We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very ( @+ ^* Q0 `/ J5 I G% I1 e) vinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we, }3 o: {- @! P) q
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. r3 U7 a1 x o! N8 s
7 @8 h- Z3 M1 WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, , J+ x/ l# p- J8 T30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in; A% V+ Q7 x5 g( f8 x: B
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , h9 q0 m6 _& M7 A( v Q+ h4 Dpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort 8 G. Y$ {% B) k& L) ^4 S3 rshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep# Z: U8 D$ P9 k6 A2 S$ ^7 X. }
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 5 J; q9 I1 ]- w" r* i" |lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, - V' |- T& H) l5 s( ywith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.6 q" o$ t! c3 d" ^. E
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but4 Z5 Q+ [$ I& ^3 v7 I( h# Z2 T
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( W8 x& C: ^' g% L8 U& t
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our ; h' M |8 n! t X) x1 ^- yflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through + O' e" g, E3 G1 G ]* t* ]% ]# sa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. ( h: Y8 |6 |3 J( F- g& e R - U( \# D0 c& X- VThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,% r3 e7 e0 Z9 E4 j
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool. i+ X+ A5 S2 H! R
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top ( Q0 T6 Y' ^5 cof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, j& }8 I( \, Y0 o
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from - P, x k8 ^7 r49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 5 G4 P& L& I, uCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with $ b/ h& u( S; i G- S" ]fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.4 d3 i. [" F% ^
/ d. R( v6 m1 z7 U' }
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are ; o* {) } p+ j7 J& |7 i% Ujust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made . Z8 x8 i% }$ P4 f. Dfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba 4 h: b2 ]6 w' B4 ^* htourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having " q2 k8 r; \# Q( y: C4 aa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China 9 v v3 D: [ S U' Fdaily 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 b# ]9 L9 U4 }0 _6 n. H; ystandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went% v5 F" {0 _: q8 D" K3 Z P: r
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,# x! ~3 V" A) U6 C2 e! l' [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give4 ~, o% e; ^: ^( K; M
answers to our pointed questions. B, S$ d. O2 l& n, E 6 y. i! v: J8 ]& z8 K+ C$ ~) uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 |6 r% b4 |" ]8 x9 d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 B# \6 m1 ]7 i1 @
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - @( o4 T: c; F; x! a/ E! ufree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams & B I% a% I1 r- O& U- U1 J8 `to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are " m$ `- A& c: b8 `5 N% s( Smedical schools. ! a' c/ w" i$ l4 M # A2 G" W4 N' I1 V: aEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the 7 S5 z/ ]& y" n$ Q \# ~5 egovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants) f* u/ f4 O- V ]' H1 k
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years! s9 @8 P* @ S! J o% O
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba / w2 m7 S/ F1 w( dis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to' V4 ]2 f+ A V6 s* B: K$ B
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There3 P0 t% r- o( c2 t3 w4 [4 a: J8 ]$ r
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) ?5 {4 h2 H0 @( J$ M
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk " V$ L& I2 ~4 L- rshortage which the government is addressing by converting some( ]: H8 B8 o6 z0 Z9 i2 L
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ _* E7 _9 x/ w4 {
2 v8 P4 u ?* _) u# _' P. C o4 s
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no 4 f' j4 y* @3 l) S( c) M) {private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ T( L6 p5 h4 ]- C8 s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people5 i, f+ k5 _1 H* P
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 2 X. c, v* M# k! t) |8 o7 l4 }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby / R! _6 G$ L9 V: @sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high 7 C; d2 J. a0 m( W. Cdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. 9 H9 ? k& F7 F/ q! i' J1 hDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When, s# v- h" l! U8 {& y2 p9 m
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only " ]4 m7 ~7 n. l B3 C- Jcharge the fee defined by the state. 7 J5 Q% e. U y' w; i# ^4 L : u7 h2 k# k2 `/ l6 BThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get & `7 L5 \( C0 h" ~$ @ r1 Don), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type * V2 C6 S! ?& f x1 E) @* F/ `of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big % y6 F+ D3 g( x. S0 Qtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel' D& _9 ?1 p7 B9 l& \
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; h1 N N7 l: I- c7 @: Z( w% [3 H
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( ~5 Q' ]% ]* P+ T: T$ U
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( h: |' N7 D$ A% p5 |
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people C; a: c$ Y2 Q- [3 ?* g
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 0 S: e ]/ [! q8 \' o; C' D2 phiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that 0 |$ a. S3 }5 n: n* S1 vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want& g+ ^! X% A3 f3 w, e8 T+ B
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or 4 F) ~ {+ [9 i! ]. Ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there 8 h4 ?: ]/ L5 y2 s, T; kare spaces. 2 F4 C5 e, U- W9 p" Q! e* ?. k/ \8 [5 l3 k* Z
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi " X% s/ O$ _" T) N9 pto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they 9 x8 G& d. d/ p/ h+ rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. Z/ _) Y- y. c$ o$ }
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different; D! o! j" {, q% ~1 U
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ s" G% j; p9 E; V
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few; o. W8 f* _# |- E1 q# O
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 8 v( g* @1 _, V y2 q5 Kcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it& `. Q# g- l& m0 v2 }- H% [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.1 M- t5 b+ i- F! q6 _
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 ' ^! K3 F* P9 U: @) b% gspots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" M. Q' `/ k/ J, N5 N1 P8 \
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very' P6 W* Q( N+ c- D4 [
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep 7 \5 Y9 n! h8 precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day( v/ h! D' t2 ?) D
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of ; Q4 }0 p# @$ Wthem are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms ! {% ]' z! S, ^" X, zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the8 U. y! J6 P8 u8 _
tourist area.6 w! H8 ^, V. \" \$ Z6 @) p* X
+ x% l5 m3 r) \0 j! kOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's q& n0 }/ T% F. R1 M* b; o
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).& \$ `# G) x! c; L
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were ; z, L. }* V9 l6 {everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 R7 ?2 Q j" d# x) Q" Uless leader-religious. ; T3 L; s6 n; ^9 J6 ^) _, O _+ ], a4 K( Y
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 1 W- J o( P" t; w9 ~" G1 \7 f& Sgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 5 Y& B. J3 Z6 f0 A2 Cblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US q! w8 C+ f7 F- |& Y8 J* W3 L
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). 8 L& Z+ Q4 y# i& X. k % v# M. d4 {$ X2 c9 L1 O/ FWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the1 f! l- F5 F0 Q/ i/ W
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not+ b$ b8 W. ]( C7 I8 m6 l
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 ! f3 q; j* M, w7 aconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for9 f) o/ @0 u" T
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars 1 n' f, I7 G6 f$ d(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 3 _* H# ^$ T/ }6 q- [probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the . {* {7 }2 U& o: d) S+ i2 x; nreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.( @1 _; \; O3 w4 }6 ]) S
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 9 S3 z- A. N2 L9 z1 |/ u" ~or visitors.9 m8 M3 x& H: P! ]$ _9 _2 u
. q8 W/ S5 E$ {+ U) a
-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
