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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).* k$ o& }7 D' M! R

& T* H9 V4 u( @6 K1 \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.
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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.
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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.
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) W5 @8 o7 q# h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, J$ ]) b4 H/ N4 B) i$ C
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 ~$ K5 l+ I# L: L+ j( k8 f- e2 F' |
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.1 p; u4 {% W! }& v2 h

, P: d" \' ], X3 sIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
; M! z3 b2 Q. q2 i30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in3 S6 A3 r# t: V9 W- o
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as4 z8 q2 h) J& Y! Z4 x& p- v
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
! j4 n- D& i6 Q3 C3 N0 e& R  tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
7 W9 P; q! Y; k/ t  n' v& I5 `" ubetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
( f# z6 O. v9 c$ w& U1 i- K  qlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,: C. V* s: W+ \$ P0 e( ?( z
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
9 K1 e" d4 \) s- u People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but& }4 j) d# M  b  W6 Y9 }
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not+ X! p. D6 d- Z1 y
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
/ h: r9 _9 c# g9 f- ^3 pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
" o7 @% m: H" d! F% d/ F# @2 ja roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* Z; W9 v7 o6 _/ ?

' c  R; I! O* E- f# M' H8 [The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
: q5 N" M8 Q2 V$ r0 llow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool% A6 p! B3 u. v2 h( d
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top5 k) V0 T; S$ e! \8 ]2 ^
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
$ A- N: e7 I3 t5 ?( C/ Mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
: _$ Q( I0 E, t7 g( U5 t& y( n49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes- `9 H7 }0 O" U9 s* W- u6 z
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
, A# i5 s8 [! D: o3 w- g% x; }. _fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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  P0 ?$ @" U/ Y0 zThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
8 P) R" ]$ A# o% K4 ^/ @! Ejust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made0 X$ m, t, n3 v% }4 j5 p
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ J" R0 q8 Q! d7 O1 v+ t
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
- ]# D# {9 [2 C( _% V" Fa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China+ L& x2 M% h- 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
  X+ z. x) F2 g) \3 R. B5 m) bstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went9 o1 ]) Q! m" l6 i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
* m3 B$ T$ w/ R5 k# W3 W"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 j6 B; Q# L+ k% X9 |3 q4 f$ uanswers to our pointed questions.
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0 @6 O) G9 y7 @, e1 R2 g7 `, r' c1 kThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,: k4 _, x, f0 d! `% p
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand3 U8 W$ x( m  e  F' R
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
9 U7 P- d' F; [3 cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams. }# @: z4 r$ a/ Z# I2 n
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
7 O2 J/ n, ?/ g$ R4 m2 j# wmedical schools./ |4 D" V' W% z, K
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% r  A  s& ~* A) {" i$ \6 n
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants4 d* p$ v) o) N$ W" z- }+ }$ ]
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
2 s: |! _9 t$ S6 e. w6 _assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
! G* B$ I/ ^: Sis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
1 V' J- B3 Z7 F) a8 N3 O: Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
9 c( v5 X4 X8 \  K1 d; F5 Qseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
% g& q. F% C$ j% }1 }8 M  d( Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk$ }7 L: u8 g$ U: ]9 |! [4 t+ F
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some  w  c/ r) n7 s
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.! ?( U/ e6 b! G2 i  V' n2 R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no! A) k& T& ?8 C- p1 G/ v
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 [# O$ Q( P+ z' q
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people7 R- f( A4 d: i* D! u* J* G9 Q
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
' j6 m! u6 j: Y+ d6 n0 }& H9 Nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
# X0 Z; V/ M' q5 y0 }sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. y( v0 ]$ D9 `. a& [; m+ n) }$ ldivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., ~. b6 U& x, w$ e) S$ f
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When+ \- U; e7 ]  K7 I1 @* ]
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
& S* F8 k- t; E6 m, {; C: d- y' b9 U  xcharge the fee defined by the state.0 P; @; Q4 ~4 O4 ~

/ ]+ i* H8 P8 U: @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! S6 K) i* I- k2 h3 I3 T/ i" c
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type5 J6 C* n. d; p3 z6 O
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 J! l$ D8 Y! J
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel5 o$ R/ b) j+ A
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
7 {* ~: V8 B( l/ F0 Y- nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
% J! O4 l# n& s" j5 g0 Rschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
  w, I6 F& s! g( S: Wyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people# @) d5 n/ P& C+ X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 D/ [. x' }, k* A* o) [3 uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that, E! p; o5 W: d3 s; K
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% g' m( v) u( {- P1 L, S
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
- o0 u  A2 K/ Ebuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% @5 Y* ^, q. x" o4 L
are spaces.
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0 o& C9 K! c: c4 }4 ?+ ~7 x( vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 z" x  r1 X  E5 z! q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they/ l3 d2 G/ U5 Z+ ]4 k
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the; M* e) y$ S$ y! [, Y' j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
7 @7 Y5 q8 F/ n! E& h7 {parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
: L: W$ Z& f, F4 a7 I' obest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few3 e' y4 M. g  L: L& r9 ?
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of3 Y* B& B4 r+ C# s6 V: l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. ]1 h2 f; O1 @" F# I
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned./ @# Z* p) V; d; w- o
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
0 o" a+ j$ V0 ^4 [  jspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all8 g, z  b/ D( V6 Z3 i5 z' R7 v( }! N
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very  c6 X4 `  k8 \: u
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
2 P" O: _" Z: J4 t/ \, c4 R5 H; Jrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
4 `, A3 H) u5 G- `supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
) K; `& u% C: A% ?6 cthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms/ G4 A8 G4 G) z2 R
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the4 ]* A) f0 y& R6 U2 H1 a/ {
tourist area.* X$ x+ e, \) N+ g" \  [6 H

- u2 l6 j6 ^6 L3 U  l) nOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 B' S' ?: P3 ~8 Z# |
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
9 e. x5 ~6 J6 w' |Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were4 W- V% g) F. z) t4 n
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 6 {2 u) w, Q; H  A/ ?: d, R1 @
less leader-religious.# ]# C+ j! l; m' W& S+ X0 I6 Y
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
$ _) i9 A; w2 v0 dgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big( l# y* ^& n. V9 s
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
/ m- @3 @% v& f+ {  Jembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the& e( f- y/ e6 h3 }% y
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
2 q! b  o: F; v- L$ T% V8 |  W! r7 P2 Rthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $13 E9 m( h% v; g, C- t
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
8 O' m  B- F2 v' R' ?" H- R/ Uforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars+ H( I7 Z: N7 _7 G5 G' X5 l
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
& B( o6 \5 e7 V0 p4 N' K& o% i. Kprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
2 o( J% D8 b) o' }. ?0 X1 d- Greal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.( V4 E5 {  q9 M' F
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local5 b5 s0 `4 I- W- u6 e% T2 m/ L
or visitors.; o6 \; L) g6 p6 K/ b

( l4 M! {# g% g--  The End --

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