发新话题
打印

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.

TOP

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.

TOP

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).3 G$ M, k  B8 n- @* f# A  G
' F! x6 C! ]& e! }6 d: @
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. # N& g8 V) H% R0 A1 O+ m6 q

& a9 B7 g* ~: K6 L( d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.
/ W% {5 c- m* `3 ]
7 q* {9 A: k, v5 \. x. D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.4 v  _3 R5 U  F: n
1 p/ {5 ?9 o5 ^) k
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.

TOP

我们2006年的古巴游记 (一)

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very
9 ]6 x. b$ ^7 R( F; }interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
7 y2 n- i1 u: `' @' P  Qwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.+ q2 B- d& ]. \) i

: F! {9 Q9 n0 ~0 v- ?: _' ]It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,( y! C, q4 X( Q# g2 U
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
0 d4 E7 Z3 O; E1 e% l7 Na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as: q  X8 M6 B, C" }. j. |  D' P
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
. I$ j% a) U: j# ]show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
3 G2 H, H0 n5 U+ Ebetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
! c0 k& [6 ?! N+ ulobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
2 ~+ U" X- O! G+ I4 h$ ^7 twith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
$ |, f5 }  k2 y People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but/ W7 n, v, c/ `! q: }% V2 M5 I
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not  L* G5 h. C! }' @
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
- \! P, i# p* M) D7 a: N# T$ Kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through/ d" M, E/ U3 o& B1 [- S7 B
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.0 ~4 H3 @, b$ z

. Y% c# W3 ~9 e  H6 B7 WThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
3 U' {  V2 Y7 l8 r/ }low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool# [3 B2 c* k( h6 G1 L( y: [4 f' |
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top- ]2 W7 y" |, M( l
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
8 Y5 U6 C* h0 v3 _% \# h( C( q, ?stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
% V+ p. [& a; N  x49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
9 B9 p5 h6 v% Z, |7 \) JCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with* n1 Y* O5 o" @5 ?
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
. D% o0 ~  ]( n& E) y. t7 g8 u
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are$ Y  I  @+ B2 G7 K9 y2 ~
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
" K' b% U2 a. j1 ]; yfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba- L6 |4 X1 Q# b  i. O3 b7 }% C
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
: B& U# O1 A. c+ d: ]a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China0 J; k* x9 k6 o1 l' |8 k4 R8 h
daily political studies.

TOP

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
4 P' A) |, r6 }: N/ astandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went/ Y0 p: d/ {1 b( b) g, _
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,! j3 s5 B0 A  z2 M- o9 u7 M
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
3 v( U# u2 v& o/ N( H/ canswers to our pointed questions.7 M) B( r2 J- c+ W4 c) I& u1 i
1 Z6 a) r5 O! o8 Y4 ], l1 T2 b, e# |
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,. ?8 b% Q3 c" ]  Z  A
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# `9 V* `! X$ y% m8 S# w
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
& S  s# M, C2 q) {8 E' dfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams! h6 m, Z# l8 A( G
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
6 w6 z* H/ F( e2 }; V- bmedical schools.
6 @- e) E9 o$ g& h1 Y4 X: e7 S
  I& ]! ?: M) VEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
5 n: m6 g: I+ o* igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& a( b3 Y4 Z5 O
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
9 ]2 u0 T4 P. ]9 \# Kassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba7 l- U) H4 `; A1 ~5 q7 B/ J
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 ~0 e  |4 x# H; R& X
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There( a) [- G( E0 G) a3 @
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" G4 I3 v# L1 L% l! {
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 }7 a9 J: s" k* Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% T0 o+ ^' e8 n- J- O9 r1 X' bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.  n3 U8 f4 a* ~& {

4 j1 D: u" {- Z6 _& Y3 B, nThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
/ {0 L' q& o) ~3 O/ D: }6 {private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
" [* n' j. E  e( n$ ~supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people1 S* y8 Q  V& E$ P: k
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
% k6 R% A" |1 n5 _! Y. {; ?& Zthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby. p% K5 e% Z" f/ a5 q* t' y& w
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. I5 _' X3 \+ q6 rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.6 X0 p3 B" o* d: y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When6 m4 l0 s" h. v7 ]  `
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only- u% ~0 {9 D3 u& H7 }2 c
charge the fee defined by the state.
9 ]- q3 q  z; i1 c
, C7 W' n6 G; c# f, S3 K4 S; [* lThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" X" N) _$ Y( Y4 u7 h
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 B2 I, ?( d" V+ r/ d5 T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# U$ g7 S- _7 v' G8 F9 w( L9 ^truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
, t& S1 t: f) y3 a  ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 p9 \4 ?7 K2 h( bworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 ?8 {$ z' X1 |# L, M! c2 Zschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
. z" V/ |2 |- s% kyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people  ]% R# v: L* k" B3 k) {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
- f; K4 s2 f% M* w; Q3 uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ R" t& S! x" v, u# u: t$ I, e. B
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ V& @  g" D: b3 r/ ]
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
0 d0 S  j$ h6 h' q) `4 ybuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Y5 J# N* Z# pare spaces.! M3 ]6 r: R3 v) w9 I; {6 b; o* E0 D

5 Q5 A2 ?; w" ?& t3 oThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 q1 D( D% o5 Y+ @to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 D% f+ |* z5 E0 l+ m7 Down a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ A1 r* V% w* K/ i+ z
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' S; B0 F" }' ^$ Q
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
# ^" u/ j* h' T; bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few9 ]$ q' Q; Z5 e) A
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of7 ?7 Z5 z/ g, b2 L& U
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
6 l# }4 `4 `1 o1 ~& Tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& F5 D! ?! Y  J) S We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

TOP

我们2006年的古巴游记 (三)

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful
8 S5 v0 @5 y7 fspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
$ D9 @* A4 s# Ethe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
0 Q% I# w$ I( _limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
2 s# G# @! d$ \! n; `recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day  @5 `/ R4 o0 b# n2 S% c
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 \  S- t/ y8 H3 t- }
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms, _% R: r' R9 ^2 K0 o
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the3 c* ]4 ?5 J" l. ^9 E
tourist area.
  _! b- ^+ o7 X1 z2 ~5 J9 @8 `8 `
3 ^, o; h) }7 l- @- }One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's  E- q# J: a7 h
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).7 u7 j& ]% r. I, i5 H: Z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
1 J  Q8 x* {% s' x2 ^, Ieverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
0 f! U6 G0 t9 z3 B+ l6 Xless leader-religious.' s" M- ~. T4 g( U
& ?8 p# Q7 q1 o- k+ s& Y
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba& D. j  l, Y/ y* [3 ^  Q9 z
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
! S$ u; W/ q0 ^+ g/ ~& k  Z5 Iblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
7 y7 V( k3 T- j& A& b8 vembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).0 C' u* A) a2 B

$ g* e- v3 Q( x# hWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the+ W* e5 \$ b- x: L5 z  q' e: o) A( z
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
9 o5 U& R( k& |! ]) vthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
5 x+ y8 ^  D6 W' @convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
5 \8 R. Y; c  mforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) [& o5 |& c. u5 `
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we4 N. q" u7 o+ w
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the. `! W% Q5 e+ [: v
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.) q  i: ~& ]& _; C/ i2 c
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
( B4 @9 S8 [& m# Ror visitors.
3 T! @# o( j5 c' ~  c; G+ H, I. g+ z" a
--  The End --

TOP

发新话题