We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very0 D; K' W. J: p0 `3 W
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we " Q. I# \# U0 }& P" ^0 Gwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. & T7 S4 b3 Z2 }0 f5 h6 y6 I" V8 Q4 n. ?4 H8 M/ q
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,1 o% D8 D$ w+ o; A
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in' e' `+ U* {: N' U
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as 6 L- {2 {' S; T! L1 g0 b+ S' qpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 2 D% K, z9 n1 m& fshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 V# g, ^9 {; U" G$ g/ Y* c
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the / @# z o1 O Z: w Xlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 s8 G9 Y1 k( Z5 S
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. & g) ~; j+ K/ t; ? People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 6 u" G- t+ b' c- M* x' ]/ Dnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not% G4 z' X* c8 P$ s5 h
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ' f( o ~8 L/ I# r, R% @, pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 6 V7 o+ l, @" L& x7 wa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.0 r6 K. L" J$ F2 p
! a. R6 Z6 A z* ^/ Y9 H N
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,2 a5 I" i' k" \$ L; o
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 p5 e; \3 G9 g6 J
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top& W7 V( \5 g1 K1 n" Y9 j
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 7 j" Y) j. h0 H$ D5 Sstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from . h8 l; e, ]( Z49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes& B% e; l" g; w1 S6 v! ?+ Y! F G
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 0 w# m( r- a! o# `4 P/ Mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.; v3 H* D' _; E, O b
# ?7 n+ p9 F- w' a& k. C# t& y& r
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ) `+ X1 G2 l3 g2 J7 n9 {just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ) b5 G3 @" w* z' r, U5 C% B( c. Efor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 8 ?4 U" C+ q# Wtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having4 {, T; W6 N5 I3 b
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China: z* a3 w$ O+ D0 ?# S; Y
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 4 X: [! R/ u5 Z G6 E" O( n+ O. Wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went * M- F. Y+ F# G' Y; Yon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,7 m5 f, @2 x# H2 _" E
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give * _7 }+ O! l/ F$ ~; ]' y. kanswers to our pointed questions. x9 ]+ ^- U7 W: K+ b* i) d6 c. A) M6 F1 y8 Q7 m
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,$ X" d$ ?9 O- B
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 6 w& {0 B! u: hout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is A/ u- N6 g: L: Z$ e# {5 l" n
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, |+ r! q- `% {1 Y5 J2 v5 o5 }; d
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 6 h, q$ O6 Y: H: [2 t) e7 emedical schools.3 l' [) M# s5 f8 U' D0 F
6 K. }. V$ ?% r1 hEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ( h9 {0 n: P" x4 Hgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants" g1 _+ g* S% m# W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 5 g3 v! H% k, e' |assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ n- C2 d& o. x) |! o
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to8 t" F5 D- _4 O1 a- [
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ( K* F" I2 w9 F* W1 h1 a; bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 3 |3 N7 ?" W9 j3 qmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ x1 t( L9 X/ _0 j
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 U5 F7 H# r1 t M: e9 O* ~
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 0 T) |8 }4 D* ~- M * Y2 E( [/ f7 H t5 g* MThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 6 M( E) l. R5 t. ~private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and2 H" x, ?) Z V l& e$ D
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, F% m: \ \* @6 u" n T
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good+ V* L5 }6 O- V( _
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 P5 z' }+ j/ b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 S1 n, U( A5 A4 T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! i2 D) t! k( x/ X
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When. x& N. G0 V" X4 S3 l) R' v, o# t% W
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only # T: M3 N6 l; j7 l3 Ncharge the fee defined by the state.2 W2 q: @& x* i% L7 ? Q
( x$ Q# c) V0 }There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get% z# Y/ @/ U5 N# p- P- I
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type$ l0 \3 |, I' }
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big # Z3 v* d% S& T/ D7 e c Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel - [7 k7 R$ e0 z2 Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 1 h5 d; P% o. V0 B; v& y" D# @working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 2 w) R" K" i& K! \8 F( h2 u- uschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 2 h6 i$ z( j3 S' jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people+ x; i4 Q* \8 Z$ \
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 8 d8 K* J% R0 U U' e+ |- r* Phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ) |: G! e8 c$ O4 ^- v2 O& s- ^2 `) Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want / S! C$ u5 o+ mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 7 f4 S: t1 r% c5 e1 [" \$ Qbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 3 `0 k3 ~) X( j' e1 F' Oare spaces.( v0 O, y. q# d% X) j
% p3 W6 P3 r0 J) R2 P6 QThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 6 x, J" k. C: N7 s, [% v) _7 rto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ s, h3 K( H' j9 C) T
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 S# w1 s4 r+ r7 y o4 V; ]( D
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different - h% C2 y+ k" ~# P/ k4 R" i' rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 r# W( n3 ?8 C' k: s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few $ d4 B" U2 }& Y! @7 Z* {( J3 Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of * n1 G8 ] ^0 a' k8 {car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it, R- {, ?' ?- k. v: y6 z
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% J. V0 I/ \) _9 I1 {
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' x# o& S d2 e- D: m- {
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 t$ d0 x5 ~# K" a/ h% K
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very ' G( ?2 s, h' [! o1 Vlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep # L Y, d" ~. X+ C5 srecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day4 @1 v% E C( j. w9 C
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 7 `4 W8 b8 d& L' @5 Vthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms+ T. H+ \ m2 d# T- _" f
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the- _5 \5 W! e' f/ f0 z! I0 m5 l
tourist area. * p( H0 d- y- k2 l: s& g; }+ r* t3 Y
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's/ `0 ]+ u" i. j/ A) D/ F1 E0 Q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 S# q% Q, d" H
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - ~) q1 S I# J* Z" i" Jeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ) E l o' [; A ^+ e Y8 k, \6 `
less leader-religious.: a# I) I' O# Q+ v; W1 W, y) y
~9 @0 s% C% ?( A+ uAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; ~6 W/ b0 w0 ?5 v! W1 I
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big& f6 H! U0 t5 P* g# ^
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 4 m' T$ D/ f' E2 {embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). * ~* M$ O, |. L1 e. } ! Q% @/ g1 T1 ^; N/ h# cWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the# O( N0 z/ L/ s/ O$ N$ H4 @. k+ ]
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not. A) L8 H0 Z( T* E! j# \% R1 a6 p! z
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $18 J7 W: }, C' g2 p0 m* e
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for 7 O9 m7 J. o9 ^& V: j. I* _foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars- W2 T- I; X K
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 W1 r: e6 d. S. t' v( f7 r
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- Q( l% E- q& @8 H4 W( F/ f0 }" f
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 3 O% a; T. m, c/ O+ } J& nAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local & |3 q, h) Z' K# B5 wor visitors. 7 L: `* S4 }4 V1 O7 q3 o; ?/ L1 F) Y* ]% w9 V0 i Q
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
