We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very) T- U: T1 V2 o
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we : J u) }4 A- h9 K Cwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 8 Q& Y/ ]+ D' c3 K. d& e0 _. j4 B4 u6 e; z1 o$ D
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,. y6 N4 R& `. V5 C/ w4 @% W
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in - S$ d4 ]" x7 F2 Z+ e/ I7 G! i: |a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as$ l$ e. k+ ~ }/ H! E& L' |7 i
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort g9 j% ~1 n& _! u7 ~- [0 n7 b3 w
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep4 ?5 ?8 S; {: B; H d5 F
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the; G$ s: {& A( g) ^- F" C
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, , P% [% B/ Z" Z/ W2 ~. Owith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 5 D$ q$ C8 c$ }/ n People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but$ u1 G) F9 e3 r6 x: c6 t' ^2 ^) s
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not: e" ^3 W$ Z0 J9 o# {& J/ c* X4 z4 N* `- N
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our! U2 h" v3 a- W# n- R/ q9 b
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through& R! z! c& R$ R, Y/ s# n/ V0 R8 u
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards." u# ~8 o) Y7 o) f+ G
7 [3 p7 G G. v6 ]" kThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, : m2 p4 l, w+ l$ q" @low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool7 i$ u7 N! e; J! g G6 a# } t
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top / F% o% `, @% |of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 6 ~ ~7 y6 s$ ^* T: n4 k2 astars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from* z& h; [- R8 s5 c, C
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes - g& l1 M4 m5 p/ }6 gCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 9 Q2 c) ~2 A$ {: y, a3 T ^+ ]fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. ! p J/ v. ?. T. t& K7 T ) X, X {1 Q7 h# |8 bThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are & g+ _! P3 n5 Zjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made H `/ B- c3 c$ m' F: k ]for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba & Q; l: X8 [& a* C: V6 _tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 3 ]) v+ M) L/ a5 M! _' s8 _. Ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ) J _- {8 k" a! ?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/ N( i* h9 j L7 l4 ^
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went . G" g. M9 K( }5 g1 Y# i" L! ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, & s6 m L( R3 S+ P# @( h"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give+ S" q' ?" a2 v3 ~# v1 N
answers to our pointed questions.0 F0 s- U9 u2 A; Q7 ^, l, {
( O2 V) U1 Y$ I/ i% j
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 6 I. F9 \9 W( u0 x, u" x& Z* B3 v45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand* \" l& e. W' M! y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is e3 e+ n$ {/ v6 H) |free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. _) b! M/ o2 b) W; {7 y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 4 L1 z9 n) ~" \( B+ G, omedical schools.8 {1 \ v& c: ?$ n# w9 f$ h) ]
' ^3 H. W4 X' N" _Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the + {' a& n% S- [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 L3 m# S) a6 ]! W5 T0 F) ?
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years & P5 H, @8 l. c& w: a; N' J9 wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 1 z. W* G' ]4 Y. |( cis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to0 F! Z4 O: I0 Y1 |" K) b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There/ [9 r9 a ~$ N
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and ) a0 a0 ?$ G' n/ p, Hmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk! y" k) F, S! P
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 e& k* L6 G1 W9 m N, ~/ q+ k
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. b$ {0 }5 `+ ~; ]
1 [# p) p: I4 R. e/ {# B$ iThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no / C; e0 j4 ?/ T! J; S4 M7 Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and" ^; U- Q/ s1 A$ I
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people # `9 _- R6 O! n) z; X. r, Nhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good " D. v. _6 d" ~0 Q; k4 x' gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ; ^# m0 L1 C" U/ p. N @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 8 b7 z- S; F+ g& o( V7 \divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 I9 F8 B+ T u$ j% |
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ) I8 y, G8 y. n% ~) i9 l5 L8 Wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only" C9 D7 }/ u, Z& U1 I% k3 ~; z K
charge the fee defined by the state. / R& F+ Q6 O8 R5 Z o! _( S6 q, Y5 ~
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / S% t \" T" b* l- \on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 [5 X$ H- S. S! |$ b8 E: @: m
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big ) b" B- f1 W: _! s* `; Ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel, i3 f/ W: K- t' e7 F. U& y& {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 7 U' \" o9 \' o: Q; X9 f4 z% \working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 2 D7 A; V3 e/ G7 {0 |- Mschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 3 l, o: w* [' A( r! cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people1 ], C6 O. p; D- n6 w& w
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! s' K; K; b% ?. ^+ x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 0 t5 t. d) A# \( X( d( {& ipeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% |, Z% t I3 e: p
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or $ d4 p& |0 W1 F5 abuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there , f7 K3 i- d/ U9 ]/ K3 I vare spaces. 7 ]7 H. U3 a$ I8 F5 \" B$ L6 r( Q! f. n6 R8 ~0 N9 ?, E' O
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi , P! u9 T; V! N9 Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) b* a. j& g# y% k7 n
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 9 N$ Y. R* X- B8 Y2 j40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different- Z; @- s' O! ^5 ~: C ]
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 7 ~9 C1 U1 k/ I T) Y; ^6 N- wbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few6 |/ ~, f3 o1 v& ~; {+ ?. D
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of % z R8 a1 B6 s+ r* P) C4 L0 Gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it & O, _& R$ h: B. I+ Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. 8 ^# p4 z' ?/ Y 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 beautiful4 {8 {; j; C* q: l8 Y1 G+ _) G
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all5 g: I5 C+ @, E
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very & x Z5 a. D! H8 H8 Alimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep . A2 r) }3 h9 ^& R" x0 R0 Arecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day' I! o. P7 B+ o+ X: P2 n1 @
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of" A1 g8 |$ S3 n6 v6 l+ L5 _4 T
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ! N9 Q6 |3 M( M8 X" Shave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the. |7 n8 g7 o" h9 ]9 x* _* E
tourist area. 1 f/ f, Q9 R" P7 F; [* j3 u+ w( b: d! W& X
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 l( Q7 V$ B6 A9 X. ?pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).: d: e4 z' K& j2 n* [
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were + o' S$ F! g, V9 o; A+ W. e2 S0 ?everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + }9 o t7 R8 K# A# Jless leader-religious. : S0 F |; E, x' H; B+ p0 \! {1 L2 n/ ^
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba- k9 s- P* x# c o3 O
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big* S. e; r8 e4 \8 m- q8 x' G
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US1 Q* y6 ~" @ V' }7 I( U" `
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). $ u8 I6 T1 b* t3 @8 Y: a( t1 Z9 N; m* F4 y
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the- g6 g- T. P6 r, |- u5 H5 H
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not5 g1 z @+ r7 |' B
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1( }) _$ N/ f ^ a$ C" Q; ]
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 a0 F E) ?9 T v" }8 f
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars . y* ~4 R" _, n9 r5 Z- \/ }1 H(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we% }4 f$ {( v1 @* ~- H |! k( X! C
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the" O: i# \; u4 B' }3 L/ ~0 P
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. * W) x( a. N) m- c, p x. G( \And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local. @. E- g4 O- F8 h% C
or visitors.* o3 n; f! v9 C: C2 \( q
# h1 [7 z+ F" E3 Z# w-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
