We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very T. _) p# T6 |* B/ Z0 c5 Y
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we9 _- m8 ^0 X2 H+ j8 u _$ J2 H
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; x) \$ w) [6 z0 H, K
: ]: T9 h, o# |* LIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,$ Y2 b ]$ ^5 s c# l# `7 K& ?
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ! i# @) [' f, N, F& }a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ' n" F: b/ s% }& _. Mpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 4 O1 U2 J2 Z& W; A$ Mshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep - i- Z6 X/ p+ T, _+ q) b# G! Xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the. t& X0 T* z& i& k. r
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, * f) B. R7 e: o- q& k; uwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. : u4 l9 x; u9 T' e: K$ I People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but+ J/ v& @% O0 a2 b G
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not% t C: h: Y1 H: E! P
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 0 }" Z, j7 m" e3 |8 @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through % H' J8 T5 u1 J* ]6 ?8 z' I& va roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. - c2 B- {4 L. l0 f1 Q8 a5 o' n; J5 d+ C8 t6 m1 A
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,8 {1 W7 ?7 [5 [
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 2 O5 _% `6 k1 B/ M1 ?" [9 H$ ~(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 2 L8 C5 z/ j( W- Nof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 5 v$ H2 K9 f9 m" Mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from 8 C6 K' `: g2 f0 ~' L- c49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 9 }/ j! f, l% lCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with # l; K) J* ]! R5 i @fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.( O7 C. k3 N; t9 B% p4 Y
% i5 g& e: L4 F6 t+ Z: }# W, Y. h p2 yThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are1 z; h( j4 l0 F! X, L
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made; q* I2 e0 V4 \2 b% z
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( L" v @' _2 C4 w" c
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having ( n* T2 J6 ^5 Y2 D0 r& h. ~a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China, N, m1 L- M( Y5 v' O
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 $ M. P. O' N9 _" `3 Y9 astandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 8 b: {; B8 D7 J9 j8 Z; C# T: C9 bon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, " p: f$ a* B! P9 ]"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 2 C R0 H( L. R% U banswers to our pointed questions.) u# A* {$ k6 X- x
4 @1 i% E- J: o5 S5 ~
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, / x. n4 f5 b( v! W8 K. p45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ' K, |0 Z6 p& c" uout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is" q d5 O4 i: ?- Q; C2 K) ^' ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! a, d* c) u+ F/ _; ?4 V
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- L' s) R6 `# r
medical schools. 2 w! Z: w( i5 [8 z k) O2 T! E% l0 ^: e7 B% Z( s" u
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the0 h7 q5 Z) A4 E% W/ G2 ?
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ Q$ W9 a+ x# T# l7 K! ]) r
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ; t4 ?/ A: E# `) m' e0 t7 {assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ( T7 \: Q1 F& w! s; I eis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to & N, W6 T$ V( s5 c' |over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There# X) H8 R. G9 {; G) d. Q
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and% Q' v2 p s& D2 b: j/ ]" I
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 2 x" E: x' h+ {4 r; i" D( K7 L, kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some * [. [; w- u5 x' L( C8 y1 d! ^" P8 Bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 9 b& e8 n/ O7 q( F- a8 [7 O9 k2 ~7 X5 j* ^" \# ~
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no + U& @8 g8 d6 A, j! Uprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! `2 W# F. J& U. p& O, ]2 b8 W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 9 n/ G- C1 h" d) o* w% m) fhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good' b( V4 `6 P ^9 s/ B% w
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: F% Z5 J9 g5 G; g* Q1 m0 \5 k7 U% J
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 6 z6 e9 G0 O0 y, Ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. . I, o% |; Q5 n5 U T6 N2 SDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When% R- f. U$ q0 v
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only ; s' l: l1 {% f5 p) Wcharge the fee defined by the state. + [% r+ @1 \7 S 6 I4 Y; @1 N( u6 f8 ?& N: kThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 a, d) N! u4 O/ I
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type+ |" f- t3 Y1 K% _2 Y$ y6 p( c
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 B( i+ B }2 i5 C* i) n
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel . }: y" R# d' V! ^( lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the 5 n$ C( a4 f, x0 N4 d, e$ W4 i( fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 5 x$ [" A3 }( oschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 i7 R+ m1 g7 o, {
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people: P- f% C2 `: W6 S
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch + X$ r9 H$ R1 P( I7 R* |+ @0 Ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ L; f5 A& ~8 _! }. f
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want ; t. ~0 z# s/ jto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 t4 }0 u1 d: C1 s. J6 I! d+ n, _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there . y1 Q6 T1 G+ J) ware spaces. % U4 Q/ `6 S$ y7 h" G! e7 s/ ~# A7 u( b A* ^ \0 A0 m
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; j2 |& W8 ?1 q+ E
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 0 D0 S) a/ B8 y& v# Y( b+ [) @own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 8 ~0 j; z! n' `, h2 r+ A0 F40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different ) x, m) L/ T$ W& ]" v; `6 O- ~" q) Zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the , b# I; e; U' t9 t6 M1 c2 Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few2 I" S* Y/ U! q1 Y9 X% w6 p6 W
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of2 }/ h$ C& K, W4 |1 E, t& S
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it S# s9 M% v6 }4 ^/ u9 Z0 h5 ~is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.- @; U% v# o2 M+ C* }
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 ( F1 f; U9 {: P* t! U! L1 [spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 8 e5 a1 _& Q9 D: ~the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very " B6 |+ t+ J% c: |limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep ' w9 @' ?0 c, |5 b0 }recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day; S1 }( W# Q& ~/ P2 D5 W* E
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of % b0 x3 H9 F4 L2 i0 m$ k: rthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms5 z7 \" B0 c" W, E, M
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 9 n& ]7 E# p5 Rtourist area. - ]5 i& z5 k3 g- c9 m ( \( ?& G& c, j! ^One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's* {% \) I& X) L2 M: z5 c
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)., h4 K* @+ L8 ^2 J; v9 h3 v
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( ]6 f* Y4 @6 U7 a; ~
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * q8 x; l4 \, t+ ?4 uless leader-religious./ K# F1 Z) `6 A! S6 r7 m
* \1 l' |9 s% ^9 }6 W& J5 l
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ; I) Z) f6 n1 ?. r3 @9 ]government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big6 a/ h: M; B# L* B; M7 a
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US ( g8 }$ ~/ V# e5 `9 z& J. Yembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 7 w$ c! f$ ^4 {( G! R3 C% f/ \7 a: e# h4 G+ o+ t
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the6 Q, J- Y- x8 h( O( J2 I2 f) D- o
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not$ ?5 B5 U6 B6 |
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1" x( y9 U, p2 v* }) X% n
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for ! {1 E0 _; `/ L5 C1 d7 v0 G- eforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 3 q4 P! p+ H9 k+ n(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 6 [: S1 m. o# \' A+ s7 gprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the 9 V# d, M. f0 I: ]8 t ^6 Qreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 `6 y" |: O( n+ q
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local1 S# d2 C: ~- l* u: X( Q% e! D
or visitors. - G2 U) ~7 H2 [, h' `! {4 D+ T' M8 c4 {0 i6 q7 g, m
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
快乐的古巴之旅 2011-01-23 09:01:12 2 K& E$ Q4 i& g a+ M6 L- d
