We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very + ^+ u- f) `) rinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ! Z4 i- S& _2 |, A% Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. * e9 ?* S) j- {6 m- r6 h: r- J/ W 5 m3 ^4 J+ X* _; J# BIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, & y# j: W" i9 {& j30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in ! ~- W/ v7 r; R( P, @0 E0 z. Za very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 ]6 t1 [' [# `2 e% @) ]
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort / X& W" G9 T1 yshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep ( \4 T, _# N" `2 ?0 a; A1 b6 E: D% gbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the " b5 C5 L: {, f/ k F: \lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,! \4 ~: W9 T# z. X2 [, Z; ~* r
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there." y: v4 j5 F% k' N( c' E
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but 9 h1 m! a+ W: C3 z4 m* f* Gnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not $ B( i; `9 ~) V. r' qexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our4 s9 C; y- y/ T0 S4 O y; P5 W, w
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through6 @ l! ^" d8 P9 A& d" j; @, N
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.- j) O6 J' y7 I9 c7 T
- m. W) J, H2 A* U9 ^6 i3 ?
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 0 ?1 `) z3 \8 l8 K$ w$ l9 rlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool K7 t& C% b, d0 b
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top" z5 y) g0 E+ b
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the $ z/ {1 J) @) I$ istars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 |, \' _, N8 v- H& K8 }
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ! e8 o8 S8 a! O% |* E* K1 VCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with 6 U4 g7 l3 Y+ C" k8 B" K- Z7 Qfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., i8 b, U( s9 b% M8 g) `
4 M3 t1 @' `7 [# yThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are % A# L- J3 p: _0 djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made/ `+ e0 D0 o# Z3 n) v
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba+ B. o \8 `2 c. c. N' b
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having: n7 K, |* i) j' p/ a H! r
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 8 f3 v9 C* h! X5 R* w$ Sdaily 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( G) J; f: c8 t5 T% X- h$ h( r) E
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went n0 L6 K# ~4 F8 u, F2 D+ a3 ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 Y% m7 I+ L; h4 `3 u2 g% P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give5 S, ~8 I6 O5 u" A
answers to our pointed questions. ) X k' o& B: }3 C0 I 5 G, N, J6 D9 d1 k3 M$ f/ {0 NThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, $ G4 z, v3 s) K8 l& C& {% }# }45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( o7 D# ?3 [, r' j2 d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is# F/ G6 |! C6 S9 K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 2 s- u2 d/ d; a/ q( S: w0 |2 `to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 8 Q; ?! X6 O/ R$ ^5 ^" f/ r9 Zmedical schools. 6 Q! Y$ y3 [2 b- x" G% e* S* O! N0 Z$ Q$ E% g
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the D. M e5 P' H' O2 i3 fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 3 I; ]. l8 |' ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ' c: m/ }- ?5 b4 O3 L# lassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba: @% t4 Y. ~ K- `0 S
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ; d0 S( x$ {8 J3 W1 Y zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There. B* b. Y4 A! Q# w* M9 M( s0 M. f
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and # Q# o: V+ \8 e% ?# t# X! t" Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk & T. m1 q9 G _) jshortage which the government is addressing by converting some & P: {$ q( M% E8 } ysugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. 6 S/ F* j$ L- {4 [' @! S$ K S4 h* o& F0 G( N# e7 |
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no " u1 A T; |' e' ]9 m: B3 K( o7 C. eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 5 @/ d5 D% @5 E9 n' X: O+ g0 j* K P* fsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people( j2 z; c% @+ E4 o& U
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good5 o; D! k, g5 \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 w' ~2 h9 @( k8 P0 q
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high) `" g8 w9 a- F/ d% r* |
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 6 l' [7 H( t1 S8 l+ ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When9 R* ?$ l6 V- }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 e; e& A, a) x& ^( U
charge the fee defined by the state.0 n# F# `& ~3 r4 B. e0 Z7 `
3 \# i5 ^# w4 _2 o
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get / A- N O( A7 \* y/ q0 Z0 Z. j8 e. [on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type3 K7 @1 R5 a9 f" k
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big % w+ w8 k0 J+ f/ B; G+ mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel ; p6 G! b" G9 M, |( Sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 o/ r; u: ?# t! `3 n+ \
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on ' \/ F |! s) U6 w* xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if ! s( i1 F- N7 ~8 X' f, \' B: Qyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ' D( P# ?4 s& Z6 _trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch q1 }0 e2 L3 ]3 z
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that V3 S# e9 O- n* v
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want- O3 A5 V3 ^, }$ q
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 H4 Q7 D4 B+ s% W
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there U/ O- Y3 T& V5 eare spaces.+ p; v' W$ }4 K8 g7 j8 t
! L( m- z4 U2 GThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi9 p; S m) w0 P$ n5 c6 W( R
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 p Z( \, m/ W: Z, S
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 3 x' T# G7 W+ h) m; d) g* I. l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 4 H( D4 s$ a0 C8 V8 h8 oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 A% ~0 G& w% u0 O) e9 `9 Q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few * [1 V3 O0 |. D4 ]4 m# n" Unice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of( i6 k8 Z2 p# {4 z, V! X- x
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it1 Y8 V* m# K; r6 p
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. . j. a" Q& _5 F8 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 beautiful5 `3 i) O0 E- b7 l6 t4 ^
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ; a1 q: O( [! F# A& hthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very2 x. y, x' P) Q% C3 ^; A8 _
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep$ w. ]' E) f' h5 e3 X5 |7 c
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day: B% S' M& S/ `) \
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of * j' B0 m2 j" p- bthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 1 ?; H& {2 o' e. p- D1 C$ p1 t5 }2 ?have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the / L4 Z$ _, W, x y+ `1 btourist area. . j# M/ g( Y0 e& e" Z " W$ K! V2 K2 d- WOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's7 E/ t5 |2 }% x$ B6 q: h
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). ( I! a) h" o& F3 S+ OCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( {. T7 E: \0 t$ v) U9 O; s+ L5 |
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + a" }$ E2 q# E2 A* f8 O- {less leader-religious. ' i4 |+ l9 |0 N) L; `3 G ' H( o: }+ e H7 a/ ], HAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba : B- j' ]6 M; f q+ e5 J6 } i+ Ogovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big. s' i! n5 f. Z# h
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US # v7 E" c. p6 A7 i0 K. }& G. ^+ qembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). , ^$ m I( B# |' t+ }6 ^) e3 H0 k3 }7 j" N7 r1 {' h; g% I3 s
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the ! X3 p- o5 s6 r; f) H5 dparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not7 J0 v6 `# q1 `$ @' Y8 B4 v5 X4 M
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 7 @6 S1 H4 v+ R1 k2 l. Z" z, g$ F( Zconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for7 s4 o! L/ L- ]% v5 D
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 9 k- F, Y# B6 {9 a7 x" ?* q! |(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 w( J" Y2 v0 c
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% Z7 f; k" o- r8 U
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.) h. s9 s1 ?! Z
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local& K6 N1 G0 l$ f. I7 Y/ t
or visitors. / n1 p. T3 k, L* V+ _$ h % j+ W' k4 V! V. X-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
