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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.   f: }: G9 B0 |$ c, `8 D0 b
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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.8 W1 e3 _9 f) `; T" Q4 p

$ H! f$ I8 p' D5 M" x0 d+ 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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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 very9 Y3 M3 E. y9 h  B
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
# I' u4 j; B" c$ `5 g; @wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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5 U4 c! }6 Q" V( G+ M9 x0 vIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,3 y2 ?- @  t# V' d
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in" S+ P) t* ^$ U
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
0 d' c; E9 B9 r8 R! o  i/ _- apossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
3 c- s  P' _( p. Qshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
% K* I9 O# o) q; V" \between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
% H) w4 t+ s% S6 ^. @1 Rlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,' o# c- E1 l( f3 D# P3 W
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there." X  `- P. E  N' `3 ^7 |
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 h; z" [0 \# f4 M; s5 ^
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
6 @* m2 I/ m# Oexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
5 b; o3 |  q/ }9 zflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through" ]3 ]/ h; S0 e
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,
; K3 x  H. t" ]9 b; Ilow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool% X7 v. d9 ^% {, W, i( n7 F( ]
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top- }5 T0 T& M( Y- k" z) n
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
6 V0 s  ~- M2 g% B5 [+ @0 Ystars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
7 ^1 Y( c' d7 N5 c0 h, C# n4 a0 y49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes4 I7 a* ~; _: \1 g
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with% A9 ^0 y6 X. A. x
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 q$ |9 R& `% X7 j+ w- b

$ ]3 {- f5 h6 F5 d- m! qThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
' K* q3 }/ z; Y* f1 Hjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made# E  u/ g5 x0 s: J
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba2 C7 V4 _1 _3 `$ P2 N1 e
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
% ^+ M' ]  Z# W: M2 l2 wa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China. E; c/ }* ]7 Z' X, A
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" s* L% X" `% u' J" q2 V# M+ L
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
/ u- P4 [4 q6 B4 g% Kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,7 U) W. T3 s# D9 {* C/ {* e
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
5 V% O  l4 q: Wanswers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: n6 ?: C( O8 c2 y) ?6 E
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 A& y8 d; k* V+ R* F: z8 d  a) Y
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is5 d0 |  E5 W% _4 j# ^
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& k7 e5 x! d8 c% f4 Ato get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are! F6 [. v- H( m+ M% C- Y1 K
medical schools.$ z$ V+ `) t1 O- ^
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- x" m0 N, Z0 m% a  g" {" \. F8 ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants, f( t' w! n, ?+ a) ^$ p* d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% s7 u; l: b; w0 z# X& ?" H
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba! q3 ?+ M9 D$ i( `* r
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 }. R# ^4 w% I7 k( X  R* Y  ^over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
: k2 A5 a* l" l6 R, m; h& G" t1 [; K; Oseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* {  I2 P$ u4 u$ J4 X9 q
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, _; n% h- c1 q0 b
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some# ]7 I1 J  c8 Q
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.4 S6 S: t6 b- R- A  M$ g) C) r
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no- W4 B; X0 g( |, L& [. G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 m8 s7 i! r2 X8 J' J7 e
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) ^; j' r) P1 P% |% Chave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good; j5 q) K, M: P9 L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 H8 o8 {6 f& E( ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high& s' ]& @0 N# ^9 h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.$ [2 f: d" z7 y" _' G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When( p( X8 d6 W* K6 I; L0 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
. C1 C7 @! T# n- V) Scharge the fee defined by the state." v* E, e; b+ L2 ?' B5 X6 D

* u1 A& n* P5 s. a: i! P! n" |2 FThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* K7 M/ E5 ~) ]/ }3 y: Eon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ i* K7 M; l" e9 b8 ^, a! Y9 Qof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 \" s( A6 l5 ?1 `! ~- utruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel0 G5 `& Q7 u; n2 n
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ H2 i3 }1 ~. ^8 u# @5 S" W5 Q& sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 ^4 }. m. A; }  t; A4 |
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if; [8 K' ^- h/ Y9 M+ f
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
" i  s3 R& ^& z& G# dtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! j$ _& `( e2 U' x- R' V
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
3 U! B" {8 T' U1 ^; rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 ~' Q) b  N1 a+ N0 gto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
7 J1 ?, I/ M: _' N8 o# ]: h" K3 W" ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there# M. o" v2 X. }7 J5 u% X
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ ], Z! Y. H( O8 k0 b( q( X* [
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they# @  r+ M8 w  K% ^6 b3 ]7 R. k! r
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 n) p/ w' A7 ~6 o40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( ]4 E  g- B* b( g0 q6 T# W5 Y* iparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the7 ?1 y1 T/ |) K
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few& N. \0 Y/ D  j! V% E
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of% J; y! O' S5 {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 z' s* {  Y: l" V
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: J! V2 ?/ ]1 |! \7 U; l) K; [ 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
3 k4 t* J1 @& i/ N0 K* Yspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all" B: y4 _5 j  W' O$ r/ I% M8 D
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very0 u2 j5 l3 U) ~  b, l5 S" N
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
# B8 m$ y' o7 Crecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day" H( G; j/ R4 ~( m& V7 s
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of! B* z: u' \- Z8 F( W
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
- ]# g2 S* G- a! Bhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
8 E; j4 d) I5 x! F1 q. L; Ttourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 z7 {2 n2 X! c2 m
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. L+ W, g1 W( d2 K! N
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
; s( X4 f& `. _, @; severywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 3 T2 B( W: C" i2 A4 j3 n' _7 `
less leader-religious.
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7 m5 E0 U- l0 U7 u+ HAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
! G1 }6 E9 o. j( K! X% ~government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big) |/ f8 w& @7 ?: c) e! O4 c
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
3 q3 c5 z# d: ~! C9 _embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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6 I& s8 U9 y. K9 R( \We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
  E9 h' p( @  qparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not5 @3 W: E, n8 r: q$ V) u
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
, R5 |3 u9 u7 ~$ oconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
5 U: z; ~4 E( f$ K* u0 L( qforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
7 v! j9 s) M8 g, k5 _' T+ ](less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we+ T% k, x: j2 \& H$ y7 i! c
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the/ `1 Z- }9 U# I6 R& J# g* M; J0 z
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.. W, P$ }  Y2 J. x( b" O
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
9 s: Y$ J# L  G8 hor visitors./ q) X- Y! G7 }) @; T

( r( f  S: O' b- }+ F3 p& k; ~--  The End --

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