We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 0 D( \3 s% m0 w2 [! W- e1 W' Finteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we / k' H N6 A% _2 Dwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 3 Q+ A+ N9 k3 y3 f3 F& N & C! T4 A$ h* A/ t8 s7 h0 r1 ^2 WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,3 u3 |: ^- N1 g5 E, x& _# s% P
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in * z4 \! ~% _0 Y! u7 sa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) g! w' j# X, | j
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 5 E/ S0 F. _0 Y/ |3 Q$ a! oshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep L b/ _0 }' n4 h6 \ z$ t& Hbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ' s9 [3 N, U5 D0 Elobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, . e# }+ I6 q: q2 l7 I: vwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 \- ~( }0 v4 Y. x4 l( R
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but% R" W- a# W3 w
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not6 q+ ?. R: k$ B
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our, P6 f, m; @ Q5 O4 D4 d
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through! a& V2 v& q; n( x" d# [
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.5 l4 ^' y* S0 \. E
! ^6 O5 ~3 G4 {. N5 g5 RThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 0 ?/ Z( N* i6 P# K# [low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 n$ ]; b$ O/ ]3 I; x( G
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 8 R; y; ^* r# Y; _( w( jof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the+ T3 ~+ ^; L8 G, z; O4 c) m: R6 A
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from& q: k# |& c' c% h- R
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! J+ N$ m: B8 y, |! YCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with / r& ?( o# ~ mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ; |& q1 C) g$ n 3 \+ S. f2 W8 U! U& L+ ]: J2 K) L$ LThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are2 M: X2 k; o/ l4 e. e8 ?4 y9 d, ^1 F
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made& @' A4 W/ Y0 n
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba ) A M; w" _' `- `3 U6 K' Ttourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having' s+ r1 Q5 ?% l3 o: L) h" S
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China - l# p0 i5 n. N) e9 Edaily 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 ( V+ P% {, h+ j7 ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went$ `: p8 v- p4 J$ Q) f4 Y9 E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,' c4 ~( b+ D8 h" t7 \ S: m8 c- u
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 0 d8 v3 w6 f( t3 B+ }& janswers to our pointed questions.2 m: Y$ u, c9 I
- S! o- D2 y2 I2 ], m; ]$ t/ m
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ N; ^' d2 ~: X ]$ k6 W P: P* P
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* {9 n2 u: R& q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 S& m! L" h! P+ g% n3 u
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams$ |* U. \' }$ G8 l4 }5 i2 t) c. P# X
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are . z: {% K8 s. H+ s' Z+ kmedical schools. 4 l! p" u+ S, Q6 }! t/ m& w' I4 t+ j- D0 T* G& Q7 Z
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ' r; j! I9 ]/ sgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants% `. ]3 \, Y, V3 Z# C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years. Y: z. M0 c* M# J
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: D# L0 G( o! `6 f
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to F" \5 a+ O0 X8 c
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ! {! g% Z) V% R6 U/ L) x% vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and / `7 m2 R( m; q. R( jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% j2 J- A; B& S- X" b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some2 u: ?( I/ G- J p+ ]/ b
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. , H6 A! F2 t+ _8 R- _ ! e: x5 _# P/ d8 iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 3 K1 l0 f) l8 g3 wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and- m" U$ N! O9 _+ a
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 1 m4 y1 n" b4 Jhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good - B! W% b! B& R; d( c8 Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby # X5 Z9 _) W2 ssitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high / |' d7 Q1 @" R# M4 P* c0 adivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. - f0 V8 G" `- X& kDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ' p, T* v- ? V* [- C$ k- Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 y& N9 e; s/ {( f9 c* r
charge the fee defined by the state. 2 ~6 j* ^4 U0 C* b: A l 7 k. a2 }- R2 s: o2 C# ^There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get, b X* `4 L/ W* p3 ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( b- v, Q' t/ k+ R9 H
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& f( p! o3 r: D: o. n+ ~; M
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel: c! ?+ u1 J1 f" z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ D, F4 S0 Y5 H- E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on & A o: u& X6 Q0 x$ E0 D- Qschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ; C2 b% s0 {- L+ l! a, V0 qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 5 e7 V: K% I* V* f) ntrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch + R9 q S! {5 Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that' p$ H4 R4 x; g/ V* i0 z
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want * F$ f! s) H* `to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or & {+ r# ]1 a( r7 d: Z6 Ubuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ; x1 w( L$ ~1 C% Nare spaces. & l/ I" ^& O5 H7 L+ q2 b- d$ D & [9 R- j( P: n# ]; mThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 2 ]0 G/ G$ ^& Q- vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they2 s0 O% D0 T2 v1 L
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the, ]+ C. q; t6 i4 @
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different . s: E" Y+ C }# wparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# d- p3 w, P5 B7 i
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; L# g8 C' f, ~7 \& t* J1 x
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 ~" @( @9 `1 H9 P. u( o; w% Q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, [* Y1 r/ }/ E
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.; x% I+ H6 ^" A( p3 y: f
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 beautiful0 y5 Z% T2 U# O! `: ? R' i7 \% U
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all6 q5 Q" B6 ~* `
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ( T" j7 n2 E; Nlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 7 r! ? E* s5 y) Xrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 7 A$ a( p6 K6 q) g' H; esupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 1 M2 |1 }( D7 e, y, Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms3 T) K* J" X2 f/ v, a: [( t
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the* b* y; z# o# ^% l4 \. n
tourist area. ( ~! d6 i# V& J: x" s# i! ~( Q 0 b# A) J, ^; tOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 g) |5 Y: v! ]( n7 \ c
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).( Z5 t9 C! H. T8 Z- X, f1 h
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were$ G w9 b7 R0 |
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 d8 }7 o6 P" A. d; l/ D2 Aless leader-religious. 1 r" e6 W3 c B5 B5 e. l* O& d; e w) y/ g: C
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 5 }" X# c$ | Z1 g0 y9 bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big q$ c) I* _! L( B1 ?0 Oblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ! Q- y/ U. k0 r$ o4 R/ Membassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 7 g% | S# _0 S) @% W" a3 o 4 d" w3 J4 \) OWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the' l) N8 j: ^8 X! V' I
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not9 T$ S% |9 e, g! d4 m
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 : {8 O7 k; L0 ]' m3 gconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ; a! [; \2 u' B; R1 s C! P: nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars " @7 _5 r3 P7 y3 H(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we# _0 Y5 w$ Y9 r6 V( p
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the2 K/ g- l! n& v5 e* ]$ ?
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going., Z1 Y3 w% ^; t+ D5 q
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local , X* d; i7 \2 V; e) ?; r8 Dor visitors. }- H5 k0 c8 \3 ^( U / i8 P o7 Z, L& d) L1 l; y-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
