We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very7 D5 F! ?0 C2 K# j3 e: I
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we D, R* Z9 c2 h. d0 O2 f& O' Swanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ! Z* J' K2 ^4 t. F' R* T/ z; B( W2 Z+ ]' Q! p5 d' m9 f
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, % D# w3 E& u2 m; c8 [! ]30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in + I% v$ L* r9 q) ?6 b$ L6 Za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as $ S1 y- k. P% k9 _4 l3 v- Xpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- B0 y9 ~" j7 d( [& Q0 @
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 9 o6 J* W, h& x2 N* Xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 ?8 r( |% E7 J) z5 U4 K6 Xlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,6 P+ S4 t" @% a+ |
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 6 S- j$ l0 u: V' Q h9 K. ^9 g( } People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but + ]5 G/ A. v9 B$ L* p7 z% n/ E2 }names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 3 [$ w$ P6 P& _* N/ Eexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our k" v9 C; P; U- ^2 @$ k2 ]
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through 8 ^/ X; a2 M: i2 j. g1 j$ }a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 5 B- t) ]# s2 F9 F3 W; y; x) k$ y4 m) V1 L7 [
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 3 e7 ]( ]+ r4 X9 klow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool * w s4 I1 l: ^2 r( {(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top " `) z& V3 A- P, B. }/ G5 ?7 S* {of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the , y# @/ a7 ~, {( x5 a" b' K- w3 {stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ! A3 y& C! m; q; X) {# D) O: H( ^49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 p. D% S% U1 L+ S4 X, L* `
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with H. g+ f+ X, ^, `
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.: a+ [, b0 p9 _4 S4 ^
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are8 _5 u/ I9 F% ?$ P# O$ }
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 2 E6 i, v* t" S) B3 Y$ ^+ wfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 6 Z x! B/ ]: q& L& @- Ctourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having# H, g K2 v1 {' E4 k+ ^) z: J6 }
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China$ ~: _* b- q4 R# {; ]0 X
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 t ^2 D1 e: pstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went * t" v! [ _7 [. K. uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,, N& `- u" v" U0 \+ R
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give2 I8 g S- G4 _0 f
answers to our pointed questions.5 D5 g9 V8 y+ e5 B, U5 G3 L4 `
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# {8 H) v. H$ f# b3 {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 4 ]! i: D! p* ?- Cout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is % D v# |2 @! P4 Z9 wfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams7 t% }/ s x/ S4 q2 h5 \5 R+ w6 E9 B
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are ) ~1 v* D. a$ E; V- p9 Imedical schools.* _6 I8 ^6 g7 j
) f2 C6 F" ^) }* |# q' L( G* LEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 w2 i' G& J v0 A
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 0 Z0 Y. F1 g( }2 W, U+ C0 R' \7 ?. Nto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years . \6 Y) y/ P4 ]# V2 v' R1 l# Uassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba+ J. ~9 f! y1 G; N8 g# j
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" G9 L$ ^' f$ |8 |* ]- i, o" R
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There& ^0 p6 Y) B m
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 4 J8 J# F0 G/ g' a" `* Dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 ?" K5 |! q' N6 L* l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some % I3 F6 p/ O( ~+ `( z2 [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 7 L7 F- M" b+ W9 z: m ' ^, y/ }) V9 n/ U! w( }- hThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no , r- T8 [; A/ M: lprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and; r* L, N5 _2 M+ s9 E
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 e8 E6 Z F4 _- K; R
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 3 G/ y( h8 Y3 p& h- Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby % Z+ v' M9 M; F8 ysitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; c( A% M% f6 L% t. h2 o
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. . Y0 x1 T( i% N( n2 hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ' K3 t8 x' I9 N& g. Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only / i' q4 w2 T9 [charge the fee defined by the state.* m$ }/ _; H7 s' Y1 K% J
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get * y1 ]; b- j1 b7 {; Z L( |$ Y1 |on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; z6 e2 ?1 G% m" z: O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & b( b8 Z( e4 K9 _truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel9 ]& a9 A+ t- r# U8 [- X
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; f6 E) w, q3 q; y/ T
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ; A& l+ X# P$ Z* F8 xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 0 w& z" @& \. R% eyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people5 G1 {# X- Y# J5 f3 l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch : C) W& V3 F- nhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that" h5 q& h. Y! P
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 3 j$ y* j# c( D+ K* G: Hto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! |* A7 p) m1 \* e$ L
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' g a+ `: x) }+ s3 ~/ a! K
are spaces. ; @+ Y8 c0 G4 J. }7 v! C3 b+ G: m & [! h8 y0 S) C5 z: K$ \There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 j, Z% s. \* j; s; Pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 8 M% y# U6 N9 v1 A1 u4 Eown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 5 K" |9 _' u" Q& e9 N40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 D9 p: b9 _+ g* x5 W
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the' i7 t6 b. z8 @- {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - Y$ G: X" Z( A- U6 t# S- onice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of; t( D' p( `! b" E, f4 s& \: c
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 4 ]7 V/ L3 ?4 F V& L' d3 l! D) Ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. \& B3 U8 L7 F5 s/ S3 D5 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 beautiful : B& S2 G7 [9 C3 zspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all + u1 U/ z R; R+ Y6 Athe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very) {6 A( h& B4 t' X N, _
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep . g: g* X2 O C' s' D0 m# nrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 7 U5 f( H6 v. Q" E0 C, Hsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of . X4 h; G, ?& Z4 S+ v% Mthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms* ^! u, L) r$ B# y. N
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the6 o n+ n$ i, `! L3 `% m6 U$ f) B# F
tourist area. 2 n$ D0 ~; m/ }9 v8 Y2 C2 t" a! u% S+ ~4 c6 R" H. p$ u; }% r
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ! k: `* r, U8 a) ` G& |( Npictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).' o1 @" i& |2 i5 t5 C2 `! R
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were, f. z2 j9 w2 t9 D2 g5 U
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ' C; L8 @" P6 q- c$ Y7 mless leader-religious.. T) r' \# {! a( L
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba1 S, g1 j1 y& O
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big $ @6 l! K; _- y7 T" mblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ' F0 \- d: @. S- {) }embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).3 t8 I. c6 T" W& H& ~ r
! _9 ?: }: s) p' T6 S3 b6 ]! f% n' l; KWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the/ @- y0 X1 Q3 D
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not* g7 y. ~5 Y# g; y3 ?! j
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ P3 O/ ]1 x1 Z
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ) P) G# |; @6 E' aforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars . ^" E1 [' h7 e$ h) q! W# C5 C+ |(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 f, A) I$ r. _% `+ rprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the % f% T% L& J9 \& t! {) h/ S$ G2 e% F! areal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.8 X0 P0 H+ T; v* H' p3 K% P# p
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local; }! ^0 s" n2 ]9 D& u: k Z
or visitors. G; X2 @) w3 r. T# s
1 l9 P5 A( t2 d: }" F-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
