We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very . n# S# V' n- G% E* Z3 kinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we + y! g( L6 ]1 ^wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible., k2 ]. a ?( s% t
7 D, h2 y t4 C, a& y* bIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,* i: |. S$ c5 a. X" w( c* p
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in" |5 S3 g: y% U0 m
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as9 {5 w/ x8 f8 i& E! f7 \& E
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- e+ i2 @+ X7 ~# _/ l) G1 ~- c
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ) h& T" y8 ^8 @) a- Rbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 Z3 k8 O' @$ w7 Clobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,- c4 B/ l9 E$ _' g, H
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.8 y7 Q G1 [( j. H
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 5 [; X, O3 U/ q$ S+ Xnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ( N `# T# A& v4 _, h5 c2 q- ^exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 ]0 w$ K: p- } ~/ {7 fflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through - M9 p. E- N- j# T2 ~: c3 Fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 o( m/ \6 ^; t
/ @" ^* o/ z* s: \7 vThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, M/ H4 C/ w, q% f, Wlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 0 F' N, X3 ]: y h7 G: R4 ~% H(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ; y |+ o8 R3 kof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 5 j, L9 A/ R4 v( E! C& R+ Ostars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 D6 V9 b4 C* p0 u' h2 P
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes $ a1 F3 S" e P1 tCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with* t2 Q" u1 h( a8 K% W5 q
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 F; M" V$ n& b4 g: z. X. G
9 ]9 x" @+ x. a& V0 ~+ V
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are) V% i) O& o0 \
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made* ^$ V4 S n( Y. j; a. t9 U9 ?5 M
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba % M& G% _% _/ J% |' Mtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 8 n0 p% Y$ j+ a% c4 V7 F( j8 k2 y" Oa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" t2 G7 D8 B6 i% A6 u( 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 2 X& v( a) a7 e2 B- n* b- Dstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went $ s, v# u+ A: i7 Gon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,1 W- \- g: |, p9 n/ @3 o8 }5 X
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give# c; a! Y/ @) q* n: ]: D& k; h) _" _4 Y
answers to our pointed questions.+ V/ V( ~; e2 ?. z0 {/ B) {0 I
' T, ` ^. j% T/ x9 Y# c DThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! P, l- ?$ `4 D& O
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 r X& N) p! ] ^' o6 Q- }9 G/ r" g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is9 [5 x; P: ^! o1 T4 {5 T$ \
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams/ f6 @- N# a- _: y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are - m4 s+ S: y [: ?. Emedical schools. h1 ~' }9 L7 y2 ^/ A
$ B/ D4 }6 P) x- o! rEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 4 |. ^* o8 n1 ^' M3 r1 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 0 j. C5 x- z$ W9 P- B8 qto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years- p3 ^4 W/ {) j% R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba " `6 f x# C2 Q7 G* Y: y7 nis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to : W) Z% v2 W. }" ~5 }( lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There ) F, o0 A/ Y1 u; f+ bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% O& p: x, o2 ^0 G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( X$ T% g0 y$ U: u1 L
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ ?" r S8 [7 H" X3 X' \
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 R3 n: W @- X! k
- q& J: B& W6 o. D7 B
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 9 o" E" T# a! w( G' ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and / S) |0 p' L, w( N3 Q/ Rsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- h! D1 {- s3 P+ K5 y
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 w# Q# h: K* Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby 1 k( k9 j7 w6 n: |) Nsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high( o% n& c5 d& M+ h9 b; a" Z' K6 H
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. / P% e, ?; x0 [: ^8 J1 i, ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When - u3 C4 {/ c: _; a' l: ?6 }a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only P3 P$ K$ Q; k
charge the fee defined by the state. 8 {- x3 T! Y; q3 @7 {! N! T" S+ J0 {3 ~! q& H
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ) @- [/ w; q0 c$ }! }on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ( k4 v7 l2 [, v$ [2 cof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 X9 b( d! t5 y: {1 @
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel! L+ U+ u/ w1 k7 Z; a+ ]2 u
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the * ?- [7 y! d# f O0 Eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ) K1 H* |" E0 v$ N' ~% tschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if" w7 s5 J, ]# w6 ~8 i
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people9 @- P- p1 L/ e' Q! N. ~1 O
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch, d" l) d& f. F
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that $ Z: b# Y1 ~& r2 J; \people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want / V1 H* m% R" s- r) C- ]$ d3 c) S$ Oto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ' O7 V: \7 b' {1 m3 w1 K0 Y5 Hbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there " F+ y x* `# x5 ~are spaces.! ~7 U+ r4 q) ~& O- @
. R$ [% b t8 r1 p2 b7 I
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 2 U2 l4 y; u9 q1 O, vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they% Z6 i3 G7 W& X8 P- q$ A: ?, S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the & ]; H! [. c. A9 r40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different * p4 N2 J# E/ Q- pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 8 u0 n/ U/ z2 [/ ?9 j" cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 5 A9 [! \) n0 fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of % f+ O" j) |! b# Bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it4 ?- m& K/ v0 s
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ) G" S' G- _* Y% t0 p" A1 T 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 ) Z, U. G% R! f. w/ `0 }spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all8 p, q! L% X( r: c1 Z1 f7 m' e
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very5 b2 _# F. T$ V1 V
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep , `# r7 a. P2 urecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day7 m6 w, x$ R' S1 h
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ I* N$ y3 R# h5 \! b" }* I
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms7 X$ R) ^5 [3 {0 }% N+ ?6 x4 n2 K
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the # D# W A% x" P9 mtourist area.. T( q% C7 e1 l( O) e
& `4 t- @% d# ZOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ) ~! }+ D4 v4 `9 [3 m5 [. Cpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).4 c: R; j J- C# C* G8 z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were + _( i; a% w& q1 H0 Veverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , |& D3 N! a& m; A g2 N) z2 I) ]
less leader-religious.7 g3 }4 ~. r( N0 d# U( S
# p7 `4 j2 o& Q; H/ }" lAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ; E6 a# ^; j7 Q, q% i; Bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* L: h/ w$ u: Y5 v' m
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US 9 d; `, t0 B7 Uembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 1 m0 @0 K% X" B% k @* [+ |' L* W$ A: U% u5 [ y+ @% j
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 1 q) [) z) g+ b4 y$ Aparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ; Q3 A$ n0 E8 o- \% m- ?& N0 C' y. ~the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 5 A- Z" G- H' p0 Uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for : W' T8 q! K+ N6 {) x: Iforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars # q' f1 o1 w( N7 M5 O/ ^6 w9 t/ }- H0 S(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we; c+ ]" X4 t* ]+ i8 |& B2 l6 { M! e
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 5 Y! T0 y/ T! i" f& Wreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. 1 i! A& I b/ ~3 w9 r2 ]% l$ J4 NAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local : P- X! [% |4 H. Q. W" [or visitors. & G- N$ ]6 y' O( O' Q7 A& \$ `# Z+ Q* w4 F
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
