We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 4 q- e0 \3 D" o8 I: F* Pinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( h( c" _6 z) K; [8 f. |wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. 1 O" a: f2 `/ o P! f/ w4 ^0 O, Q
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,0 i3 c$ a3 o% M2 S
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in " ]9 `- j+ }$ K% Ra very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as3 B$ Z2 G" E6 d. \; G
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 8 ?/ J) c% ^, U. f1 ~5 {* [/ lshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep& y; o& D5 r/ @3 z& X9 q
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 7 c" ` n7 G* E" ilobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ' N' ^, L+ q7 u) t6 V. Dwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.# f0 r, o! T% R+ A3 g) `# m
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but1 W2 ]/ d: O, @' `
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not : [: `2 i( L9 mexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our 0 { }+ R. Y; y4 D1 Z3 Z6 P+ @flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through ' ]% F8 S. X, W8 l7 }5 z+ ?a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. : S1 k1 s0 ]8 O7 |' x* N0 \) \# \" f# F' e
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day," ] ?; Y: S1 d* m: `# W6 O6 k
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool 2 K$ G* {8 W& g9 j(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top 3 g& O. C; e6 Z6 O1 d' Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the 3 d, P3 E; a* O% E% i8 ystars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from/ q2 ~$ o* y- G; q' o. E' W
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes9 _* \4 @" H1 G# [6 ^
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with8 K7 e, v/ K; H0 t$ M5 ]
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. + _9 e9 L3 M, P* q, q, t5 e# Y, `+ @4 i# w1 ?. p& R/ I/ r o2 r# i
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are : ?6 { R5 s+ E- @just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made * E6 z% t; |. }: U }( \: Zfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( U" L! W: U( ~1 g5 Y! A9 v& f+ a
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having, t% X% v# J6 ~! Z: ~, p
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China0 `/ C; I/ H( q: ~ x" \
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 " f" P: j b* L, ]' G0 Tstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went2 c0 N2 e7 {1 `, g- ~
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,6 H1 O6 P" [; d) X
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give1 i) `5 p' x; Z1 D @: F( t
answers to our pointed questions. ! X N, @+ Y$ w6 k 5 d' W3 w8 n' v! l- ^ _- ^The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! c% f2 Z. ~' V
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# Z& a, r3 w: P
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is5 g$ ^$ C5 f* v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams* Q: L8 [ n: m3 ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- Z- s( Y0 J5 u; T N4 D
medical schools. $ k% N3 G! q/ d/ G& R1 R" U! B) Q9 D* y- \
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 9 Z0 j* M7 ?6 ~/ t4 ?/ n+ _" A7 Jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants * t! X0 i! X2 bto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years 2 m/ n* O# m; wassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba * L7 G+ q% I$ H/ Q4 f8 H3 {is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 k7 b- L+ F7 \4 Q: w
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There' t- E0 u" B- E, Z
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and( d# \0 ?9 ?* w3 M
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) h* C0 ?% @: A1 u& ?) ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some 4 Y+ X! u$ g' p$ isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. * [% k/ C0 Z4 ^ D9 l 9 S. y/ \" Q9 Y7 P% kThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no & s5 T# V3 t* ]( bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: _/ T4 J5 r# q% [/ g f% B' ?' K; j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 2 Y- e( q m, b7 l7 G/ z% `have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good # g# |( X& |" K# vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby ' G$ q( e. x D, R' U7 bsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high z- O7 I9 W i5 Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years." S: a! G: t1 h. E/ u
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When 3 F' H6 `) Q& q% c7 g" }a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only , c# H/ l+ [ Q" [* ^charge the fee defined by the state.( D. R5 J% ^7 y, n8 T0 \" A
$ z k$ s' x KThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 5 X+ i, y( }) G) G& t' zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type; J7 y: F5 ` M5 K. }% o$ A
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big % P# L7 {0 }- M2 W. |. Htruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel 0 M- c! r3 U. D, p, l$ sseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the B( m7 ], g1 M
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 [) l5 K" u- i" a; e' J. E1 N
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if. X3 G1 a! f/ q9 q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people $ p g5 v: s# Q6 L5 P9 M; p/ [trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch . D! I9 |7 N$ _+ Y6 h. M' i7 e; ~. lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that + T6 l' E! H* i% b' gpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want " R7 `- S6 m& Z# z' wto go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 W6 x- |/ |9 e- I8 H) {) l7 Q
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 U, u, @# P' X- w' k
are spaces. 1 n3 m# W8 ^2 b6 K2 O7 { - h" p( o: ~" u9 B4 G3 f( OThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi / H# Y+ V4 t0 h/ \6 mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they+ W& {( ?% Z @
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 _: G; c2 H1 p8 _
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 W- \1 v& E9 v* [parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the" N+ {7 Y4 j) Q: E+ O1 A' ^1 |' N
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few/ ?7 Z; q' A2 B( K/ v
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of' w+ b4 i% o) ^3 g7 j
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it + n" |. {) u, Q( His a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.' ]& f. p2 T6 I$ G
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 beautiful7 S, Q& E1 K7 a9 B8 {, N1 N
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all) k" k i o4 K/ ^7 R: {
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very 4 C; z3 z3 m @5 t5 _% Hlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep; N. t `1 y9 ]0 W# p+ W% H
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day # V3 y! m$ {6 b/ g W3 @/ lsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ t9 T0 r% v& ]# l$ h. @, H5 S; }* _
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ O, W9 r j T) Q7 x1 U
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ! w. Y; m% [9 ^# y W0 Z- [) }tourist area. T5 q5 U: J7 O& I
4 U3 I6 [* q1 z1 U
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- g& ~3 V" l+ ~
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).0 h: T# \0 V G& b; ~/ v+ Q
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were : t: r: \, I _5 X* @" d- meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ( E3 t* V# ], p' M% z) @less leader-religious.% D5 H o/ \* V$ [. i
: K& F0 G# |" p$ h: @3 L/ w& z# M
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba( M8 l3 j% Y: W
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 1 k. i; o" d) Bblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US . h" I3 P- v* V1 J rembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 5 `- E9 n$ y' l2 q; D: s- ^) }" I4 ]( K
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the6 O% b! X: D" d* K* _) _
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not1 N0 r( Q7 E# l4 ?* N8 J- T
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1$ N) d/ \1 d6 ~5 i+ v2 A; v6 n
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for + W# f+ r2 s& g2 |. pforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars5 v* S9 s1 u# K3 U* K, t5 b- Q
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 t# q2 s; g% x1 G7 l
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the* x0 K) H) Y7 ~9 W/ m: T
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.& Z+ E! L% B$ a0 Z2 K
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 4 ^& d$ P) D, d a, Y% qor visitors. ' S$ R0 f2 N2 H8 t" b5 i: B3 J0 m5 E4 o7 c. e& z9 r1 F
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
