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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).5 T3 \! N0 n0 z* w0 W" ~( ^

6 S; b' Q& d- Y, p! ^1 U( B; `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. 7 k/ M: _1 _* i- y' Z# Y. @

# L5 e: ?% a0 r; W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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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.9 {( T: H; i+ _+ {
7 U5 N# {! n2 Q5 [
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 v* ?) |/ A2 d$ I4 C
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
6 z7 V; W' x. {/ dwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.& P0 i% w7 S- f9 y
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
5 z0 D& R6 F& R. j30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
, B8 _2 B% f6 y! Ha very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as  ]2 v: F" h' |( J
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
( F7 `0 ~6 ?9 r! Z& ^/ p' rshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep; y' A6 m# z% q; K$ x& C3 [% \* g) n- L) G
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
1 M  m% e0 U, f( P# n# olobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,0 |$ f% |$ F$ \+ l% H. \
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
% O& t; z2 b9 S( r, S. Q( {( e People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
, s/ D" [. g; g3 {; {names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not8 X; e9 {: ~9 u. J+ D
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our# _& J  q5 C5 G& G# w
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through9 ]5 A; X- K0 n2 }* I
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* B9 q# D0 Y3 ?; n/ W
8 J% d1 _6 n$ g1 Z3 `2 T
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
/ z# P: G( I* jlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
* d7 _  C. H, r" R6 u, w2 ?% {(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
. K9 }: `4 f: kof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
3 {7 k+ \' q# v7 w* Cstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from$ |6 T6 P/ S1 _4 G
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes; k0 o' Q8 {9 K" g9 W! b+ u% Q
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
- [# M/ ?+ l7 B- J; t" Yfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 g0 i+ v, U, ]  N1 l% A

& ?0 a+ }: D- {' UThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
. i5 k0 h9 |) y2 E, L6 t% ^8 m' vjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
5 ^9 J  j) O! r4 o. O# U# ~for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba* ], V' R( u/ g8 j- a6 z
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having" Y0 i: e8 p( u4 c
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
) C0 p  c' P) S! W" I  o8 O- Rdaily 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
7 b6 N" M) Y& ~, W' d& Cstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went* J: M* u3 N; c) E/ J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,) `6 O5 C' z' Z3 |0 N( ~7 M( l( u
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
2 X+ U0 B/ L* ^+ k! e. Lanswers to our pointed questions.7 Q8 O: H. p5 R* H( k
% d- D0 Y! L& g4 t3 j
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
2 v. ]" j  r6 X/ y* q. o3 C6 c45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
! C0 z! z4 K6 k1 A5 tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
3 P! T! Q- o) `/ ~7 S1 Sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' g7 F, z+ n3 z6 Y1 O. M, F- p
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
  Z1 N$ a  }; S; G2 nmedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
4 b8 a5 I5 Y: U  D8 I# ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants9 O$ v* n( b2 [# g) Z# N; ~2 J
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" m+ @" P$ R5 ~assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba% m. S4 y% M6 J- K
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
& U* A: ]  P+ r: u2 \( W# p% N% ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There, Y7 x) Y+ ^/ M' h! Q) @4 U! o" Y
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
' k1 W. D! d' g8 z4 nmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
( }9 M% {$ z) w$ g- h* }* fshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) b: B% b: ?2 jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! u  o4 I/ b( U9 e, D; v/ R

/ |# F3 {3 X' @) KThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
  I/ ]  Z0 E2 I% L" `& E% j0 Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 z- e, t: E2 P: p
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
) C! P$ `5 b5 Fhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
+ o7 V8 g6 C3 G  x6 j# |& Lthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
* o$ K4 _: p1 P: esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high- i! `" w3 v2 ]" o% j9 l3 @0 Q
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% l, `. i8 S7 e3 T. V6 fDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When: U3 E8 M/ h2 \9 {
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only  t; e$ E7 E! W- Y1 X
charge the fee defined by the state.# \& Y# N, e& \) j# J) H& }
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
7 S6 n# N, T/ \9 I) z1 gon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type- f- p) o$ `8 J% i5 e; F8 Y7 O: @
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
5 L! i: |7 f  ^+ e  c0 B* `truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
7 M1 p, L, M& v, ?seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the. K" O! O2 Q  ]4 k4 v, J2 ^
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 P" M9 a( k5 E' ~2 b0 Mschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if9 [' _" N+ Q/ n1 I9 E. e& a
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
3 E, Q/ ]6 T4 E! ]% ]( s2 [trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
# d6 p% B6 [- k3 uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that3 m( a' ?. O1 Y) Q
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ ^- q6 Q! q9 x& ?
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( {" Y0 }5 F: ]1 S7 u7 sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there. P+ d5 u/ I- P( X
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
+ ?4 n. @4 e( {( }, N" Wto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they4 C. I7 Y/ K' L  _& K2 j
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
; ]1 {+ K! r4 w. k. {! o4 _4 |3 ^40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
- t2 W1 D# q9 Rparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
, X- ~5 T7 d2 _( H4 kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
3 v5 E& v6 a% N( S3 x/ Q- wnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of0 \8 Q4 N+ i0 N2 Q
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
/ Z. {& w+ N: {. `7 ]9 nis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ e# e1 {  q4 E5 j; L6 G7 n 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
- x* _9 Z' a; Sspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
; V9 P' O, T+ L3 H4 I- N8 Pthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
: D8 V% L! h; K! b2 Plimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 o1 }: k( ]1 }5 j% K
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
: p( o& o: ?- c4 h% Rsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of- G+ E0 B9 B4 d, J: Z/ r
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms9 w6 _8 o4 h9 f$ J4 X. A- k- l' z
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
/ l2 K, |& d. {  D! F% Stourist area.5 ^! p( Y" ?( p: n' \
9 ]3 R; U  |7 N" z8 t+ }( j
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's2 K6 G9 E' b# H
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ V6 ?7 W/ ^) ?5 n
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
# x& _' H: n' L! C% b. N; Neverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ; J+ w9 D9 k0 l1 N5 ?$ S
less leader-religious.
5 }# d! o: p3 Q5 ?# n
* K$ T3 l- }/ Q' M. E( R: RAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
$ u" J+ G. @9 C" L( Z7 M1 S5 Wgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big- {! Z3 u5 @5 I7 \, M& l1 w
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
5 m) s, h, G& l& ^3 a+ Z1 t; R# f  O, rembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).5 c0 N- K" f: ]7 h$ X- I

9 N0 ~/ T  @$ U2 w6 p2 r8 a; i* x0 nWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
0 \1 g6 y5 w! h. Uparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not/ B5 L" T; J9 C0 u0 ~9 V" r- V
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
7 Z9 v( {9 t. e' ?1 a1 K+ }convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for1 o) j) g5 `* F$ u7 O$ [2 I
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars! e, b- u% i/ I# V
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we, ]) \7 v3 |# n' _+ S+ U
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
/ c2 }) y6 x% w( x# |real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.+ N" o, R$ y- g+ g
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local+ Y* ^1 R" F( t6 C4 H$ \
or visitors.% U* M9 Z2 \  R( z
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--  The End --

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