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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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# _8 l- n2 W' t2 e9 W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 d  m( h) T
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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.

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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 L3 V; S! U+ q& r5 e& {
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
! Q$ h! u: i4 p; U/ Y9 w) ewanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible., y( Y, Q! H5 I- p$ _

& y. Y! n# x  K3 d0 K. `+ y+ iIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
! l7 J' M# @& \- }3 y7 c5 c7 s30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
2 a2 N6 U$ X- U. w( \( oa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
# W5 V/ Z4 p/ d3 x5 Qpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
3 |5 C" f' s' B" H0 b% R. ^show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 p1 V2 s9 {/ F0 ]* O; O, ^6 L3 s
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the4 ~7 x9 v0 L! v; g7 J; |6 X# x' B4 I
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,3 q5 A+ B( e- ?8 E) g; ?, \" F  T
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.1 ^" r& `; e- l1 u! j' O
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
3 b% ]9 n. k6 n6 Mnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
- T- @; o$ b: M. Z: K3 ]exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
0 X2 O! K. U$ oflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. ?$ ^, `" h2 L9 [( Z
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
. T6 e" z: c3 Vlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool8 P" M- j3 C' q( f
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
& g, K- S0 f% a* _of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
2 P+ @4 N/ y+ ?5 L+ l7 mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from2 ]0 `" N$ ]9 W1 S+ y9 E! [
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes6 E, F/ s9 \" \
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with2 X: t7 t6 l" X2 x' R$ p1 m  G
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.5 z2 o7 B7 Y$ U
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are6 T! Z  P8 C8 A0 d" h" G! v$ [
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
3 I- h$ n* E  xfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba7 u8 ?2 h+ n7 A6 h& n" d3 r
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having& D  Y, k1 u2 `) e7 S9 u
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China% P3 v% B  B- e; ^8 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
6 y  ]  ]8 B+ L! H) Ystandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
2 `  w( e, {' y4 w& I/ f) T" aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
! c) V4 {, I5 a6 K5 \: c" u"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( p" d/ P5 U# H- h! [
answers to our pointed questions.
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' j/ R; s# _- H* y- eThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,7 ?3 W( G$ B- y; I8 R. E) h/ o% y
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 U' Y; B! x5 X$ Q0 t
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
/ ?2 Z- w5 |- o& p2 ?6 M- H; Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
9 I/ f6 N& \, t& rto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
! @& s% G2 O9 f2 O; amedical schools./ Z5 p" \( f8 H4 r6 u

. c, r  j3 i" L' X6 N& DEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the. p& r7 |0 p* q; \7 k& ^- y+ D
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants8 T( {. D5 u6 B2 f
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
1 O/ n/ P$ D7 q% @assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
7 u. D2 D8 ]$ P/ G, h6 J! d- R5 W. Ois from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, Z8 n+ ]7 r1 h; I. Z; wover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
; K, E7 i* S0 `* u& s% Z) nseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' _1 n+ L% V" M+ A: v$ e* a  \- h
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
  v6 d6 L& @( u1 j+ U' dshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
6 A6 C: Q8 C- i* T" z; ]- isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 U* Y: a6 T/ H( n* S6 Q# O
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no" c* M) U) B, |8 w- x
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and5 s' K2 z6 J3 q+ i
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
/ \  D  V+ r( T  ^have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
6 S2 f* L" w) j4 W5 j( Ething about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 Z/ D9 C9 x0 u$ f. Fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
6 a4 ]( I7 l& N: w- }8 ?divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 v* c4 |/ J2 f, k# JDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When# F3 P" [8 n9 ]. N+ s" u1 ]# M5 b6 Z9 q
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! a- q! a( N: ncharge the fee defined by the state.
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# x  C) v. I- d3 vThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
  b& e( O7 M( b9 |4 Oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
  g2 \' E  S0 G! l: i: Jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
; R( i* N7 L! [# atruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel  ?5 J& J' Z/ T0 J$ y
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the- E, O/ b* v0 N  u6 I$ C
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on+ @: W9 Y9 U5 P# w! K: a
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! B9 Y- Y- }1 u5 c4 Z3 X: P* g
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
8 q) ]) j: H9 \# g2 Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch2 R4 h4 H% \: n5 A4 P1 k
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
5 k+ W# G8 {& X) _& j+ Apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want, N3 m1 l% Z5 S7 z# ]  L
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
2 W$ K/ d% w( g, pbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 d: P' d' m( m, kare spaces.% y2 ~4 e. b$ \, ~* {. b  C
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi4 a2 Z4 p. N# N, j2 c0 @  Z& U: u
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they- \5 M. h4 e* G) v
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the/ q# Y) T. e. m# N  H# E( f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: h1 {1 U) @& N! y. S& \( H
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
! m3 |- m& b% |0 U% Y& O( dbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few! T+ Z% o& }9 y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
; D$ }- C7 W! G' y5 Q  }car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
* j, [' `$ |8 Y1 J5 Tis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.) e+ _6 @* B5 _2 y
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
/ t% ?& E2 e; l6 ^( Uspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all. _0 G0 y; H# }. J- h
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very# c5 ?" Q) t7 n9 Y
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
# O+ ~* A. C& U2 a4 W" B9 Z0 Rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day4 O* i0 T9 L) r+ K
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
, f1 v1 ]6 C/ b  A( s: Gthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
4 l1 q- b4 t/ p3 s  h" m4 Phave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the! I# o0 J( ?  I9 m/ K! ^
tourist area.
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' O- p- |# `& {4 n4 EOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- [" X; C( g: z, E& v
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).3 l3 Y: b" c. \
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 @4 e! ^3 d5 J
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 x! c2 V) ^8 `* k7 Q
less leader-religious.6 U/ {+ M6 C" c2 l$ H0 ?
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
% ~. o- c) ^, M- t* }7 q' ~7 _government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
3 L( }! F8 T7 U3 O9 ]black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US$ R7 u- V. Y9 e
embassy 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& ~$ O- H3 w7 ?: _/ N8 j( x8 X- x
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 ~& V8 g1 L( E1 r. [6 U( H% R
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $10 |- M0 P5 X" A3 |! z  z& r7 n
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for  u/ E. x: x; i; _* @5 G+ o
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars( M# s( J1 O, T  |
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
7 p( e" I+ ]# F' p5 }% Fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the- v$ S, |* c2 w* d
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
& C  {6 K7 M" h  h5 ~And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local4 j) M' {) l/ T
or visitors.  \5 ]% |0 r2 E5 \+ ]2 ?

+ R1 b4 [; u2 P% _0 b! c9 H7 R/ H" e6 h0 w--  The End --

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