Trip to Cuba ---- Day three古巴之旅------第三天

January 19

DAY THREE

DOUBLE DECK RIDE

We decided to choose one day trip to Havana on Friday the 20th so we went to the lounge after breakfast to look for the representative who would be available from10 am to 1 pm daily. There were a couple people in line so we just sat down and wait for him. To our surprise it took us almost an hour for the waiting. I wondered why it required that much time for the booking.
When it was our turn then I found it out why. The efficiency was very low. First we had to fill out a short form to make sure that we were interested in the tour that we chose. With that piece of information he walked to the front desk to make the phone call to confirm that the tour was available. He then came back and filled out more forms. After they were done if we paid Canadian currency he then had to walk to the front desk again to ask for the rate. If we paid by visa he then had to do it manually by putting the card between carbon paper and scratch it with a solid bar to get the print. It was the very original way of processing when visa was first used. The lifestyle remained in the fifties without moving forward with high technology as in the free world. We had to be very patient with their way of handling without the assistance from computer and so on.
It took us for almost two hours to wait and to book for our tour. With the internet booking it would take us just a few minutes. After the booking we walked to the internet room which was empty without users. There were three monitors and two phone booths in the room. My husband sat down and tried to use the computer but was asked for password. We then walked to the front desk asking for the password and were told that it was not free but required payment for the using. The charge was 5 dollars for half an hour for using the internet, the phone call was 3 dollars per minute for international call and 25 cents per minute for local call. There was no urgent call to make or message to be sent back home so we did not make any purchase for the use.
After lunch we walked outside the hotel and waited for the double deck tourist bus that would arrive every half an hour. That bus would give us a ride to downtown Varadero along the strip which was 23 km long. The bus fare was 5 dollars cuc (Cuban convertible peso). Other currency was not acceptable. With the ticket that was purchased we could get on and off the bus at each stop throughout the day when the bus was in service from 9 am to 7 pm. Sitting on the bus we had a chance to view all of the hotels on the strip. There were restaurants, bars, markets, houses etc in the downtown area. Whenever we would like to have a walk then we got off the bus, toured around for half an hour and then popped up the bus to continue our ride. We got on and off for many times. The streets were not that busy but very clean. There were not many vehicles running except tourist buses. We could see coconut taxis, classic car taxis, horse carriages to pick up tourists for ride in the downtown area. We were not interested in the ride so we did not bother finding out about the charges. The houses were flat, very tiny and old. It was tourist area but there was no foreign language to be seen except Spanish which we did not understand and was very frustrated with sometimes.
The ride took 35 minutes for one round but since we got on and off we spent the whole afternoon with the ride. When we got back to the hotel it was getting dark and was about time for dinner. What a wonderful day we had with the discovery! Since we were going for a day tour early starting at 7:45 the next morning we did not watch the show that night but went to bed early at 10 pm instead. We had enough for the day any way.

一月十九日

第三天

乘坐双层观光巴士

我们决定明天去参加古巴首都一天游，因此，早上十点钟到大堂去找公司代表订购团票。他正在忙着跟几位客人办理订购手续。等了好久，有点不耐烦。
轮到我们的时候，才发现为什么要花那么多时间来办理一位客人的订购手续。假如，使用电脑，几分钟就可以办理好。我们先要把选好的旅游团，填写上一个纸条上。代表拿着纸条，到旅馆的办公室去打电话，来确定旅游团还有空出来的座位给我们。确定之后，他又要把资料填写上另一个表格。弄好之后，假如，用加币付款的话，他又要走到办公室去看兑换汇率。假如，用信用卡付款，他没有先进的刷卡机，而用很原始的方法去处理，把卡放在两张过低纸中间，然后，用硬物把它来回地刷，来取复印本。效率为什么那么慢吞吞的，是因为没有使用先进的科技来协助。生活的方式很落后，停留在五十年代的时期。等候和办理简单的手续，花了我们整整两个小时。
离开大堂的时候，经过一间小房间。 里面有三部电脑、两个电话亭。看到没有人在里面，我们两人进去探索。老公，坐下打开电脑。银幕上显示出几个字，要求他输入密码。我们跑到询问处，查问有关密码。答案是，要付钱才可以使用电脑，每半小时付费五元古巴钱币。打电话也要付费，国际长途每一分钟三块钱，本地每分钟两毛五。免费，就使用它来玩玩消磨时间。要付费，就算了。
午饭后，我们离开旅馆，到门口的车站等候双层观光旅游巴士。每半小时，会有一班车停站。上车才买票。每张五块古巴钱币。别的钱币一律不收。票的有效期是一天，从早上九点到晚上七点，可以无数次地上下车。巴士，会沿着度假区走一圈，不停地停站，经过市中心、所有的旅馆。街道干净，但是，很少车。偶尔，会看到旅游巴士、小椰子车、马车、古老的出租车等等。房子全部都矮矮，破破烂烂。旅馆有旧有新，有大有小 ，有豪华高档有贫民低档。靠近市中心的旅馆，大部分都是非长旧的。有小餐馆、小市场、小酒吧等等，但是，全部的生意都不算很好，看不到有很多顾客光顾。
巴士，走一圈，需要三十五分钟。我们上下车走走好多次，因而，花了一个下午的时间。回到旅馆的时候，天已经开始入黑，也该是晚饭的时候。外出走走，收获不错，见闻多多，得益良多，感到很感慨。基于，明天要一大早起床，去参加一天游，我们没去看表演，而早点上床睡觉、休息去。