We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very 8 b2 h6 h* u s, [5 `# B+ Pinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we . R, R: s! Y: ]& a X G) @9 z+ cwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.! R4 k/ B5 P8 O3 U% t( z; S
7 t$ K/ K+ C3 M% i# T- cIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,, g. C1 [' V# ^+ h
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in7 D& V Y$ U4 |2 v
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as , X: _4 A% p- U4 A. B1 F4 {; Y% Fpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 Y6 J/ d, C: D
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep " D* D5 N* s9 c E( D4 hbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 0 V0 e' {: P6 x) G; _, Llobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, ; z' d6 T$ [( b. gwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. : T( z9 m: I( z D People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but+ e* p r T+ m" ~
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not 1 v; V2 y) I# o' _# K: Jexchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our# D6 k5 D, b/ H* H& h6 m) o3 c
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through & A O' F4 M% j6 w& Q! sa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 j. v& W: h% O8 }
6 o: E$ j) G' Z8 A6 E: IThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, 5 w$ |0 J* N6 J0 B* Klow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool2 W: `! V7 C. w" {% h& M0 J/ j
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top1 g9 B$ r" q+ L7 H
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ; {" s8 B0 ~! p8 H2 _stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from ' k- |+ Q: z. k7 g49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes 7 [7 @" ~ B; W- ?$ P! gCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with+ o Y$ n$ D- j3 B% N3 Q
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.* \% S* E. k$ ?% ^$ h/ L
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are' b' G2 H% o* g6 Q s
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made 0 }0 ]. k0 w) a$ l1 @ efor us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba5 B6 q9 [' }/ f, p1 y( x4 G8 }6 n
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having Z/ [+ v0 Y. D5 _$ Z+ d4 P. ]
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China ' M7 p4 o* [" j6 Mdaily 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 i7 l0 R4 j7 G) H3 F8 o
standard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went 5 `9 u* T+ C. xon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide,2 ?& ^; T( w8 @8 D4 B
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 C4 _: u) y1 C, }. \+ C) B+ i
answers to our pointed questions.) S' g; Y" S, K
1 ^, H6 ?; O! `1 K; sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 _" U% A5 j9 z; a" q
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand 3 i' X8 `. R. R: A3 |! jout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is - f8 a8 {" k9 d& |0 l, `3 i$ J) }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! g* K- ?3 r3 m& i8 }* i4 t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are# ~/ L/ C+ Q1 d) j/ u
medical schools. * k/ Y/ ~4 L0 d) V: ` / {) D5 p$ B q1 s, `. F! y* ?4 \Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the- c1 F+ s' Q+ X: ]! L
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 2 P& [8 c% g) J# f4 kto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years ( V* m( D$ K! Massigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba - M. f( u; D* t4 ~3 C/ i3 Tis from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to ( P' E3 ]1 D7 xover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There( A0 J+ V/ l3 q9 B. q. {# c
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and - T3 k7 ~: J/ O; `/ Fmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk / N" @" w! A2 D' x3 kshortage which the government is addressing by converting some+ d& V+ V* U- a; y- l- Z& U
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. ' S% Z& F& R9 o: h* [2 E8 Q0 d. P- Q* x0 H7 G6 O; H
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no! B+ l; \+ X* I* ~$ f
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and 8 m/ V3 U+ d) v Q V4 Zsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: F( e. q7 p6 O3 y% _( [
have to stay with their family even after they are married. The good 4 @' j+ _% p3 ~5 P& C+ i. }' gthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby2 O. N8 H- \' ]; P2 W7 c# o2 |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high ! _5 H0 n5 x7 }3 ]divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.! i/ P0 e9 q: k0 h R5 ?+ B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When ; @ A- h: A; ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only + A. T# P; `8 C. Y) \" Qcharge the fee defined by the state.. I) U9 h7 C8 u6 N! _# m: b7 V9 w
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get 0 R3 m' K# o$ \0 v" B. V+ z; ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 I6 ?+ k W+ N L% p
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big 7 I" ^* b! I" J4 a) ftruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel / x/ |( \0 ]: w& f* k8 Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the * ~' E* B! P8 Y+ t) Xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on " L/ j# P, A, p# Y$ _schedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if1 Y* [( e$ ~/ d% P( p
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people 9 d9 S/ N: [9 d7 X- otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch + \, z- I2 Z& g! ^' r( S* ?4 f. Bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 U- V9 R9 @( w1 a
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: c% Y! j; n; D" ~' N
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or # ~# d& b: p5 v" N( k+ F& Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there5 a# f8 [- j. B h G1 J( D
are spaces. 2 l% H; D2 y4 b/ U" F b2 \8 n ) W& b, n7 l5 V% L) [4 R, nThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi ( Y/ h7 z+ @# r$ D+ \3 Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. @6 u3 O. v( l6 u
own a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the # L- M$ q5 f& D3 k; I! p$ w* t40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different 3 \5 R/ a) ~6 _1 [4 Q9 J* F3 }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the 8 ~0 Y) j+ A2 @# J- g" }& x, n2 Ebest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few " A! B$ V6 N K, |# S5 |6 v, {, gnice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of0 ?2 |! H' P" p7 ?
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it* L: K! W' L1 W, D( i4 [
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.% G& K0 z1 I' E( e2 o1 ^- z
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 & C7 E5 C2 U) @( u) {spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all ) o. P- P6 J6 h" A+ w" `the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very + I6 z# Q" Y" M0 w5 hlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep- i+ I2 q9 |* w$ {5 I0 p
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day * L: z8 H0 ]$ c; q$ _supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of5 V% M" z1 p/ M& H/ w' }( }8 `+ q
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms 3 }( N9 [8 f8 u# ghave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the 0 k4 Q# {) E& ~tourist area. ; s8 W. H2 C8 I/ @4 W4 w+ Z- N0 U: {8 ^" e
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's * ~0 I7 e; p* j. p, C0 Gpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara). 4 H- Q. d6 C9 i1 HCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were - y* P& k& i& S- f$ w, U# u5 {7 teverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 1 ~ ^" o5 a0 c5 F. a6 {less leader-religious. $ r0 }- D, X+ P: E! G6 b& Q, B0 K% R' i
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba 6 u# g: r0 k- d) X9 Mgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big( m1 B3 V. k. n9 C6 i* ?8 Q% b/ j6 L
black flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US / H9 _# \7 v& ?. E. k7 lembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). + d$ ^0 z& `0 w- @ ~+ |. o1 | " L! q; R7 [3 v7 RWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the, ?2 b5 M: Y6 I* K! D
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ( j6 t$ u$ ?8 O2 pthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1 $ N/ q9 F; U6 q; m a; X+ Rconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for $ P, ^6 T% ]' F+ cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars ) m6 r1 [. ^2 N. l(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we , J7 ?, x* `, G# T7 |probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the . P; B! N$ K* P4 _# j. r; Yreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going." x$ D( u0 n2 k
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local 2 M6 H6 r# c# E8 t! ror visitors.7 I j) D* l i# |7 |1 Z* C
7 ]! p& R7 }3 P( l3 |: u-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
