We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very' z8 j! T) t- I6 F9 N8 [ @1 [
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we3 O6 g3 P1 Y3 F* y- }
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. " P- Z) t ]+ K. Z8 {4 |8 d8 I# u: Y7 P' a, v+ |. n; x6 K5 Y
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, . X7 n1 C6 `- x6 B, e( l30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in + [% O: [4 R0 i0 a) h( ^a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as - n* [6 H) m- epossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort4 s0 b, s9 e5 @" Q1 l+ W
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep/ f' i5 \) ?6 J- U5 u# B/ _- p
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the, Q8 V1 e$ c# _0 n
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,0 v5 s1 E1 z* E1 y6 d0 o8 x$ J
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ! o, _- ~6 _6 x8 P1 @! u People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but % F6 p J" \* V9 znames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 7 u! H, ^6 t$ G; _3 o& y3 {exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 4 Z, k3 K, z0 w1 dflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 p. Z! l0 q1 L. ~$ c P
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. 9 E9 P: D% H* t! L- _# J5 _" Q3 x+ U7 [; Q7 v9 e
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,; n; \0 |8 w+ g' h8 b5 x
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool O6 R( M. p& s1 E(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top # d, d' {: D& {5 d- Q5 i/ Y( L Oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the( W" n+ |$ L" \
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from , U! F, M) p6 v0 t8 J49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes ( y ]/ d. `* E- V# BCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with ; g% Q# X! ~( N) p) {fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. # R8 k# L2 \) m# u; U 0 L$ Q! R1 @& M5 _9 h) i$ [The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are+ M4 r7 R5 Z! [* _% o8 }# c
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made4 p; b( Y) {7 I/ }+ \' \
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba " R( H; P6 w! m, b2 A0 ztourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 `( h5 k: S' T/ e' aa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 7 H! [ N; d4 w4 Ldaily 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( C# p5 Y0 |: t
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 8 ?# a9 f5 I# Y+ K* S3 L Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ' S% v& O& ^* _6 C, q"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( d) L9 N; N$ t) t7 {2 `- E: V ^: C
answers to our pointed questions. 0 o6 W I' P$ H % h# N; J" h, D8 Q: p# dThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 2 K1 N& w& }/ y7 t! d" C45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 9 m! v2 T3 _! b$ Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is 6 o$ n5 n- |0 K7 w) G6 L& p( bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 [, G" t; ~$ |
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are W! Z' M. Z- Y: O+ d% A
medical schools. , g7 f& w; ?: ]6 A1 ^% g5 g ) y& M4 N+ q1 d% e& VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 5 e$ D, f! g% R# ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 {. Y: D: D) z7 M8 Q+ _7 ?' }3 j
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years * c i( _9 w' Sassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba & {% F. v6 e3 @1 L0 F1 gis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) c- o D$ G- D7 t7 f$ y$ X, l# |
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There2 q. ^ ^; T" D/ p0 I+ m
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, E) p/ A) X7 m- w* m" l j
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk% o4 J$ A7 }2 e' _' u& I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some / U" J* W2 F, z9 }" Ssugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. $ f K( i) b! I3 o: ~/ B$ _( S% q: T+ F
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 5 ^7 t- ^- x+ k( U; K8 Vprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and + \; H# j6 p3 Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' X0 J* K: J9 J
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good7 J1 ^" s3 _) Y( l7 g, X8 D
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby4 d3 X# |" ~* X& a6 R/ {! B- L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high; l( f! c4 w% B
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." k, ` m9 u6 @+ ^, \. ^
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When K" X h% ?6 b! O6 b* ~1 y' [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only 5 z/ |4 a+ s J* J7 w% L, [charge the fee defined by the state.2 Y8 M2 H2 P9 n h% M
' C( w' I0 x5 h' u/ `2 Z9 V* N
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 6 S$ G: F& Q1 Z T" d/ V; ?on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type ( e6 M5 V, I( K( kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 x& c* O9 r, i# }+ ?, n, l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel , B# n! u. @- F; o8 E- aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 X6 ]9 K9 I7 f3 B: x1 F, ^7 \' h1 ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on % h& u% R1 G9 xschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if # C) Z8 f: I' n9 |5 ^! I( r3 Ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 6 t( c2 i" I4 {trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 f4 Z; X8 l/ f- Q
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ Q: I) Z/ J/ ]% K5 Z* Y, [: L
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want9 B! J/ ?5 X6 s
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 B) d6 D( m, O6 s7 A. u/ z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- i [5 I6 h2 Y2 a9 C* x
are spaces.$ R* r! i& u4 y* f# q% z( t
( @1 Z% T$ _6 X4 J/ M/ e& UThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 2 `4 f7 I2 q, }8 ]$ y4 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. H2 p0 t& Y9 a
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 3 b* n/ u L4 j+ W40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 6 k3 c5 x* g U5 S9 y' \. J4 r. \0 ]parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 @. m! S" Q7 q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 0 G$ i4 Y4 C: t" C* ?3 ]& Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 4 @2 n$ n% [, s2 Bcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 X4 k6 j/ Y' r/ j
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. & R) s5 ^) t/ W& g0 w7 x" 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 beautiful0 |2 L( }/ L5 i& _3 E6 g! O7 ?6 {4 v& @1 k
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all! v2 t$ _' P% h6 _$ `' f
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very' |* p. ~+ H/ U
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep0 b) u1 u+ q/ K
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day $ ]6 g0 i$ s" m4 U4 B$ h R, Rsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 g8 M- c% n o# s
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms # R8 r1 R9 W" Lhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the$ p' k- ?. S0 _; ]
tourist area. 7 u* |9 ~' H2 ~ & K0 ?1 R2 l: ], T9 v& r( SOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's ; u: T2 a0 L$ ?- O, z$ w& @% Qpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 |0 F# z& H4 e, _. P
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were , G% x' E- R% S" Y5 ]everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , q. K9 }4 t; h/ @less leader-religious.% r& k* }- h- u9 X, `
* ~' e, x' x2 e" F: c1 ZAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba- ^: K4 i1 P* D$ J& e
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 3 O' {' p" K# S4 _/ Tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US # z) B+ G$ G+ W* y5 X# iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).! U7 \2 d% Z2 N' k- |
- n2 F, s- b! A/ N8 N; f8 ?& vWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the, i' `& Y" N- I. O4 X) Q
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not & V/ [1 j/ J7 @' {7 ]: `" X, Ythe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1% H$ K* y, a/ I
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for t$ u9 s" w8 @! K
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars" T7 G2 {6 \7 O5 m `
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 0 L$ ?4 s' ~* c9 eprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% \" x0 x% C, P* r6 s0 n
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.9 V2 g: t/ {! G N! S0 ]. d5 e9 E
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local! i7 O H5 W2 ?
or visitors. 1 Q. E+ f: N. X; n6 t0 f# P9 e: ?, o4 L t5 X# p
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
