freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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. 2 U" O9 m  S% I
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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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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.

freedom_2008

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very
, C% w% ~* u+ s, F. }interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we5 q) L6 o# G4 f7 D$ X/ Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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( l( C. q/ O$ T% ?It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
/ V% S, H  l" ^( A30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in4 G, k' h: @# ?' k% o, \- h* V
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
- T; o3 t* N! g- d) T4 Kpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort# m5 t/ k; ?1 c) G' a6 ~
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
8 u0 z- ~% R2 S, g5 z% o# Vbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
( L$ A  u; k: Z, k" zlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 E7 x, t7 L& I: O# o" ]
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
- S1 l0 E; I1 r; ` People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but4 x0 h& J5 z$ p1 [1 R+ p
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( u( Y0 |! n0 \8 Z. @8 f) ^! X
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
" P* j* D! v  [. o6 s' c3 Y8 fflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through+ Z3 ]8 p( k& j- n: k# [1 e2 K- R
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
/ d# G1 \4 b) [; E, j/ I9 k6 ~" H+ ~
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
* J, V2 {! x; y* dlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool: o& t% U: J4 j% |) [
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
2 K$ q0 |; d/ }/ `" m2 _# ^8 eof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
8 K4 Q4 k: C; m/ a3 Lstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from# }) ^2 `3 o* f  b
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes5 l# e2 U0 q" }2 l  z5 i2 i4 G- l
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
) P5 O; T$ Y+ K' B' kfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.. N3 K1 S- u$ D2 L+ e. i

6 T% c4 a8 Q7 u- |$ [The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
  s  v. }  l$ i7 kjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made7 p* Z: P3 F- N3 O/ l5 F! f& N' h; [
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
/ B; j* i2 y" D' j- M2 F- itourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having2 V# l, ]/ ^; N* C6 o
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China" ?* ?: A, d) \5 K" T- ~
daily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living
5 D7 c  O5 v8 S' [standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went5 j9 d9 _) w8 C9 b5 a4 W  \
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,: S! h" b. m" [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give* W' n  h( q% @( [! P; z+ G4 t& R% k" S
answers to our pointed questions.5 f1 {9 r8 G6 w) i" F6 d3 j

. P+ d0 _5 L& \; o" l  T0 d) MThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; c/ {& |6 U- w$ z& v  r45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" Z: I! f- t5 \2 dout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is% J( y" U" f& b/ k& J/ R
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 b' n$ H  e6 `( bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are  w5 l' ~# v: o
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the! C% X/ D3 Y* C5 e
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
  d: x/ V0 ~) N! h5 a2 Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ h0 c# x! r# Q# ~% }6 J5 C3 O+ Aassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
0 C8 n2 a( _1 u/ }4 Zis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to" ~3 P. @! [% E( A. M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There! L5 M. U% x1 t5 T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and7 [; O& u7 [! r+ t. b6 U% H; J
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
5 @8 U* b8 g/ \: Oshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
- l) q0 b0 @- M) e) b  y8 @8 R* bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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  v9 F4 G" e' C! D( B% T9 VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
" {/ V( [, v# v+ o' ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
! P1 O8 s5 N) i" wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people+ m- E! T/ R& u; u# w4 h0 s
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good( t( ?: w! @# F2 W
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
4 S4 b1 Q2 n) ksitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high8 S1 D1 V; T/ l6 `& ~: W
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 q- u, T/ Z. s2 A/ R: p% _
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When7 N0 h. |( l4 w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( a: \  j1 y2 W
charge the fee defined by the state.6 ~- e3 J# v! N2 f

' W+ N4 s3 u6 t- k" uThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
0 s. |( e, e1 F! Y. bon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type1 _: \3 F2 i6 t: |- U! x3 g
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. C! X* h+ v8 P: _" Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
5 w2 o% ]) @  X2 n- y+ vseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
) O' x' U: G; Z0 r; ]3 J0 w& m1 Iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" |  J5 S! [1 a# {schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 m5 c6 `: r4 f" p. f' l) Oyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people; z* J1 ]' Q  I0 I  s& x" T5 _" N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, b; L# s* t" D: fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that  W: g( K  c' p3 d" I, D
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
! b1 N3 m7 y# Y0 M; pto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
, f* F( O) c& c& ^6 G; s0 Fbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there- Y4 F8 j' h' M% q9 x# r7 R
are spaces.( A. d$ x" b) [3 h9 G
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
* ]# O2 E5 b  w* X6 A- V0 sto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ R5 H& y6 |% i! O, G
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the6 ?9 }2 V: b* }+ I2 Y! {( ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 U( N* P0 q! Z* k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the: V9 x  L/ K: ^' F( n) ]
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few' K, p+ J4 v1 M8 o" q: }
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
# Y% j9 ^. _! x. f# Pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
; P6 [$ D+ K6 J4 x6 kis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned." T5 m. P4 S! k7 P. ]
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

freedom_2008

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful
5 z, O' a2 ^# m. e+ |; S* X& u4 Vspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
; D& g% U, c" jthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very! g  M3 r% `% T6 f
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
8 b6 X! D; c# S8 r* W5 J; ?3 precession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day8 b+ o* f( i- _" ^
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of! c9 y/ y( e+ L2 }
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
1 a6 X- y2 u1 j8 v3 [have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the% ?9 H# x' U1 l" F4 k, H" T3 ~
tourist area.
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3 S7 T- E" |5 [& }5 }! ]7 M) u% cOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 g: M  f% }, Y' v& b. `+ m
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
. N7 E4 j+ w- t/ [) u& wCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
. A$ w' {3 Y/ ]* p9 S3 O7 x- Deverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps , M2 n0 I( N6 B3 S+ L3 Z
less leader-religious.
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+ H2 A/ a, d4 O  q# {About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba7 d7 P: [8 @9 R
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big( ~5 j- d4 S9 Y
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US% r  j2 s2 ?# k0 Q
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).1 l9 C  L5 B1 \: S0 ?/ W* W

$ B/ v2 k, G  u7 wWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the$ p4 a+ r, [( b: B7 X, ^
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
0 r3 ?6 ~2 p: j+ P2 |; ]2 g. Kthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
" O8 Q: P" [! i3 i9 r2 Uconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
' {9 |0 y) e5 X# b+ `foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
9 }+ K5 ~$ t4 k& d/ F% C(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we& y7 q9 l) X- W( O5 o
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- H1 D# Z* ~1 g3 m; P
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
' b  C* Q& x$ [0 a; R! mAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- O" r) Q/ b' z. Z' w3 Q
or visitors.! R: @6 U; U  ?/ [

; m) Y6 j2 z3 e- S- ~$ P--  The End --