We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 6 @& m5 p. I6 x. h+ _interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 2 y, \- y5 `- X8 y" Xwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 7 X* ]; O' q& X: Y- D; D) H9 Z, R; g9 s* @6 G3 W8 g- V" s' A
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,' v8 r1 S5 `' _: j' N0 G3 p
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in4 H! |6 [0 h6 e# a3 k5 J6 I
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as * N3 b2 w" s4 ?; b8 e4 Rpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort ; U& j( a) b" q: m# x& Oshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep! f) R7 a/ Y* Y
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the7 h; J3 _4 d6 S: q4 I; k9 }# d
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, / }- i% s0 u; P- s' Lwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.! Q0 }: P2 O/ S0 w) _7 r: U% B) W
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ! I4 l3 A3 C2 e% {names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 K: r6 \4 U# ^7 Y. E8 sexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our# `. N1 W' g. x3 W3 w/ D
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ( _* u7 f' h3 U1 Ba roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. b, ^% ^; q# q$ W: p8 H" ]& Q+ ^" G; o, J7 L7 s' p
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, % |5 X! e2 Q% p8 _6 c% P. flow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool, e8 g- \7 ~) Q4 I# Z9 K8 V
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 4 @0 v# c9 x, nof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the / [3 |( l4 u( l2 N, [ wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from- h5 q% P$ k+ _' }: o
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes % L' z: q- Z2 ?. p; k9 J4 e4 oCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with4 S. b {) y ]( \# A
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.' U0 K1 g. A9 X' P, O: R9 D: b% T
& z3 y2 n" L0 T$ q+ k$ w4 @The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are . j- e ]3 J9 {. P* J% T, w) ~just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! `/ g0 E, Y7 s% ]4 s; v( c& m; d
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba& n8 J5 Z& d$ C J0 O5 [! L. l2 t3 r3 I/ {
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having5 }+ w1 k% C, ]- Q X `) N
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China* j+ g; b7 L/ d% \
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$ |0 ~4 M8 B6 r* G8 O4 y$ _
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& ]9 {2 o5 d0 h( Q; ~
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,+ ^ i. r( w6 K h# ]
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 M2 f2 Z( q9 G+ V% n' ~) ~) s$ O% m
answers to our pointed questions.+ V+ p2 B: U, |7 k1 S" Z8 ^, g
' Z4 |3 d/ {: N+ \5 V" r0 OThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,4 C0 H" T) d' O2 E
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand + Y$ C T9 Y- J* [# |out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 7 t+ D5 D7 d; }; J+ Lfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* ? A2 p. k" M4 t4 \
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! r0 a( H# h5 M
medical schools.8 r& q1 s* ^3 I
0 Z1 O: a% o% `
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 t$ S1 L W9 u; `/ c$ B: b
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants ( A( o6 d7 f: Z" v7 v2 J, xto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: v& c0 O: Z6 Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba" Z, k" M% q; h: {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to . V, V* D4 f4 u& i- ~2 oover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 9 @' q; [1 W3 t$ N# {2 V5 bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& k$ D/ L1 ~. e
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 5 a4 ]6 m9 i3 Z& B# V- v, ?7 oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some 0 Z; A: z5 I1 [$ J o* Msugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 2 x4 Q2 ^4 `& S+ K+ Q8 @$ Y: @+ C T2 t3 [; [7 I! O$ }
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no H: i; _' h7 b4 Z, @+ P. a
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ d1 ]% T7 v+ R# `) {# o3 H; ?3 ]
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people ) K4 A- B0 R f: d G0 B' ]have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good& {( Z1 f- t @0 @. ?# ?% v* M
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby * A! @" t; {3 }( ~sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# G _* Z f, T0 E2 H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. & E2 b' \' ]* H: ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ' H3 a! y+ w( {a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 8 N" U. o9 j0 p4 {# L4 s" ycharge the fee defined by the state." E. W3 j! [* x. i; V2 i5 g
, {3 F' F, i+ ] q
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get . }" l* |* v0 y. V7 U7 Z" Qon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type, [$ R: s' g. C4 n
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & N# A- m" a7 Z$ J" b+ o/ s- Vtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ y1 i9 G8 ^( a5 k1 d
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ D- A% f3 y* ?6 |7 E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 9 s) ^0 J2 r/ i9 D/ `7 B+ R% ` i6 |schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 1 A# B! l$ ^. o6 D3 M1 uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* s2 I9 {- y# Z- i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch ( X9 y+ \5 i; F- }) {" Qhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# p( u8 _0 H5 U+ [6 s1 Y
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ^5 @ o) m& F) ~to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or - I3 _! n) B/ _1 T/ q' F, obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there1 X. P3 ]( Q- Y) T. _$ v) v, z
are spaces.* r6 B# V$ \; L* a
. J( r- N: z4 Z. l; v# c
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi0 p; H+ E, G- C- W( g! t
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 2 A- ~ j; P+ H' jown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the . p& z; a- D. Z; C( |% Q% _40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* P1 o. P& @9 w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) a1 i+ I b0 F: C3 R- q4 s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few0 @" f& @4 {, `1 S3 M6 y! e
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of/ `$ ]5 E. o2 U1 S% T2 k3 X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 1 P- Y$ u& l' {$ N7 i3 J5 [' c2 Ris a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 0 a6 s# u8 T8 |- Z' A* B 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 6 T. t; E3 D7 D T/ gspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 7 n+ [2 j2 }) U C- ^5 r2 e# V; I% uthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very : {3 \4 ^ u9 {; ?( x* G+ |limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep9 D- F1 o, a0 X7 }' P/ N- O
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day& [8 w8 z8 |7 \5 `. ^
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ L6 I2 B/ {: ~) l3 y! q% G0 F: h
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ?- b8 b3 ?# v2 n0 K3 ]; c& V9 b
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 4 ?( e8 k4 b$ k* W9 \" w6 D. Ttourist area.) X5 N5 V8 t8 ]; _9 X2 K
. A! M0 ]1 v# ?; t5 O: }2 g3 `One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: M! i, R5 K2 ^5 }) }+ B. M8 M
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).# r) z& e4 A8 E9 W
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were' h& B1 K) _/ Z+ {3 |/ k
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ' A5 J4 g( p9 @4 U* B( t' _
less leader-religious. ! d1 G s6 X+ N& w& C7 R9 C1 y( [: ~/ o: p3 j& n4 }" s
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba * J _! _5 u( f' kgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big' p# z. Y8 ?$ S! |. y! b6 ?
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US2 A* E& e; n) y9 E O- I% c
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). % n2 d0 x% x; h( {- @! j N 1 R0 M4 c: j& H/ c' ], k' N3 \We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the / _7 b9 T+ q% F) T4 E3 i0 xparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 5 F# ~# z- J( }9 R6 Z6 k4 H+ Vthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1/ }2 F; A% }4 W; [
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for0 t, T) ` a! O
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars- D- I7 [, S7 b
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 Y$ Z/ b% r" t
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- ]# J; f# S. s3 O7 T
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 t2 a- }& \( L; @+ G' I# b
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local # A. P- W* G7 T* b3 For visitors.3 e5 s8 m2 M. W9 Y) E
5 A) l; Y# L0 D-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
