We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very - x" r5 ^, X# sinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we) W n4 q1 J4 t8 l) X
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 1 u3 s8 N' \( h( o- S6 w ; Z* R6 o$ F& g L7 w9 c* J, BIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,' O+ D' O1 o% L. Z& o
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in: @' X7 d9 h9 Y& z2 E s# g! S
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 6 [$ Z3 }6 V& Cpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 5 Y- K4 x+ x( f$ e/ I5 a, ]! xshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 6 ~; ~. Y% E8 P! N$ W" t% Bbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ; |2 a( d+ F( ~8 l& O* blobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ' X6 H$ m4 ~7 \5 N/ B, dwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 1 y! N* ]5 X9 F5 R2 N+ R People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but) ^3 E0 V) O( x) X
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 6 g( p3 K! u) N% Eexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our / \" H+ ~) D6 h$ ~flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through# Q0 {# R! M+ r: d d- i1 ]8 Z: I1 A
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.2 _% P+ x9 F/ }- `: k/ y
; V% O1 B" w! C8 _' S, Y8 C1 A7 `The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,9 Q i+ s1 t2 w
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool4 ]9 ]) V! {7 A) ^- v
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ Q, Q! j5 r, V4 E0 Tof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 8 E+ A7 I3 S+ i6 v% Wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 9 u1 T2 j5 A* m3 w0 m0 _49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes2 j0 @' x6 m8 J: H
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with$ @+ {. w& ~% U! G1 ?+ u& x
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. + W1 z( u. b" A. | |) r0 f0 p0 K& [6 H7 q' D* |& h
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 8 O' u! h: B- \just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! T- F3 u R+ G7 E- B- z$ G5 W0 K
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba " \, i# J- ]* Z0 Ftourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having( z( t- P! h% [$ W% M& C
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China `9 U1 `" m9 Q! t+ g4 i& vdaily 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 ; V3 b' W0 C Z4 g4 K: Rstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went ! W5 Z. ]+ e6 l5 @! Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 7 Q, o5 C& D% N; X"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give8 Z; }# x( ~4 u. ~- Y
answers to our pointed questions. & z8 P# |) l: G8 R8 U. t0 z$ P' l 7 \4 G6 ]7 \& VThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 9 G+ h" e0 U8 M* g: [ F45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* v& }; A/ w, p- A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is! R" h9 e+ v8 r' g/ L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams ?$ s% j; H. m) F$ i5 v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# F8 o) l# q& T/ Q6 {
medical schools. + q6 A: v+ q7 R. G# T : Z0 {# w/ k* W) e6 Y9 cEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the- j+ B2 C; h" q. n8 O" k
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ a+ C! e$ [/ ^% q4 U
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) l' r7 T+ t7 x# Q) O% ~# \
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 2 d2 P0 ?1 N! h: \4 @5 wis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 8 ^. \! V: |3 h* Dover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ; x* ? @% v5 p: P( Xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and. @' Z$ d! k$ o. J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ; M! v, E: Q% X( L( C/ S3 @8 q* hshortage which the government is addressing by converting some . n, z) g2 m( j+ m1 H& Bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 Y9 }! H G% y9 m$ x, m3 ^& [7 B6 e
& q% l9 h& G0 c* T6 _- ]. b c; J
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ) w8 k' z" m; ], @! D" Aprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and + o# l0 y1 K8 lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ! @' u0 n8 |- {$ |$ V/ n' mhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good " F( I" E& Z- Z ^' e7 @2 j' Jthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: Q+ p7 R' O0 g7 x. y8 s' C( u
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ! ^' d- a8 g, M% q) ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 2 ~- k2 u/ W. G* P5 z, s8 x IDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When7 p0 O1 V! u& ?3 V
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only! j( a$ X4 r1 B3 l
charge the fee defined by the state.+ x; `( Z7 n2 q2 |4 i: h* z, r0 O/ N
3 H) v7 d) Q( zThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get " o# A1 B& X1 X7 Z' M5 [on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 2 r$ c& d9 J$ b; Kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big . [6 [# Y% V" E& a/ h1 }) btruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel* q* ?$ j2 {- K ^5 p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 i/ Y. t4 V9 z* T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on " ]' d N, L/ n6 x& {9 xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if - h9 m. s# ?4 _you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people2 j3 X0 D' A( B( ^
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! O+ V }7 b1 Z; R# g' K# c, L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; E! r8 p3 F) e. L M2 L; q( K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ; d. o% b- F7 }: n5 X; tto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or. d0 c- `; u7 w6 i! c8 P+ a8 L0 v
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, z. d( \2 _6 A. k# v
are spaces. 7 l8 d1 y- ~& q9 ^, r0 s6 B9 u 6 ~: h! h7 e* @8 SThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 5 b( x- w1 I5 Kto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they & i# U% n _. k% \, j6 \% Xown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ) [( h- u7 W/ Q. o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different2 a3 Y0 |7 K {0 D. ?+ o
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the - X/ J0 d! D5 S- Y P9 L6 k& hbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( f5 g% Z) }" p- d; M$ X, Q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of1 ?" z2 L$ C I+ x6 C4 ^ z- N# i
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it K' x+ P7 c' V0 {% Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ e# Z: {) a0 @, K* G
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 ' e+ x$ A/ \- L: @! zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all E3 U8 |% R0 Y# q Wthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very $ L. t8 t) n2 I# p9 h7 {! k4 Klimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ( g5 P+ o) |' }4 R' h2 precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ' S- ^4 V+ T3 S: Q: ?. wsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 7 V" W. |6 v' [6 ^& {; E8 J: Nthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms , ^0 ^3 D1 e+ \. L5 \% zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the / A/ w; z1 E: g) ^* ~" [4 K4 T* v( n9 ?tourist area. $ w# @$ _1 H& ^; T* a0 _( T * K# O) \% r& z: R$ vOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's4 D$ I$ Y; O# u
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). % [7 U6 h. s( y N9 \0 \" VCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 3 I/ _7 J4 K) L) Yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ; s3 u6 w6 C' @) `8 K% |5 \! [
less leader-religious.5 j! v2 D8 B: [
1 X8 @" l; n3 L+ e! U7 h* \+ m
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba& s& R; O% I6 p. |( \
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big4 J+ X' p: H R2 l
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 9 V# H. x4 S& O, ^/ vembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)." g" t( w+ \, ^3 u; `- x
$ c" R0 T- E$ R8 [We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the! P3 W$ n$ x, A
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ( \& K {" T8 o' ]7 n$ n) e8 g$ dthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1- {* v0 w& e! r# V2 ~% d) t- G
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ! |( ]$ A: Q- O/ [8 n0 cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars, O9 i; c) A+ L5 P3 V# E. \- Q' ?) o
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we! N; q/ W, j4 _0 y. x, ?
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the" S8 p# P+ S7 N- n
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 9 |2 [4 H; _1 g" b- @! B$ ZAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local1 x8 `' }: v* ~4 j" z* c
or visitors. |' |. w' k0 T$ c* s# g/ |/ Z) d# T5 \ 1 l& N4 | X$ y8 a* F-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
