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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. , ^% b9 v6 ]( F% a! r; l
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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." |, o; e2 v3 I+ ?; v/ j
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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.1 G+ u- D' z& E1 L

& L& [( z9 x) T6 B3 W* n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 very. M" L! Y7 k2 x
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we9 w. Z$ n0 i3 g# c- d$ a) h
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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: K& n: j3 Q; y" XIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
8 u& Y! f: J9 Z4 \$ Q8 ~$ G  b30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
* |" _( X0 h5 e1 j6 s6 c8 ya very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
# _& g$ E$ A. z: U( ^  G$ ppossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort8 M5 _2 N. ^. z3 x, t
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
* t% D3 k; r% V9 m, Y1 H- m! ^between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the8 a0 R7 t" y% N
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,1 H) z# {6 A. e/ i8 J1 O
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.' v( ^2 U  C. K, F
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
5 b" i; Y" Y  knames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
! `4 ~4 t9 ^/ N4 w+ q2 R' Lexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our2 {3 S4 E; |) e& i
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through( W2 |1 P& _8 B0 I
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.5 Z# z$ l+ t2 s8 k" ]

" L. p; k+ b* SThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
9 ]/ g3 r. m) _; p3 d" R6 Jlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool# J3 h6 T8 h2 u/ H2 g: m
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
4 Q( T# ]+ v& N  k0 N; A6 \8 Pof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the5 w+ q' A  j, Q  T& y3 O- ^
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
, T, F0 [1 }% T' w49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
, F; j3 V! r( DCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with3 e5 `1 a$ P. z( P
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
/ _5 g# c& W1 @) F7 }  a4 J1 t% ]/ f, ~) K* X+ T+ y. B" |; W
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are! N& ^. j( }6 f8 x
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
  e9 ]  @2 T9 J; v  lfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba. _, s+ Z7 m1 J: o  R# B6 _
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having. N! h$ t% C9 u9 n( {
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China* l. Y1 ~0 K/ b7 s5 a! l$ Z) Z8 R
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
# q7 i( p2 D% ~6 Bstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
  Y8 H9 Y  L: q5 d* [: ]on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
/ P8 w9 [/ o/ u, t6 j"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
# S6 k, p# J( y: x) Tanswers to our pointed questions.; o, g7 R- D6 ]+ a0 @/ w

$ w& k: B% i  Q9 q- wThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 F( n* S$ N' }6 G9 X! s
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 z5 B5 z1 N/ D$ n8 ]$ B/ Tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
' ?8 Q  Z1 ^5 Z  qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams3 Y* c* E% S) n2 [% Y+ D
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( v3 \9 b0 O6 b; l9 I8 emedical schools.6 U/ ?" G6 f* i# N0 h& `1 Y
+ j+ d8 X' A0 i3 L( D* ]
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the" q- V4 G1 o( m  g4 }/ N
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants& X9 m, f* d) ~* T+ l; H) Y2 e5 T
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
7 O7 D( W9 q; g0 Kassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
9 P4 O. l; N. Gis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
  k. c; ~# o% M, Q- v: \- rover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
5 i3 Y3 @2 {- X9 Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, k+ O" v7 _+ e9 t7 I( k9 ^
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
+ r( c( ^9 D4 j8 _$ sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
! |: f7 Y1 ]' b; P7 T$ l: G) Xsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# a: T0 f% O& I% q' _0 B  S

4 c4 r' m8 F' \0 `, X! vThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no3 Y! X: ]0 |" F2 ~
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and$ D$ ], \% t0 y! _, l4 f
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people3 d* Q; g- ]! f' i5 Y
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
7 S: ?& t8 ]' f" n+ I3 Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- g0 N" i' q* k
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, N1 t, g' ]0 A3 X* L
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
/ J( A) N8 W5 z( X4 qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
4 o. I6 o% E2 la lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only* k) s7 ?" P0 k5 Z: w7 y
charge the fee defined by the state./ N, A  U6 j$ \* F( j9 ^5 A3 P- ]/ d

! m" [) g" A  {" }& z/ ]2 CThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get3 B3 C) X5 K2 Z, q. n: B
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 L6 o3 [4 y# pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 d% K$ V$ C5 Etruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel0 a- V- v" p7 {" x6 L
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
' U2 K4 O/ s* R9 u2 oworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on4 M: B% i' f2 t: J& o. I
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if, @- C- P2 _) y' k. ?" r) h
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people) \! u9 W3 ^; ?" C, W/ G
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 \( S" N: H: r# X, mhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ O) U  K$ }7 l  W8 j+ {2 e
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want* r% ?- X! l1 R5 G
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or6 c: F: c) y- F  V" ~2 x8 u
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! r- T" Z& d+ H2 f8 w' i
are spaces.9 y% Y) F( i2 ~2 y, K8 f" b, k$ ]
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% V9 I+ ^/ v! G- ?, sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 `  F  X* Y' S3 {/ z
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' u  r$ ~& ^' a) Y# Y+ t
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: B% e. m  G. ?" ^& p
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 \: |& @, Y4 A% {# @- M. q# `best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
" J% A8 i" P/ Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of8 [) w) k" X; f' j0 d
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 J4 }- a( H) l# \3 V
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: Q+ n+ x) M8 |8 m: j, P& ]0 g9 a& v; z- y' d 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
1 S7 e) {3 d9 [3 k  L& S' l8 D4 B" _spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all0 ^1 g% Q/ Y$ {# F9 J/ r
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
: D9 b  g) H: K! Jlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep  Y: _- r( l+ h( V" u+ e
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
/ |, E1 q- V$ \' e1 H1 qsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
" ~; [) v# U! u: D: \them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms5 {4 e/ f5 ]7 v6 P
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the: S2 T, @: i. e
tourist area.5 z! u9 D8 J, H' i6 T

* N  P# M6 K4 ~+ I6 HOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
0 r' O8 t; V1 Dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
5 t  B; s' L8 JCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
9 u- A9 I( X6 [/ u/ k2 ^2 Feverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
' D, G. ?0 y; ^6 `) R6 b( x. _less leader-religious.
1 b  w; d& e/ v3 }2 ?7 |  n& ^! \, G1 b* M* Q
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba0 b; d( h1 z, s  E/ d& O- X9 l
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
* p' H' K5 p9 j7 i! k& X- c. e2 Xblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
; F4 Q8 a% X7 D/ R' _; sembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).# w; `/ i6 h5 I- y2 ?0 L! E% W

4 V( |0 a2 S9 [1 zWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
& \1 U- R9 Z4 ?5 Bparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
& x$ L2 `! v) w4 ^* j( D+ sthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
9 d9 T9 G, D- e' @- c7 r: y- L# Bconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for3 ?' T. ?( |$ Y. i6 u
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars# J; Z2 Z+ C6 d  o9 P( M/ T- o
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we7 J( o/ Q  x1 b# D2 R5 w5 _
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the3 X( \- L7 r  _) Q  j  c- Z
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
7 }. V, w$ n* N% H. AAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local+ Y. n" \( w" J! w/ Z
or visitors.
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--  The End --

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