We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very . P1 B. f8 J) uinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we / w5 {) ^/ d. J h. l! cwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.2 V0 A; ^8 G R) {
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,7 T+ N+ ^: F+ \9 S) P
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in + i0 c2 t" O: M" |! u1 ?a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as & u3 Q" k! S& ]) Z7 A7 Spossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort' w. L/ n1 T' T1 S
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 2 Z5 F! g1 r4 V! Kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 4 S& O0 i( }, N. c% g6 nlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, * m% o+ d$ n' [. C$ C. hwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ) n! C+ T) a' a3 P% Y) n People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but ) x" M1 }$ B0 B% x U# v, h fnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not r/ G8 q: V i8 i X9 z
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our! @4 f; r- \/ Z) C$ ~- o
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through+ }9 b6 |' L, `1 q7 R! Z( q
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 M+ r( o/ \( h3 N: N7 \' ?' |
& ?$ H4 M8 w7 EThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 1 W. t, i9 X% S/ ^" }low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool ; J! d: k7 z+ W4 `7 w, }% T4 C(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 m8 n1 h Z8 b9 K" tof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 2 z2 M& c' h0 e! [% Tstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 0 R4 J2 |9 t( {1 e/ h3 N8 ]7 ~49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ) }! o1 \' {5 T) c( rCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with- U4 w3 z4 `4 k5 K; i- y" `# I& m
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.8 V9 x/ n6 e' d) D. z; E0 g
3 L% D6 g9 Q3 Y! t# L( n2 SThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are+ a% P" k1 b- u0 f4 O% D
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made ( l/ [* Q0 z# y! hfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ I& f: r% d4 P$ K, `' g- P
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having0 `3 L7 D- \6 i, F+ B3 q. p
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China# t0 \: p' J( A" b& 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 * D! [0 s. I P* K" z& wstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 o" v: G' k4 i. P* G7 J7 i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,4 i: e4 `2 P1 `" o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 8 u5 [0 a. s' `; c& N+ sanswers to our pointed questions. * D, D$ |* o9 k1 k3 |" S4 L ! N2 i5 \" l! A3 K6 R& MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,% n( B3 a+ o4 h$ i c1 p, f
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 6 S/ U% E8 }3 E8 {( B7 {3 Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is # p u2 }3 u2 j" l" H jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 5 J( W: ]. ?. R8 k2 B9 }to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ @0 C, Z. q" N7 ^! S4 h
medical schools.1 _$ T1 D3 g0 R5 E0 s
3 C1 [( q4 L" N) d" a; e% D, pEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the * f) m/ {% T2 c$ O) Z# Ugovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 6 D5 j1 W, L2 A3 N( tto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years + k0 T9 t6 m, lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba1 y7 Z: \- @' R: G' }% o3 `/ n
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to* _- F& q( V: M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( M ^& [# W# M5 i8 A. S
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and & o/ `: k+ K" k! [7 i' tmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: @1 m% P- _8 A
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" i+ @. J' @1 O, n* a/ k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ' o: Y0 c, L0 R1 }8 Z1 d- M) v) N+ B# I3 p8 |! h' L0 c% W; [: O
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no3 z2 c: P0 `8 k7 z E
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and " e# k) f& X4 j# j7 l% ?2 d8 @supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 5 b* m, R' T$ `' Q& k* Uhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good% p% j9 N' D- }+ p5 C
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 h* D6 o- h' x7 ] P# O
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ' T; k' K# t8 j* I8 Sdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.: a# s3 W& x q2 X
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When- `* C! h9 h* ~/ ^8 ~ a
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only % O4 ? d4 ?) u6 @charge the fee defined by the state. & @( u' [4 D7 f" J8 U7 @( B/ F( P# \, R2 D1 V% p1 s4 [9 E' [; Z
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 3 Y( u. J* `, a9 I1 ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 J6 i6 v: _2 G# ]2 K
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big & \8 P. C- Y4 wtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel % \& }* y7 K, m% r/ ?/ `4 dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the * _. y/ m$ {4 x. {1 r* U6 [6 Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on + k0 A" ?& p' |( ^2 U; wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 2 N' @6 R& ^0 ?. e0 e2 Fyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people$ J& A( V3 |* D, P( r7 `1 v3 D
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 7 N L" V+ {; o( G7 B) q$ {hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that0 x3 v( T* {/ X. n( J1 V! D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# U1 L5 H8 o4 r9 X }7 o
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or ) W, i: l8 }2 t& lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there ' B6 ~9 k) U% b lare spaces.6 K5 n' p1 ]" T+ s
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi3 V! C, G) R! F H
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they I( V2 g) o! P, c* l# nown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the* S2 _0 a) ]3 I: V7 ` t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" M5 Y" O$ h1 o: N5 I6 w( s
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the, Q& F3 ^* l8 U) e
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few. f# l! L" x7 ]1 U. h1 A8 ^8 i: q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of / o/ Y+ G; F/ a% o/ A mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it! y0 U3 z# j' _
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: H/ w& p+ S& z3 f8 L, A m$ P
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 ; i2 v5 W; |1 b3 u4 ~0 i0 sspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all% z: o2 N: o7 N. L/ a8 u
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very " ?$ z2 _: x" j6 S8 O2 g; [* Xlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# ^: o0 U8 F' ?" D
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day+ E4 o1 q* o, u; K( x/ ^, F
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of9 U4 b: s1 ~; X0 |
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms k( `- h+ p3 e, p: F1 a0 vhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 7 i$ l0 J: B* H1 `5 _# Z4 e9 Xtourist area.* [ ^6 C0 x5 l* X; I% D' g5 r
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 3 }& m3 i. `% U! \pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 1 i2 ?! B# s) ] `" nCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were # O0 g# c+ L( f5 W; y {everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & i- Y" D$ p& p! m3 o, Vless leader-religious. ' I8 g# h- f) B) i5 N6 U i# L& j3 b" E: _3 _" b2 r4 wAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba& I' r" V) u2 Z& T( ^
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ) y. s E; d, t1 J1 H* q' g' Lblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US# |/ f/ q- e$ q
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ) K! c8 J2 J3 ? 0 X$ S$ Q! v: AWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the8 c' d, e. Y2 @. M q/ K
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not " P4 j9 f& l5 Y$ C) W+ R+ E0 q1 xthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 6 C3 {' |5 l4 G' A0 }' Z! Uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for# {2 j) s7 @0 H5 w) f
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars( T" V' g# W9 b, s+ G7 b1 V
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we " y: k9 u6 _. s! n/ j) p, N2 ~probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the4 q( E l/ R2 C2 u# m( }
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + ]3 M; y5 y5 X( |8 ?And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 1 `! O2 |$ R' R, por visitors. 5 Z/ Z2 `' o! o ) K3 G1 F) p. G-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
