We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 6 u, U: s; g }2 H, |& d/ w2 H- iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 4 A; Z$ O6 o& d& S5 x, A! D+ \wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.7 \5 x% J+ G, N1 i4 R
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, & y: j( u' S3 i3 B30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in / d v @& i' d( z% X6 k$ u- n- ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as0 q5 h# ^$ Y6 i0 |: V; B
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort9 T( K1 V/ {& B3 s: s
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep 8 M. P' h _4 Ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the) o" Z, K0 L4 Z) h, l- j
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,& [# I" J) P* S/ ?, {, p
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. # F2 N* z+ e& o) e2 b3 Q2 M$ K People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but/ V% j! r" a4 d/ v8 f2 I& I
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not ; O! X8 l* Y5 y7 O4 [exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our; W5 w ~( N. U9 B' @* R
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ( R i0 p- Y6 e& La roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ! N0 S4 A9 I* M$ F4 f. Q7 w2 U: ^2 ^ 8 G% F' r9 Y' Q0 W8 ^. rThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, # s; [! r. T' A' ?+ plow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool# P2 e k6 G/ A8 ]( t
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top $ y5 L6 y+ v$ j" I0 |of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the* g0 W* Y6 y" s3 R. k- G4 ]9 t
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from; s+ v( }3 d6 K" {
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes # Q# _7 ?( y, n T; }Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with, @/ `% p# j( w$ t1 W/ I; K
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! n$ F) G: t$ a1 o4 e% F
9 j- d( f4 J* V3 }5 ?The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ K3 P- j9 B7 F/ A$ M$ i& |) s3 c8 n
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made) \' C1 e7 X+ o4 Q% t' h% W& P
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba * j' c& T% j: E4 Utourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having6 @! @. p* H6 G- n
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' a" e" l4 R( N* k4 ^
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 6 \; G s9 g% }) E8 ostandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went $ D7 o! @9 u# ?* E7 don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, 8 `5 `, T: I$ {3 n$ d4 t"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give # y5 s5 D- O* E! d' y0 Hanswers to our pointed questions.; G: ?; a0 o7 F: i9 y
" i/ C$ S+ v8 ? o0 l$ {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 v0 `5 g( |$ F3 z+ |! U0 ~5 e! v
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 c, S6 A* P4 ]
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 7 [" U3 @- y1 Z0 C* P% b4 o+ Ofree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- G- A6 H9 h6 p" q
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are) l/ g, C1 ]' C& I
medical schools. : s3 ]6 C( ?; r: u$ V7 L! F! t7 I' e4 u9 j' X2 p: o4 S
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 f) H1 |) V" [ k& f; Igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants. a5 m h4 H/ w" d* ^, w! k/ c
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ) o, `+ B6 m$ l) s3 _assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba 5 ^) s, ^/ c6 p9 f# _6 _/ His from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ! o+ |& M9 W* A+ [$ v7 A- z5 \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 ?# s; L2 O$ Y, w4 Hseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and , M! @" \/ Z9 x/ r; |/ b7 Gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) D. S1 `$ _8 c8 ^! y8 u
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some , N6 j3 s2 c) {sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. . j2 x5 ^8 z6 z5 P( i I" n/ p# B& f/ s
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no* q$ Z' A ?" y4 e1 e$ e
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ {5 H8 x! V% v9 C+ R6 ^9 S7 A+ t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people# _3 @. _0 B, `: D
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good9 R4 q: i! h: k2 V8 [, u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 Y, r6 |% a! g) Y2 }
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 3 Z1 ~5 T4 l/ s n0 o8 ?7 S) fdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., i) M6 m$ O# R- W; W4 G. o& L
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When) v8 @4 T4 Q: r" R% u
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% G1 `6 `9 E( S; y* o! ]+ i6 p
charge the fee defined by the state.7 X9 n* G2 `# k9 ?) E4 B; L! N4 t. h
/ l4 M9 { }( m+ m7 d0 O# G YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ' u4 z) F# |# z2 m( |( Son), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type & e% M) a. V* o; ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big1 f. c! ~2 h/ o- L+ }* o3 v/ N7 u
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ! L) \* w6 j) J- w" Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the : v; a$ w3 P$ `" x) F" W+ Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on 2 ?/ C/ U9 X' Vschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if& I+ |5 n4 [' m$ E6 R
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people# a! g2 x) Q5 J5 [4 j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" }* o+ y7 S2 O# D% H* ]- E
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* M, n& M' x6 D' W1 C6 n
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want $ C6 `* L9 j/ N% ~, h0 B- f1 k, A K4 @to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 W5 v2 n4 b# h
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' y9 Y( [" b- o6 Q9 C$ p9 E+ c- [
are spaces.* |+ k; e% J9 @4 [
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, f2 X$ Y( j3 I% [1 ~
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 Q9 f! B) k6 A+ k X2 o8 _
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# `; d3 c: r& H$ J& b# L
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different : |0 |9 k* Q; S$ \; ^; ~parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the ) u0 k. I& E' f" z1 e7 Cbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 8 T. {2 z, X6 O5 Y6 x6 fnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of8 |! o0 U: I" z' @% C
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it " w7 a1 F+ h* _is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. . v8 I7 ~; g% O5 l! F 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# c% p' N: p( ~ ~# D8 |6 z
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 9 _: q$ O' b* c2 I5 R% p1 Y' Wthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very + E# [3 C5 H- z* A1 C& ulimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep . L0 s2 f2 K, W) E8 Rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day ; }0 r( O- Q# psupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of " U& V% d$ A. t+ \them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms + v K4 {# u' q" Ihave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 8 B2 \& X2 y8 H% Btourist area. 8 E* k& d0 x+ _6 n # Y5 P, c: d4 E- X" j9 hOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ! @1 b$ |& R2 x3 ^) `. h4 Y2 u) e5 }) rpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 6 N% p2 c! _1 p2 u2 pCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were K. L2 e1 N+ W0 b1 F. q
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 H$ E0 L) M/ j1 p3 y8 r4 d
less leader-religious. 5 }( g4 Y" L# W0 X: o: u ! S% B) y- Y, F) I; Z3 W: g/ ?About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba% o/ V3 w& ?! i$ F" l1 p
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big# Y, V1 ^4 P3 B( W% F% ]0 n1 z5 d
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US9 v l; P3 u: B/ o
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). " n9 k6 ?3 c0 G, z" @! b; m 1 {, M) T5 P, e0 {* j% `We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ! w0 t) p' o( F/ W1 aparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not: D: |* b( t" b
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) i. z; W1 i6 W' \& G. d( L4 j9 I
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for3 @$ \$ P8 {7 ^8 X$ t' z3 J- A
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 5 ~" e' o$ @5 X! ^* R8 X(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 p- c+ ]7 C s( E4 x5 e3 v
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the2 c: a0 v/ D! v
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.# H* z$ x _) ]) x: C
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 1 K& S, u* j2 l6 {- zor visitors.' H1 o8 g+ V0 I# E! W. a/ A; E
/ D. @8 q0 N$ v5 C! d
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
