We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ! H7 P, x0 `. x' d( E3 ninteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we/ ^9 W6 k$ [5 I# p7 j
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. - t8 {' ^2 S* Y# t4 v$ U! @1 h$ J/ R/ h
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,, s3 u! Z) K7 z
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in & m) f6 e9 ?+ L( ~3 ra very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as/ y% w+ G* W7 A5 F0 q
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort% G3 r# H" `- Y/ K
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ( ?* i0 S& V5 `0 l( b$ A' ]6 Ibetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 9 U5 f! `3 J# H/ L0 A, q! `lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, 2 j' I' w6 {/ ~3 G. D1 n8 \with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 6 Z% D% |2 D( t u c4 D People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 4 W$ C {2 z* s: R% bnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not5 }" c2 [% L K
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our5 e) n, b( d' E5 S* D
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 5 n* {: J! N$ {a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 P) A* J( l8 i( L% \; n
/ {0 B) _5 k1 ^' oThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,+ y6 O) N5 q, k- ]9 n
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 2 F# K4 O: @( w- q- t(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top9 l. |1 H H( w4 q
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the9 ]& o" [( }4 D% \+ V! u
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from - p, Q- F4 h; d49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 0 k, V9 ^9 D; G9 ?- ]: ^Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with; h% g$ L9 P9 L( f/ h
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! w' z& ?8 V. O$ |
) G. ?4 K' g* u) {" }9 s8 ~The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are' `3 l$ u/ X0 u( V" k$ e, H( s8 t
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 5 v- s. U* z D; |- ]2 s* Ifor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 2 w' |& g% K6 ?5 n+ a2 E1 Stourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having $ K8 C2 S8 m% e) Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" b5 ?/ \* K, [' J# x; M, b
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, living7 { ^, i: N* y8 ~/ P+ ^' z
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went; { b z1 G; j: e
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 1 H# |, b& o4 ?2 K4 i; g9 D1 s( s% }"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, _/ I8 L) b' E! e S
answers to our pointed questions.+ @5 j, t0 C& q* c/ S$ J& Y0 |( V- [
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ w" S7 J: A) H* C
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 C. ?# h: m* Q* M' t- h
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is3 X( L9 e8 l2 G9 @" ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams : R n) e! e. I) B. j& J$ Zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are7 ]& |: m7 m6 Z0 M ~, D
medical schools. 5 f/ Z$ H) q2 |4 I & W: N' d# S6 E+ e6 wEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 S k0 O# l1 {; G* }government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants # |* _- D/ y# Tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years9 W; a- x4 k# z# w
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba2 r& ?1 T b6 i% I0 m* T/ O# {: g
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to . W. y* T2 G* ^, a6 x. n7 h. ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There% M2 m) T1 }- r8 p& S- c& x
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 8 x! B4 }/ u7 ~/ ~- f n+ k$ r+ y/ C' cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk0 {% c* q9 {6 N( ?$ A
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 9 p! A) ?. p0 m g* \( Fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 4 X2 ^2 p8 ]! l. D' h A8 [& Z7 P5 a2 G9 S
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no / B0 p- k, y4 F, S( ]private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and+ Y+ V! O8 w+ [) a* K# i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 Y( e Q, A8 }) o
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good : B" n% @$ s2 k" \8 i1 Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby7 `- z+ p% U7 H6 A8 f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( `1 X5 X1 p1 l
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 1 G: N9 J5 d! E6 bDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ' `7 [, i- c1 Q/ @0 m+ O4 ca lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 e6 z8 S- `- g+ y! R
charge the fee defined by the state. * v" a9 P3 a( I( }+ `4 h' {/ T: B; v% J z
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get # l9 g' q( Y7 B7 G: L9 Q9 zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type % I; K% U+ h- \" G, C% w5 y* ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big: |0 Z9 P2 Y; n1 W0 K! j3 S0 m" z' |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ; f+ P3 N S- c7 U* m1 h1 @# _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the , y/ X, J) B, h# `working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on# `( \8 z1 L% A* T" s' P: x- d
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if5 e* g1 x+ y5 z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people : A0 O4 j/ A4 _5 n) ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 1 A2 q- R: A+ Q1 i7 O9 t" hhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that7 C, z7 s6 T* e' @+ f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 8 f# L0 N: V9 k3 N8 W* L+ c8 Y7 g1 Zto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or + s# C: t X) gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there+ f; k" F& G# p. P6 w& a7 J
are spaces. * O+ q& i/ m: W) e5 B% ^7 g5 k" h , j4 Z* V. O9 v, B' h$ Q7 fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi & j% M0 \! L7 U+ @/ gto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' D2 e+ d8 I" x$ b& [
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the K' W6 b( U0 i+ N9 ^% V40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 v5 _9 x. h$ W; e6 d* ~, Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 4 V! S) P" Y! [3 e' Z- ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few ( u/ z" P+ a- B+ u1 t2 C* N. ]- unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of , F, T7 s. a4 p5 p5 Ocar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it; F4 v, v, U# l0 {7 t7 ]! N
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. t, u, F- `5 E1 O- M/ E% 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 # U( r& n# A" Rspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all " L9 ?9 w2 o* _# t4 M3 t3 {the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 2 ?- {/ G1 |: l) T( U( elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep M& ^1 \7 {& O" b8 q: \, X* I# M/ D arecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day + W6 _* e% U4 Dsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) j2 \, F& n0 o$ p4 ~3 _
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ! J7 D0 R3 k1 ^have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the- Z z8 s: ]' P: `
tourist area.3 O: ], ?( b2 \3 w# I- U& r! ?
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's7 N2 P9 l2 P( y0 s, l- S% P0 K, q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). + f6 q8 r1 l2 z% }Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were1 }# j8 D: B- \3 L: }: I; A) Q
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 V: [ Q* P8 Q7 _
less leader-religious.2 {& r' \ S" Z* W. H1 N4 d$ c
! z2 X6 t, R8 ]5 v# J+ v$ ]
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba " K3 r/ {' r: egovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 1 h/ f* ]! V, i* Yblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US : ^8 [9 C8 ^6 vembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). " ~ T* l6 i7 \: u* T3 `& h+ G0 p! \# u8 F. q+ d- J$ W$ Z
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ) P( j# L% u1 H& Rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 5 L% X! W3 j3 Nthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $16 ]1 u1 m' ^6 V9 L- x
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for; P: N; \9 e4 Q
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars! f& S( C+ }3 S$ o! z: G2 l
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we . z& q. Z4 T7 W( b) Q" {probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- T1 p0 p- k5 |- _: S# e1 m
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 7 Q5 e1 V+ ]2 {$ e) jAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local # c) C, s8 ], R+ H6 A. f% nor visitors. 3 p! n! `1 [ t2 Y0 P9 _+ m* u/ g8 I6 f' ?( ]9 @
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
