We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very. q# G/ P# j! f- o
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we' l$ |) ~6 a* K$ X9 C3 g" |: ]
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible. ) w, f/ F# Z& k1 p N& P) f 2 G" y1 H' F3 q3 p3 eIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young, - L7 j% D& ^8 Z; O0 g30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in6 {# z- `" S+ G
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as1 x4 i1 H% f: M5 |4 o j2 N
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort' H( W. J( n# s+ z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep+ F% A" ?* y! }4 X( Z% g
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the * {% z4 I; R- X) Z& T# Q" `lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, - |7 I$ ~* i. M, e* q8 Gwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; k+ u/ T* d+ Q
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but7 M9 F) `0 U7 f8 u; _& [6 p
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 5 O! C3 Q" w$ n* z) dexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our+ z3 t" ]3 p/ r- P
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through % M1 w! B' o8 X& ba roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* `- E' `, D. ?" r' ?$ `
: Q$ f z- ?2 T+ o- p2 z! MThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,7 L/ W4 w# R+ s' _2 B* _( D
low 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool) d6 I: g5 [5 V6 t
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top( K3 c$ g6 y; e7 M& k. X/ `% J
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ' d; E+ X% k4 N/ v L9 qstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from! `" a0 n: G! m& p& o: { o" ?
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes7 a/ S/ U* @( a5 {/ k1 i7 {) m+ Z
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with! e8 j4 M. h7 T* a1 d" ~& y% ]
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada. * N/ |4 ~! C% U ]1 p1 ^/ s$ ?1 y5 a5 ~6 |$ i. M3 i
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are% a- |- A5 s. d3 _
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made # N" C8 u- R- A) @8 u" c Vfor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba, G# e! h5 Z" ]5 L f- Z
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having- R% f. @2 y2 I. M' B; o2 U# `% {
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China/ m- N) J$ d( B H4 u2 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 & Z: i- u; d! o' O" mstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went : v/ j2 n0 U# A! u/ don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,/ _# J* x$ d e5 N
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give0 I/ \6 d2 ]" U/ X8 G
answers to our pointed questions." c2 M) L8 r5 o6 e+ q
( M/ t$ k, y2 n. G- K) u
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 X- M* k- I- o
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand + A* {6 u( ] b, p d/ v. gout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is * t( W! ?5 [9 m6 j) D j2 Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams & u5 x( t, m* P! \' ?+ Tto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ p: i. O+ Z2 q% x# R
medical schools. & |: W& q- g! E8 |; Y' ?* |. {! l C( I3 D7 }
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 u& H" |/ q$ D) G1 g
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 l1 |. z0 P& [3 z: oto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ w' W$ d6 K- R
assigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba/ B7 M! L# ~2 f
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to / ~9 x- u6 ~4 D5 Uover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There 1 ~* Y1 V2 |& e T* m/ m6 }' lseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and A' q% @9 s7 }+ r8 q( H
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk 6 M& c8 F- _2 N2 Z0 x4 M! Pshortage which the government is addressing by converting some / a% R7 _- D/ M- p. V/ |sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. & ]4 R# D$ I$ `& I) c6 h. D+ e' [" C. ^+ T7 u6 C
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no6 ?" h7 d# |4 O4 n/ [
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 7 r% Q* y2 k; g. @- ~3 b% Osupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people $ a/ m$ M* T. l' b4 ~have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good1 U p6 K( M0 y0 [9 l: X
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 F* `) X' `! l G5 v( P$ n/ V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ; l1 K6 u% ?8 m8 h7 ?& \" U3 udivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years. U" A1 |( O, `4 T
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When : z$ m& _/ J6 ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, S0 R8 b% n* f# r
charge the fee defined by the state. 7 x3 ?4 P3 y c9 o # E& I: D0 n3 J/ w! r& Q. O' A GThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get X2 ^7 Y; a2 d
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type * W8 d" N" z0 sof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 C0 L& r' v: [- }! U
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel+ M( R& Y4 _1 C0 H) H
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the7 i' q" C' _& @/ x- A
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on( v4 K8 q7 o9 A6 |2 q8 N* K# l
schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if$ t! k9 U3 B5 M! P0 ?. z2 G
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people* r4 U; N: ^0 O/ |
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch 8 q7 J( h1 [) w+ _: M z1 ohiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ( R5 _ }# {0 {people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want7 U2 z) |8 e. ^9 h: F4 ]
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or v6 E$ E* c; ~# ?
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there3 n0 D! J* h- v$ A
are spaces. ) w# q2 q+ q' \" W X: ^. q: D k* k5 \3 u0 X, \
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi 7 W& }- Y, v9 Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they - b3 t. s6 g( K3 @own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the : P9 n/ ^( k& H6 |9 i& ~40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 9 v& K4 o: i7 ^: I% l, y, {/ }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 H I% v& l" I5 z4 p3 v
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few - g, ~ N/ K/ G; p7 rnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of + x, H" S/ N3 Wcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 0 ^* q3 w3 t" j( i" Uis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ L" o6 O, d! f- p. ~
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 beautiful3 s- A0 V# r+ i; g6 t/ Z/ C- F" t
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all * Y% n5 @% m" w6 i* Zthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very1 t. d- _0 {6 ^% G% L
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep " c% y6 T7 X: Z5 j9 Crecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day & e5 q6 q; @! W$ W, O4 t3 Hsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of# F4 G5 x7 v+ G: h
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 4 q( e% \9 Y1 r2 G" k8 N' l" _% }have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the $ {4 i) U2 k* F8 {tourist area.: o! \% [ x; F
8 s, }" T- |+ G4 ^$ W# [' SOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's 4 r" H# ~& _! Q+ K6 y! o* Q6 u% ?pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).7 q4 j( X6 ?3 \
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were 1 v4 u: j9 n3 M' Ceverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps * t3 t/ J+ z7 g8 p" [/ p8 Q
less leader-religious. " ^" Y; A& E x# E" L2 N |- Z' ~7 {, p/ {& Y4 ]
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba: i& J; F. v, V7 Q, L7 ?7 `
government slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big 8 g5 u3 ^) k" Z1 E# C2 tblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US. n6 B% e7 f- g- [: ~4 F- Y
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). ( A, l; h7 R7 g- Q S8 U ( S8 s* n0 F- }We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the . @. d2 t1 F' r- S4 g9 K0 x2 [parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not 3 U" d, r( r* z' i; V" Ithe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 9 S2 m# f1 r5 g: O: Q2 y0 aconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for" o# @5 |* W( ^/ Z: F# Y
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars% e2 Y! ]( f4 O7 X% B$ f
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we 9 F. ]' p0 k, W7 E7 o8 L( N- T5 Aprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ X. [/ C5 @8 p& B% B3 s
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going., p+ l7 ]. l% d1 O
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local6 ~7 @8 R# w8 c
or visitors. ; Z4 J9 W: n4 ~" h: m 8 k% M8 }1 e. _# R/ H R-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
