We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 N- P5 Z+ m4 Y/ W+ e) vinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we 0 ~" r' T5 c) @$ hwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. " d& ]+ G" k% \+ v( e8 D$ Y+ g6 H7 N9 J9 W) r, t# V5 Z. N
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, $ D+ F8 Z+ ~/ T" p/ B- ]$ I30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in, D r; y4 ?3 H9 z
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as; K9 q4 ^/ L! ^4 c( V2 Z
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort; n. A& X* I$ {# i2 g1 T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep % E3 C$ l4 C( Y D2 r0 u7 ?- K! |" _between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the* x" g- k4 n9 F* m
lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all," k+ n- J B7 t8 X& ]1 E
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. 6 n( C$ i7 M, v: Q% V0 ~ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but & r; T. K8 d5 e* U* I, nnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not0 q! ~: o8 R9 F
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ) N% f1 X# c5 [# ?/ dflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through2 z) A/ V" U" p7 L/ Z2 H" V
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.2 x& t S( u& R. M9 B9 r) o
+ m7 |( c+ @2 n# n" L& D: ]
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 4 [& k, ~; t$ l0 F! R) G" }9 ^low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool . ^' M e7 y n Z(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top % }2 r7 I( U4 W8 T$ Lof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the* {- l/ q' A9 G1 v+ F+ j' W+ l$ W4 U
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from + [) K. t f% b g) `" Q; k$ t, \& |( ?49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes5 B: ]) a4 x: ^+ @: K1 N
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with7 x7 \2 T3 ]( b: i# h7 b6 p
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. 9 v: A/ o' w6 o! G8 V7 r, a1 P7 {) h
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are 8 `% D+ a# `$ \3 njust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made3 g: K) f" H) ~3 H2 K9 ]: g: k
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba . B; L9 ~4 w* E) Q2 R" x. Gtourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having 7 Q- e, F Q8 Ta staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 t6 Z# y! \# M' Adaily 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, living0 ~$ }" w+ N' E9 B
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went & V( e4 o1 q4 L8 N. |" ]% h2 V2 qon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,: s+ ^6 t3 K Z& ^. b, t9 N" I, }4 x
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ I8 ~6 O7 g' ?5 M$ M4 ]
answers to our pointed questions. ! W( A/ c1 G# }( W3 V# n! _4 V( F% j2 Q* E9 r3 Q; Z
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, $ e. M! F# y6 l1 S' @ x4 u' r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand ! {7 [2 }/ X0 B' I n& G# |) Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is+ V q" d9 j! \4 _- f, s
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 3 H' O' G* [0 l8 `4 S- wto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ r- |' }& z. S
medical schools. % i7 [ m& R/ g: D& A* w: ?# k# ?) A7 o% s7 V* v
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 5 |/ ^3 E! l8 Ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ c8 t; `9 a+ d1 f! f, N! a. C
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years & |. H) R K( Z, c, u1 Kassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba ) K! `: H6 y0 f) Vis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to , L/ K! K5 v) h. l. l+ fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There9 H! l$ ] @/ c
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and! \# r; ?( N; \
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 n- j$ \% P. e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some: q7 A6 @( b; M8 I! ~5 T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.7 A/ _# Z" l& e
% U6 Z- h3 s/ d" y4 N! zThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no0 H- F. O7 Y! V" F- [5 B; |7 d
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and - M* N7 V5 e( asupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people / ^9 Y2 t$ @& i% ?7 r+ Xhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 3 T* K% }7 H1 t1 Z# @4 ?thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ) F6 Q3 M7 S6 ^# |2 msitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high7 r/ o( x7 F; |2 A3 [' Q/ G4 y
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. l5 O1 M9 n: L* o* K! S1 |- w
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When# [. G: }" r* }6 N$ z6 x1 G$ E& }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only% ]1 x7 \; I. ]! k ?
charge the fee defined by the state./ G* G: p& R" c: v6 V# J
, X1 v+ a8 n4 zThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ) h" q6 r7 b0 R% B( G* Q4 y% z/ X( {on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type 1 S/ T3 R! r) ^2 R- ?1 Uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big; r3 r0 _0 x6 g/ b
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel . ?6 _7 ^# I4 T5 _seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the+ P2 f# j& a2 D. n( O2 |
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on % k3 E. S( @% p7 k) pschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: i9 |, Z7 C: ?- o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people / w, \' M" ~# @7 ktrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch' W: Z( c M( _& V7 v
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ' s4 g/ w& O* k: Epeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want 8 }8 ]7 D! i+ e9 k2 mto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or1 L7 R3 d; _9 G. [
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. K+ y, y/ |: s. y, | p$ z
are spaces.) C& E, g+ o; ?$ B0 C, y0 U
8 c$ Z" Q0 S( x7 c, Q- u) aThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 9 B) x- M4 U* j3 H \; Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they . f0 i+ U U! T9 y Iown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the ' `/ D1 Q" d% y4 m, p5 h- b40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 8 V5 b4 ]4 U9 w# [) [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the1 V0 C/ c( J3 L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ Q$ x! v9 P) O: y: T2 i, @. z
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 0 T4 ]: i$ l$ D" E# @0 c& gcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 8 r4 O, c3 T6 ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.: w5 c6 ^7 \; J1 |3 Y1 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 beautiful + ]8 y) P( O; Z) z, ~spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all # A2 y* c% B" n' kthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 5 \! Q7 z4 t# s3 v# _limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep4 r9 a) a' P% V; l% q
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day' I. s8 G' t. ?
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ L' b8 ^2 q" E3 A+ j5 P
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms / |/ T! R! [+ V) thave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the . N: m) j" [$ L4 p. Ztourist area. . ?( h: N3 z' W' F7 ~3 n) \' R3 t! Z% U( m4 M
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 v) F/ \& ]' O; W% _4 |; e# Q, P
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 7 g7 F3 ?0 k. L* b4 x0 c" j, cCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were5 e6 i- d) v7 `4 L# V
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps % V' M& h: X7 I" wless leader-religious. , [( s, W! o8 r- B; R6 y* K( [3 e! @
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, x+ }* B) P* b7 z# J0 u
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big x0 P5 h7 `) }1 i7 C' C
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US; H1 I' C! i2 k e+ n& g
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ) |7 S+ N$ ]! R5 {* H . `5 D+ J& D9 y5 L1 OWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the # g- u. _6 G% `3 [5 a" ?parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not9 o* F; H! s: m2 e7 f" J p2 G
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $12 U5 v9 ?0 S, `4 h! k
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for / y% M% | i3 ~% o0 mforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars1 T2 ~ m+ P* S* e
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 9 \1 w3 X$ \8 [+ rprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the4 F4 J$ z. C. N( X; y
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going. + Q5 n( {6 O) K. C z iAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local) ^% P9 f. t+ @# i: j
or visitors. - Y4 p% L& u7 {' K 0 p- F* M$ x5 y% ~& g! [- `( [-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
