 U: Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms% [5 C3 l3 \) a& r0 J7 W
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the " F1 g1 O9 v- ^- Z9 Utourist area.! l" m8 F8 T% w
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's + O' ~+ V, L" U0 _ s1 fpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). * g M% u7 V) N+ a2 A- TCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - y5 B z! {/ e9 veverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 \/ r( G* O* X; J! G6 aless leader-religious. % t& N* @5 {1 `$ z; C 2 K. w2 y; A+ wAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ( F' }% H9 C8 cgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big+ B' {& t) L; @
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US / X9 i0 m, ~7 g3 N& K' tembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).2 p# H: b$ n3 M5 R ^+ A
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 0 {3 x5 `8 `2 e( t" uparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not- }! `5 ^9 D8 c. l3 n
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 9 V. _+ B" H: n2 o9 H+ Z4 b8 econvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for) y3 Y4 @: {$ r* S' @
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars, Q, V/ i1 ]0 }5 l* {7 t0 P
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we- M% D* ?: L% N( P1 x( ?
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the* u0 z3 U# T4 A
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 F# E A2 _5 |: Z1 Q# s$ s% uAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local , r0 `8 i) p/ ?1 f- Nor visitors. 5 k6 V( d& s* ~ / n+ } u" a I3 I6 y* x-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
