We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 7 u3 t- `3 l6 E4 |interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we. L0 }' x! H9 C* ?3 C
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 0 R% ^) r& t! ]- h1 s% ]0 A5 [3 ^ 8 H' c; @: N- l& U# ?2 c9 XIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,; p' \% R; i5 {2 h: M
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in, N8 N5 k& D4 P
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as8 r! U+ V% q. g& O6 i s' d1 I/ Q
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort) G& W7 }9 u% N' y) E
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep8 D" O2 m) C) Q$ |& U4 U1 y/ o/ F
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the ' I) x `( P) K3 u6 mlobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ' E) a+ {8 l8 e9 p* vwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 8 o6 V1 B3 ^% i) p6 \3 X4 N People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# K+ ~1 o8 `, B# H
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not+ N( \5 j5 a- M1 t( S
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our . q- D3 I: y& a1 \ D, e% kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through : s+ @2 w6 C9 b. oa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ; V# ]" _; n0 E3 }# h7 r% E% ]1 Y6 W- w# ~8 O
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 7 L% w! C' l9 G1 m$ f1 dlow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool+ r1 [4 I" O: l+ N) M* C+ e! C B
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top : F' S5 V* p/ c! {& l" C; ~, a5 aof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the( \! n+ {6 i& H8 i& w
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from& q9 C* d q+ g ]* D4 ^
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 ]8 t/ M, e- F0 Y, B. S
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with : W4 U0 I) ?& v0 ]! ]) F1 Ofingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 3 s. Z/ S- w# o9 o7 f( W / A+ u& [: ~' z$ S. X$ HThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are4 F* H( ]2 |& Y, h7 V S
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made: \ k$ b6 M* a0 B
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba : }4 ~# O ^- s# Q1 ~7 K5 Dtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having / z& ]5 z5 w2 U5 L4 sa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China " H% T! i- `. P5 s# d+ W( X+ |4 edaily 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 5 z+ D2 H3 P# s& Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went % E4 a: j2 k {' h4 p1 l: non a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, p1 E$ O# h; \5 u7 V2 k"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give 0 n( G' V- M* z- a3 [answers to our pointed questions.! W5 @5 r: } y6 m! o9 ?0 f
5 F/ a6 C0 r+ u# bThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, ! n# Y S; M( G9 T9 s ~. |45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 C; o! v+ S% g" ~
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is ' M" h, C9 S, T+ U# o3 V8 p2 T/ `free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams, t, ]! m, ]8 e! H8 P: E5 y H
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are$ {- Y7 ]" [: Y' i
medical schools.% Q) Z. t/ d7 V; k
, W+ s( y& v2 [% fEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ; T, H$ ~; C3 B K& kgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants % ]! }% U, u7 ~, V% F3 ~8 D+ m5 Dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 g* d! w" H& {7 z2 z+ a, x, Y
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba( w( }+ [) {* {4 {
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to( e! Z4 |. d7 {5 {4 D' S
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 J. G& W8 h9 b+ i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 5 \ t& j; O1 V1 o# @2 _mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# M; f$ r) c7 ~, @
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 7 t" D: ?2 A5 g3 ]. v( j2 s/ Hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ) K$ v* d) I+ p4 B% D & c! {) l+ ]) ]6 \5 h& {The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no - Z T& |( D% ~4 |! Q I1 mprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and . ~8 _2 Z U8 P, c7 Z# T7 Q2 H; ysupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ X1 \: H, j' U1 {. i) i
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good* X1 q! G+ R8 b; k% V5 x
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby " F3 z0 O8 u* s1 }sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high " H/ ?( T, o3 B$ F# ~/ z' idivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. ( N5 S& c9 m4 b. qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 9 H! y. L7 w( xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( a. ?+ c$ N0 Q
charge the fee defined by the state.+ n$ n8 N; f7 E0 o- x h
8 N/ x+ o$ s; p; w% e, A% b* ^5 MThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 0 }" g: h; d' Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 J" ^" [2 M, v
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; n2 f9 \0 q% X
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel % L* P% G' w% ?4 w0 ~0 N6 lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 W! b3 X1 R( @9 E
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on , w. N# t/ |$ i. Q0 s# Gschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if 7 Q8 Z, {' E* L6 ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people ! u, o( j5 ~. |, v4 E a! qtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 3 R7 V) W1 d* S9 m8 Mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! x; }4 t/ N* i/ @, F
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want( o* i/ z3 ~% Y7 }' F# s4 H! V, f2 ^, c
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or! T* P/ `5 o6 J8 |2 I9 U
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there $ ^; @4 c4 N$ `# k4 e* Nare spaces. : Y1 ?, w F/ i0 h: i; z! w! |9 _- }+ n3 a# `+ {
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, u0 [$ }2 Z/ i* O1 N. ^" }
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they e& L2 h* ?* p4 r3 aown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ' V3 E* @* o1 H" T1 G; q* }( Z* b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 2 E) w0 A' N% r& P) sparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the- g! f. J: H% K q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few 8 W$ P) G0 Q7 ^0 ~4 e& S( lnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of5 U! t0 o3 v7 l8 o; ~
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 1 O2 R' u. c2 z1 V w! eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. - j$ u" }4 Q* J 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 beautiful1 v2 N( \3 p/ y. u1 _
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all 2 y6 Q$ b" D7 F& b# Sthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very : U, g0 P0 T2 p# O1 @4 \2 jlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 x& ~/ L. Y" }/ `8 H
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day1 C7 c! Q3 G2 P0 r' p7 b
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of 5 E% w. A \0 s! [& pthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) N9 }8 h; Q+ B' V9 ]0 G
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the - r) k" p, o3 P" Ytourist area.* D% C- H, a" Z1 G9 m9 t
/ h% H" b2 l9 @5 ]One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 9 W. ]2 G W6 \ _/ P2 Epictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).+ i+ J6 h1 c6 {$ V. T
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were; A: Q: P; R6 O) U( I( I
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 j8 v7 m1 M. R! q/ f+ `; d
less leader-religious. 5 d0 O$ C) X- u& ~2 Y9 R9 I/ k; ]& t( k8 m6 w' q
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba ( U9 o6 B; C2 m' i \. B* H$ i1 ggovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big% u: g5 Y; e9 @9 J
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US2 G! d3 E7 E& _6 e1 o5 |
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' O9 a# }9 \# Y! s
$ q9 h% d; J( X1 e" xWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the 5 |! o3 ^1 }& ?# I c4 oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ' E8 c: m7 k% Ethe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 D: _7 x5 x+ |+ b5 _& {
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for: G2 P* x0 i% |; ?+ y& z
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars6 E1 w: W& C/ ~" J! K {0 j
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we # u+ h% X9 n. q7 t# V% L5 zprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- @( E% g0 C6 S( l
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.5 h' z) \- q' @, U" p- ]0 {, J! n+ s4 h
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local4 k) J9 T" U/ H" o6 e, E7 ]
or visitors. " R! k: | ~4 g$ z+ b# e9 M a8 b# B, I1 L
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
