freedom_2008

古巴对中国人和加拿大人一视同仁, 都不用签证, 拿着护照就可去.

freedom_2008

应比墨西哥安全多了.  我们四年以前去过一次. Resort 里很安全, 外面很像中国80年代.

freedom_2008

玩的住的 , 各个resort应不尽相同: 没有污染的无尽海滩, 小船舢板,. 阳光灿烂, 椰树叶沙沙, ... resort 外面除了哈瓦那老城外, 都很旧破, 但人情不错, 很像中国80年代初 (连resort 里的工作人员每天开会也很像中国当年的天天雷打不动的政治学习).
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吃的, 古巴穷,没钱买农药和改良种子, 所以食物是自然的有机, 再加上气候使古巴有三样世界第一的东西: 咖啡,  rum-坩蔗做的烈酒, 还有雪茄, 都是食饮吸物.
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本人不喝烈酒也不吸烟, 没资铬评烟论酒.  但古巴的咖啡是真香, 咖啡好resort做的也好.
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6 Z4 x1 I" `( W: v1 ^/ T这三样都可在resort或外边买到带回, 各种等级和价钱都有(rum和雪茄比在古巴外买便宜50%以上).   但据说最好的咖啡不零售, 只出口去日本换古巴最需要的外汇.
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7 T+ q" g1 _+ p$ v7 K- T& L我们玩完回来后写了一份游记.  比较详细, 但是英文的, .当时有几个同事看了后也去了古巴.  如有兴趣看就贴上.

freedom_2008

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very: i1 j7 r7 a" W  F5 X
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
6 K0 ^7 M/ _% L  Zwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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+ W  @7 }6 Z" G1 A- SIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
1 Y- z" [5 n( H) }  ?9 ]/ L30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
9 V" F9 d% N6 ea very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as2 w# e( I7 T3 k* h: w
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
+ c9 d! q% E" H" \: B7 k" yshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
4 d! P. _( ]; @between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the- y- m* ^4 l8 C7 n0 _
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
, m9 Z* ?# ^8 f, @with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
4 G9 l  D4 F* K$ p0 G" f. h People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but+ ]) ~8 O/ \3 Q0 ]7 T+ R
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not1 g9 D1 o" C. ]. c/ N/ i1 m
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our, G: }4 y6 |3 N1 P0 g- K, ]; n
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
/ U. w& O8 O: X  Ua roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
& a/ L" J/ Y- n" g) H9 ~1 zlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
/ ?" K2 @- n: ^1 I(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
  o3 ?+ R( T! B1 Rof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
# n+ [' X# ]- x/ Z9 `7 T$ M  Sstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from5 v' ?6 f( P+ A- ?: Y/ n
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
% Y) H: t6 B7 }- dCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
, d/ p: A$ _& M0 P4 k) i7 dfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.- W) b: v' ~- p, O$ r. q
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
+ ]0 W# V2 w- Y1 i5 R# pjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
4 P3 ?2 }. {& M, T' d0 Q$ o: Ffor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ E: q, `5 h, f- P9 M( O
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having' d6 E. D7 B, m8 [/ F) ^/ E9 Y
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China7 u! x7 ~+ s; z1 R% s1 A& U3 }1 w
daily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living
. P; a# Q7 i' X/ ?. vstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
9 Q' [, I7 j0 k3 _3 }6 W+ J: M  fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,, O1 ^8 N. j% t# f2 ~9 j
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; ?& F& o8 a% L3 x; Danswers to our pointed questions.
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/ T0 ~- s/ B3 KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
  t' n6 Y# O8 ^: M! Z45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
; U: G3 X" W7 j' g$ L1 @  z9 Wout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
1 k: F9 T, M- x0 }! P: {free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ Z( E2 ~. G; zto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
+ u+ i& s; x8 b& H6 xmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& n7 h& ]5 v5 ^1 o, P
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants0 o  Y, o+ L0 K1 i# G- n) S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years$ V3 Q0 f8 c( T; H) ^9 \
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba; d4 W9 ~# S: X
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to% Q8 Q$ D% \3 ^% o' i9 F7 l6 D/ i
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
+ q9 K9 q4 I; Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
3 m& P7 R" K- t# q  Z; a* m) |mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk" M  g, @1 o, H1 M2 I
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ b* H# Z* m/ S9 r- d, `$ X' ~sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.8 `! q9 M2 S* I- }  u
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
. \$ O: e% n" T2 zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" [4 j3 A5 E2 _$ lsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
9 c. @$ F/ u. S9 p6 B7 V# Chave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
& D- z* Z& J4 O  Q* i0 [5 sthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. h6 X  c5 S8 k8 k3 M* @) ~; w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 O+ ?( }* z; g
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% o* ]& Y8 H  k" N7 ADivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
- q' I1 |* H% ^a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
% X1 A* ]) z' j( Pcharge the fee defined by the state.: p  C/ J3 a0 `+ [! Q1 |
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get0 I) o# G: T. z
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. D& a6 a  ?% b5 u% O4 zof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( v8 e( f& w; D  Q( o! rtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel2 t- k* i9 P, O: y0 J. f
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the' ~5 j9 ]8 `0 K$ B( m- p
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
( X- M" c% {9 \9 I. v  T( vschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 W. F, r& C4 ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
/ A8 @4 t+ x0 l0 x5 f+ U4 `* F# Z9 ltrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
6 K0 c; n! l; W3 H3 Chiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
" l) j; c5 T& Hpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% y" d1 x/ M+ ~
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or. Q6 h2 N4 m. Y. e- h) ?; r
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there  A8 s+ X* x' e9 z8 Z) J
are spaces.
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' d5 a! O% u" M4 ?& EThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
  |" q; k& V7 b2 e2 z: U4 I/ uto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 X. a9 a" \+ d5 ~
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the3 d: j, j  n. {* P# r
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' Y9 X1 y8 M3 U" c# n
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
  Q6 ~+ s/ Y" m1 ^5 zbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few2 y. q! _& ^; ~3 \
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
" Q- r0 O0 g3 P! g( Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. R( ^, o4 Q& \% O5 k+ ~* y/ Z8 |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! B  v; g2 c; m& C We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

freedom_2008

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful) H( y6 Y* a4 |
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
- H9 x  Q8 e+ K/ s. h; }8 s6 [' gthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
% j. K' W0 X6 B9 {3 p& climited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep+ ~2 m: B4 Y, t! \- v' w, n
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
" V) W" e1 G$ I# \/ `supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of7 j. \  J8 d  h# ~. q3 C* a
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms. z4 O( Z7 Y8 c
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the/ s  [2 o7 H+ `% w5 J
tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
! L6 R8 E! Z1 h, n$ ^% m' Zpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).# Q) _9 F* a1 b
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
' g- O7 _7 `6 W, k) D2 y, K- Meverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps   f: W" |, w+ j7 s+ d
less leader-religious.% k0 c6 H+ O! Q0 W6 p. A1 v4 B

5 S- K  h: G2 E) [3 X1 iAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
- E! o1 w% R" lgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big( y. t" B: Y; g9 H
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
* {/ f1 ]' _8 h# }5 i! }- q2 qembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
8 ?% G$ ~% O! W: _) b4 c" Q: N2 Y  W/ E
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the' v3 N$ p+ @3 |6 B/ I; b" O
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not3 g+ l* _$ U* I8 C! D# R
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
  ]9 z" P0 ], i/ pconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
1 }& `5 _) S, g! w5 B9 f6 Yforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars/ l6 e" @# K- s/ o5 I$ |$ a3 V
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
; m9 f$ ]0 v) G; N) B, j' q0 bprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the$ q9 B: K9 t0 v# r% R/ i- \/ w
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
6 @8 o, {; g0 n" a3 A5 `And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local& e0 ]" S5 `  g/ W! H+ k
or visitors.
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+ ], i, e4 K2 M: p--  The End --