We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very5 z C: v8 K; Q9 H: ]
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we ( ]* z4 H: U+ G/ P* \' nwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.$ k9 \( J& N1 e- x
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,! {3 P" R" y: a! @ K) M* X
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men. People are in- U9 T6 T. @0 S7 B z8 h
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as ; M U1 G. Y! q; M% z& _possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort $ S5 l9 a8 b" C0 Oshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep # L: k* D* p' q# [2 ~between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the 9 V9 v% m1 }% h6 N- g; [lobby. The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all, # n, k/ u1 W0 _" Z# twith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there. ) g7 T+ R. V% ]4 @ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# L1 t$ r. U$ H" R! g: z: l! L
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not; b8 o3 \" V- r5 K6 H" e k( z
exchanged much. It is interesting to see people change color in our , X' F2 ?3 f* Q8 u. s( Kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through . {5 e* b2 p2 W' I7 I8 Ya roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards. & T! |( {! C: I) Y, _4 |1 d9 ^& P4 B3 v$ z' S; U+ v! c/ B
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day, ' m+ Z0 Z, o+ }; n9 C. Ylow 20s in the night. We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool' P/ g) h b# P$ H; I2 D
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top1 e$ L% v$ e3 ~. M) R3 T; \ S
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the ! y+ D$ O) ]; g! Kstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from . @6 p: @8 n1 i; {0 y9 ]49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch. Em even tried 20 minutes . d, v8 B8 t0 L: KCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with8 h2 S' k6 ?% c/ N L6 a
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! R4 S1 ?0 e" ~& x e* `
4 J3 ^$ l: G9 E, i" iThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are8 P$ x- g2 C( @1 I+ H) Q3 d
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made5 c2 @! B- P" \. v$ S% d" ~2 l
for us). The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 _8 c R6 _8 a* A* N" Y8 @
tourist industry and most other things in general. Watching them having. R7 M0 y$ U6 N; ]1 l" \
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China* |8 d# O4 v3 f3 O$ z5 W
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 $ e: a+ N! q# Lstandard and government control wise. To see and know it more, we went& j0 Y% n3 L# V- W8 [8 \- j0 H# Q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish). Our tour guide, ) ]; O0 t/ V" ^5 ?$ g5 j+ C( I"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give , u0 }( u$ |6 D7 Qanswers to our pointed questions.% G* f/ W7 u& D+ `: Y& C9 H
4 c6 O; W! J1 ?) gThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black, 1 z5 C A" z+ [$ z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand; U5 F1 T0 J) W0 M% t7 T+ R2 I
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan). Education is / v2 N: q6 F2 n- H) J3 Tfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams 2 M# X0 q/ n1 X* a3 H% A$ ito get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are 8 u! r& l% ^4 [" `medical schools. 3 u; J: s* X, D" x $ {& }. v$ t& ]; J5 s* i. HEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the ( l* d. D W, ]: _) t0 Vgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants 4 h k9 Q: b* K; S' s& U5 ~( _' ?to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years / m% ]' u& X+ V* y! \& z/ i# z% e" t* f' Fassigned service before leaving the country. The salary range in Cuba9 w/ ?# B/ r' @; k; P) E8 B
is from $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to 8 T3 }. [+ L/ y; Z/ qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors). There, h s8 ^& d1 i$ h7 w% E7 {1 G
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and 6 z: |3 g/ t$ H& z. Nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk ( R$ P. @! \' l" sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some ! @7 d2 k! g K4 H* Zsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands. . m" g4 |( h& f2 F# K' b: @% Y . q, ~2 W: _* m6 w: J2 `6 ]4 ~The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing. There is no ; W( h9 q9 r0 M0 M9 i* H6 \private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 ]8 H2 v H. }
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people 0 G& p. d& Z7 N1 Dhave to stay with their family even after they are married. The good2 U3 t% `; t0 O& E4 c0 k
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby6 Y- g. O4 m$ u. \2 f# H+ [
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 @6 B: f4 _) ]+ v5 K& y9 {$ @1 @% L1 ~
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 K0 `5 j; x' m0 j7 q6 g
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee. When+ ~8 a, @5 A) Y# ~7 D% K
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ H/ h7 U; B) @8 K7 F2 V3 y
charge the fee defined by the state.4 x& ?, A/ \4 A# B7 a+ [0 T$ S6 |
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get ! f/ n3 s; x7 o0 f! p ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type & m3 E# k" E0 x2 O3 Q3 Wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ z B4 x" x: `3 {/ l+ v# f7 G7 V
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told). The Camel8 ~5 _" e* D9 |* _6 M0 [& D+ M
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the " R/ ]7 w; ~% L0 c7 H' q$ @0 Vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on / g; I* ?) \6 `! \ Wschedule. No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if " W' ]! e: ~( ?& b; kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow". We saw some people% i' n5 l2 h$ D' c6 g% l3 i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch6 O- I# K) C* H% L" J
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that ~" E7 O; j5 p Xpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ d- S2 R6 u5 I# I
to go. There are places that government officials would stop cars or) n% d& |" _& W. j8 t6 Y8 F: j; C+ |
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there& m( t0 l' L4 f3 [6 y
are spaces. . c2 f: F9 y" D - D1 t' Z# i4 `There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi% U! z- C7 h2 M8 ^& A Z2 @0 W
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they ! n3 U8 D" C/ m5 @# L, f. Rown a car). Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the 0 w# O; q7 q0 u* z/ x7 A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* D9 b+ Z. T& n: _ Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 g! Y# ?% A9 e; n) O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world. We also saw a few( a! s' R8 `4 b$ a* w$ q
nice new Japanese and Korean cars. We asked George about the color of 1 ?- o. r$ I* W2 |6 g# D" acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it 2 c& s' Z0 [ S- V( @" t8 nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned. ( a! R+ F( y/ p5 R8 e; a2 x 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- [/ A5 U, X# R: e. [
spots. But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all3 }$ K7 E4 f7 ^8 H/ w8 h' C
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very: R! s7 i* R2 L; u; e3 J, R, ]" E
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep" P5 W; B& x2 e9 w- n7 w h9 M
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day 7 f8 U2 n g; i: K* I ]supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 j+ y! G |# ?7 F) R; L. m1 k
them are already gone. Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ y/ v2 n7 i2 f
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the ' {. t3 Q! W, Xtourist area. & k5 g9 r$ ]/ W6 z7 i% G 2 k e3 Q) K; M3 n/ NOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's3 x6 ^* _: {/ a% S
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).; `5 i3 a% o* ~: d5 L2 {8 w0 V
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 P) a) X# V/ [# a* R. ]
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & l- m) g7 f3 Hless leader-religious.$ e Z' r, Z) v0 b
& v! l5 u1 M3 L: Q1 V$ A, }+ SAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba # s7 U* M% Y, u, r5 g0 P! l9 d9 bgovernment slogans in their top floor window. Cuba then put up 138 big ( ~: b8 B: g# d; T. O) D* g" l0 t- Cblack flags in front of the embassy to block them. As the result, US , h6 S* ^& ~5 j6 Nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture). . U: @3 ?1 e9 w4 V * v* i5 t" w2 g7 c# O& OWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed. But we only saw the + n8 f5 b- J8 b2 E' \! Rparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not ! E3 N x+ f6 F0 c0 j: kthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1/ ^6 F$ p5 {' j6 a/ r; o2 D3 T6 E
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for! f% L& w$ a- W9 S
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars. Y1 t; T9 Z% j; c$ t$ D
(less than half). If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we / n: B' a: L6 `3 ~- W sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the! O1 }3 t. W, d, v* C9 D+ c
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 x8 V4 u0 n) Z7 I
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local6 l. ? b6 ?% s+ D9 p
or visitors. y; J g* I. y8 s0 W+ [3 Y" j$ @
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-- The End -- 作者: sinclair 时间: 2011-1-26 12:02 标题: zt from wenxuecity blogs
