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有没有人打算四五月份去古巴玩?

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.

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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.

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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. % w% _- G* l$ L6 k& d; k, g* l% H
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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.: Q3 P. T9 d2 T3 q, }* V/ q: V

. i9 o- i- g- }% t  B' Q) G; A/ O4 c8 _% ]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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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.

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我们2006年的古巴游记 (一)

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very0 O) X. G8 n/ _
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
- p6 w" `" G& ?% ?+ l0 L" z, M  h3 Fwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.$ B7 v* i& }3 Z+ M( ~- O
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
2 f# B' o3 B4 S! q5 w30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in- n0 b+ y5 B: \
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
, }; ~7 X' Z, ]+ h6 }! }& |  opossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
- x8 W( [" m3 K) tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
2 u- F4 M; a# z! l  I+ kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
4 Y2 v* ^$ @/ N5 S8 c9 ~lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
4 @+ `$ k8 r- Ywith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
# A, E  Q+ ~5 e2 R  b5 l People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. }4 K# Y1 J4 G5 S" }
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
: W' \4 a. f* f% Vexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
7 e! c8 l9 W! e5 [, F2 t) l' k, jflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through+ g8 g0 h1 B$ I; S* L
a 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,, @& T  J7 L1 M) x6 t0 N
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool# \: E6 D  [- I. O
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top5 U9 g" q- C. M
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the! |9 O1 o5 G) X9 ?  i/ W  p8 e; `
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from' _! D5 U+ d+ S1 J; O8 L: w% W
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
2 r5 f- K1 m" X1 _. c) m4 L& VCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with3 \* ?. _3 W4 n; i$ X+ p! S6 L
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.2 }* M9 ]# k4 K

5 _5 z( i* w7 Z' Z* kThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are0 d4 ~6 D, D  Y; `, O: u
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
% B" j4 `9 }. b3 q6 `8 B7 M8 a% U& Ufor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
: [' E0 V& k' p4 f$ ]tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having8 |2 U9 d3 m0 R( G" J
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China' G' w# R+ H: f9 c  t, m# D
daily political studies.

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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% O5 q+ F1 q6 h) A! I' [
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
' e& {+ x, L3 G- Con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,8 @& c. h. I/ o
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% m3 M( ]! T' @! J1 d& L7 E1 Banswers to our pointed questions.7 C+ `0 K- Z0 s4 C! }$ G* j
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
0 A4 a. g9 z- P; h" ~/ N45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand0 Y6 U& D% k" z! f0 E
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
$ ?9 ^; V% J0 I9 y& A( _free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams% ~- q8 o7 H0 Q% q( U3 t) I* z
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
  W/ }3 z6 O" D, s( t3 a; \( E/ Bmedical schools.- r, Z: V* F) g+ ]
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( a3 d* |2 K6 |; ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ L7 g0 k6 a# m* I' w. ?. L
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( F2 T  ]: T9 S# d* \
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba( U) E# V% q( a7 H1 m2 W. h
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" ?5 }  y9 D2 lover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
& R/ v  L, c8 [( N4 jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* ]- U( N0 C5 X/ {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 x5 R8 X- U' q! z' V6 l$ U  [
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
7 b$ P2 A" e  M+ P5 ^0 Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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. Y9 L) x* j/ G$ ?; {0 v5 h0 {/ pThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
( m0 A9 e& K. ]/ n( `% Z  [% o! yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and. C3 D* f! K+ D& g6 j
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: L% m; G) v: Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
5 a- a% v0 o, g; p+ G7 O, n5 qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 i7 h9 I! d- ~sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high1 K! X- e% v% j/ c. G
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.  Z& V& n" t$ O& O
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
7 _) \9 |( F* ua lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 ?) Z% y4 r0 f- S1 v& h
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 O* h* Y9 w  S- U& Mon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* ]( |. k/ ]/ N3 \% l) kof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big7 t2 D' @8 ?0 }5 d0 E; h
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel. p- s- J5 L+ J- q7 h1 @
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
: h* C7 D# a  R4 B) L: b& w+ s/ tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
3 B, I9 t: U  d6 A! u& Y# \# Qschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- `+ ]0 }2 w% B* |  J
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people# m0 x/ q% E' c0 ^8 E2 _
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ [$ G5 M# g! x+ m9 f2 f  N4 v
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! U' {' S4 g% s" H0 I% j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want; W" y8 t6 m9 w+ Q' U" ], F, s+ a5 c
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or3 v9 d, `7 C6 L" @2 ]6 l1 L1 M
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
, a) M: o$ q0 l4 T7 ?are spaces.
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  F1 C/ J# {' NThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi: w- g; l" e, Z6 ?9 @6 V0 M
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they: ^) C2 K1 w  ]" e
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 s1 u3 f# L* o  g% X( m; K40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' L, ?4 q0 B* m% o! _' x  |
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the) k; u0 ?" O* t$ l0 _* i: s
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few. z8 ^+ ?% U+ `$ n$ b! e
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of8 [( @1 f) }6 H  n& C2 M  [! y
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
  L" c: }# R  c" t; C. T6 Ais a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
7 k/ ]% l4 Q6 Z We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

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我们2006年的古巴游记 (三)

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful
2 i4 x6 i: L) Z  Zspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
/ m2 C* ?9 {$ @' _# i8 Xthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
5 f* v/ w! m7 D  {- O1 r* Elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
$ E7 h8 S: m1 F0 V  |recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day/ a$ G% z2 O! @1 W
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
: F$ Y1 A# p. Athem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
( p- X0 Q# k2 ^" n$ |9 K3 P% I5 \have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
0 d* f0 P2 c' T; ]5 Ktourist area.* A3 o, N( F- Y9 o3 A

: a7 T: L, t  E4 F& |One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
, o' @" k% _2 |/ j8 h$ J6 P* ~pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).6 H5 ^0 o' o( x6 ^, z/ S2 ]& }) e3 F6 ]
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were# z4 k. s, [, T# Z( X4 T: d" ]
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , l4 Z% e- ]" n9 p2 D
less leader-religious.+ ?+ h( s5 o% `) a9 x4 [( h

0 M$ Z5 `6 e! ?- @( {0 ~% c% M  kAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; s* q) P8 K4 a0 g; A
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
4 J) u' x8 O+ f& n. B. r  K* fblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US* q/ l; F8 n5 M+ [. q8 z9 e4 W
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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$ g8 p; r2 w7 `  ?7 o. ?0 Z4 \2 XWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the( O; B8 k% l+ o4 o9 p3 E* a
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not) _1 n5 Z+ {: ~! K1 {' c' M5 r2 v
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
  O* r" q' `! k& mconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
$ f8 ?* n# d& W/ F% J: X4 cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars! Q# v) Y& `7 f, j+ V& P1 V6 d
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
2 `- x, h" N3 T% u; L* S- vprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the( @& i3 `( E; M# u4 ^& g
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.- _3 N+ j  p0 v
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
7 F$ U7 M% R" q; Ror visitors.
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8 B3 `/ k: W/ N4 b: T: M  g--  The End --

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