We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 4 U' S7 x' W1 t0 K" \- b" linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ) ~2 b# }" C* i* L0 p9 Bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. & h. }( h5 D6 E6 Q; c ) E5 i' d! x; }1 y; h; E; QIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,7 F, `* s1 J% [6 P. j' G
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in K: i+ v% G# b+ _
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as7 ]3 \+ s' f& c; J
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort0 v# c5 _1 l8 o) T2 T, ~4 [
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep# j# y- |+ a2 `: ?2 f0 O
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 J* Q: b* k1 X; Slobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,) a0 ~) z: y% `" }* {
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.' N. l4 d" x4 I# q! m8 w
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but/ a1 E! u- p) g6 C6 t2 N ~
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not6 B' [' d& J: }5 _, V
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our! ^0 a2 f0 f; `. T- s( ^1 a) ~
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through4 x! j! W: s3 ~' j% v' ]
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.) e( o: l5 m( K" O j# o: V
^4 ^! N, k2 u: `0 U" P
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ) C/ H; u8 N5 }low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 6 Y6 P3 M3 Z& O. t$ d- |* u(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top , I5 w( t8 M2 \! h" k4 oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 9 u; z; k* j& z7 I3 ^& R8 Gstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from4 O8 u& S, u3 i. @
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes& j8 w& Z3 A3 e* x+ S. I2 q2 W
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with# \/ j6 Y6 k, L5 G. a+ Y5 Y( C/ m
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. * v4 i5 v3 `# V! f7 g+ F' Q9 z3 h( k3 G9 {- v/ [* V
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ! n# T! D4 F# w" n" \0 u6 R7 \just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 d6 c8 v$ U$ [
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba" J: Y5 i7 H" M
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ) i+ s( l; M/ h) f. Sa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China * T3 {& J, m9 {3 D, A- W- Jdaily 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- |1 }. j, c2 E1 ~% }+ `6 K
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went , K9 V, N: w2 Y0 B/ y; R* Uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,0 a5 q( J* \' T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( @9 u& `5 J& `1 Y# M3 V" p+ K
answers to our pointed questions. 6 `! E9 [' ?# u: T: `0 c4 l : _2 T& P, ]* c5 L- LThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, . Y5 l7 H" u+ B7 i: \: T5 V2 |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand5 }1 I: i5 M( r( P& `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is( \ E& `6 a, K5 Y9 h
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 K( v$ y+ a1 ?$ I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are* a0 E1 T4 }; r: N/ n
medical schools. 4 T* h' N( s! P: w& k0 r: t" h1 P4 a: u v; d( v
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 R3 J5 P) Z9 r7 w2 ^
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants " {2 B6 r6 ~3 ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years+ M5 w5 _& T# ]
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba) B- _; X6 n% |
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to U; ^8 ?7 x# ~: ?- sover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( W/ B7 {5 {7 z+ [
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and3 C. j! x" _' `0 b& H/ r6 ~& N* a
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 F( i7 t" Q! M% ?: R$ i, X
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 3 a4 i# B, w+ H: ?sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ; \# A7 |9 |4 }! K( Q/ Z/ T% B) N8 k$ b2 `
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 7 g) L6 ^: l' r( J8 t! c, eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* t/ W7 @* m! n6 r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ! ]: }+ _" }; t. \3 [$ i9 ghave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 8 S% D0 i2 C' W) B( W$ g ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& ^ G5 p; V7 i9 p8 @8 M
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 E/ F9 ?, @3 Xdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.' Q5 T$ t) [+ {- l# }
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 2 L4 M0 T7 D5 D" va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 `4 o8 ^% M% L; x
charge the fee defined by the state.* T) g6 p5 F1 w1 p \0 Y$ _
# V( m# s2 `! B y' F, cThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 1 I% Y. o* W1 @$ `1 e1 I' gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 w/ L( U' X1 Z( sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ! Z2 w: e9 X* htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 8 Z/ U- a; c+ ?6 l* o q4 f9 N: B5 hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 1 {0 `* B/ J5 f% v& ~) {& ~# Zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 9 s$ Z T+ c" o0 jschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ \. d0 e6 O5 U# A; ?
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people N/ v# Q6 V$ }& H9 l- ?5 b, |; f. e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch: s; l; |, S' |$ h- R: G' H6 d; t
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that( C7 \2 C6 ?# \4 B% K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 [3 {" _5 \, w3 Z! }- i+ B: @' w
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 2 @) |, E6 t0 E$ O- T/ Q" xbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there2 f8 u) o2 a0 `' r, t* K' U
are spaces. + y0 s& A% v4 M1 U& V2 \/ X5 y( ] Q, U2 V1 u& ^& n4 ^
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi' x0 B% _6 b- x% y$ t: h) y
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 z: _; f! P5 ?2 r
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: N- L3 ]' y& ?( L
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 V/ B% }2 n0 I: h) W
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. M# b- K: {- P6 Y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( `* z- W3 u- q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 3 Y" c5 }2 v" Y' n4 J8 D# d0 L* Qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it - X1 X# x) `6 H3 Zis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 R2 x- r5 _. D8 q0 m
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 beautiful3 g/ H$ |: y% j! E. t( U
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 6 j, H2 F5 A+ z! j A. C$ u" \. V: Gthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ; A, U. m. K3 M1 b9 I/ r6 qlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 6 x, H; k& r% ~; p" p. crecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day U3 G$ }1 ~9 u/ q- T2 Asupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ' T1 k; T% Z1 Bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms + G) B7 v2 q. |. Khave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the5 P4 J. J6 Z& E+ k9 |6 v1 o2 [6 L
tourist area.0 H$ p7 j: a a$ @5 `2 ]/ t
+ S. d% _7 \3 @8 Q5 EOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: b1 C" ]9 F$ ^( @+ k, O5 n) G4 b
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).1 R2 J" B2 W6 F
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were, L) b, ~- [1 A/ x+ e
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 z4 ^% c- B t4 O; e) F' V& I$ Nless leader-religious.% g# a8 x8 v, P: K
" s* E& b6 q. c7 ?( G- G; W0 VAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba1 ?$ I0 p+ d: q
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 0 b" ~9 B5 \% a$ w: d4 Q. pblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US+ \% S+ ?- W( V8 S0 k# b
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 6 }) c% J! X1 G8 |0 k" l# E- G% V: I; S' z& ?" C5 }/ V
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the( x$ S5 f9 ~7 N- C2 L x
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 8 Y6 x6 j0 ?2 Xthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 # w j' M0 r7 r w# ?* r. econvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 5 o9 W, n, d* w6 e! E6 v+ Nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars * v+ e( H9 v- D, I" D" l(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we $ U* X2 P& |# G1 a2 dprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the ' G! b& ?% L/ `$ jreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.' u# \; l; {8 R) R9 G, B$ f
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local ! p ~1 u4 w) {4 X I5 Q( E4 B3 L- Lor visitors.3 _) J% w1 s# ^% b
# w2 S6 D/ f$ T' M m8 p-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
