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).' u( x+ {0 F: p
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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. 9 @: v8 P8 |" X7 C( B  r3 H
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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.. W3 E, Y- @# J9 E* R& d, q
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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.
* R% R3 \, n& s6 O* A, _
$ X7 {) i% Q4 G8 [* x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
, z# a- ^9 E8 K) A  \interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we$ T* U3 i* V/ M3 Q
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.' b7 g9 V) ^: ^$ @+ x5 c

/ @  {" K" l9 N; rIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,2 r( r' h. @. T
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in: p! a" g# w! c; k
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as6 @/ z* Z  `1 z6 m( g9 V5 _5 B
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
7 I& Q% H6 E" P: k' X6 |" Eshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
% k0 F: A% I8 R" u0 B$ \9 zbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
1 p0 E( G; h- u! V4 hlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
4 r' x  J3 [5 f; o2 g* D  n$ Cwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
) W2 ?4 ~$ ]; O( b9 d) c5 l. r People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but- O+ }. x3 X+ A- s7 F! }. }
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not- O& ]0 S5 g& ?& R+ }
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our, P" j% ]$ T! y/ m% B
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through! ~$ z- F& |: `, M
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards." n! Y5 U. p: f' v5 l, c

- d& I- ^' t+ b' zThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,3 k9 n( |( x; F+ X+ J  B5 ?
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool& G: I1 k8 X5 x$ w7 b9 i
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' D( b& n3 m. e' b8 y6 e  a! z
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
+ S0 M  ?# c+ F  {6 W. f" p8 @3 mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from/ ^$ V# |! C; }; Z& _! [/ L- X
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes/ f% ~# K& `$ c9 I
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
; ]. E/ u$ j4 g" K4 g/ {  Kfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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8 N: O5 \1 h8 wThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
& Y& F8 e5 T6 M5 j+ j/ i+ F7 gjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made4 x0 U: N5 D5 W( `6 v6 y$ V8 H
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba0 i& s* e1 S" a. \1 h
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having9 h0 F! d* M5 u! [
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China4 q$ N+ R2 [) w; W1 P
daily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living
4 r8 W  p2 ^- j+ `; J& wstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went1 K6 p; V. N, S& b7 [7 T
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,. A% k$ R$ U' l. @$ t1 S' v
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
7 w6 U4 I4 I2 t4 k# I6 ~answers to our pointed questions.& d2 |# A8 t2 b8 E1 d+ v

& |& c# B* T- d: ]/ r* tThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,! X- Q* D+ G3 L
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
  S8 `$ t: e0 j% h& ]out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is8 g* F. E- k! Q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams# w, J& Y4 l/ z; k# G3 P
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% T# Q; l# p0 s- }3 q- p% N! Kmedical schools.
7 T' B( t" H; h: D' f( r6 r1 l; }! @: D. C+ j# C) m2 i
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the  V3 ?7 S8 ]) t
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants  |2 d, G7 Z+ x9 O1 s
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& `; o4 j1 g1 p- V- u/ b- z- b
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba! ?; R) C" h' M+ ?9 {
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# U) N2 o0 c5 G  P
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There) l* v7 x; @2 f; c0 y- k/ e7 i
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: h* M* h" y, R+ p' c2 s, C4 [
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
; w+ s. h  g# B# L1 |shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
5 E$ t- A; t, f$ nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* g! Z" q9 q3 P) p

: {$ t& o4 J6 R) t' i/ @- y! M! _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
" C/ ^$ j" H+ j; \& _4 E& Eprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
' T% U2 ^) G: e) Vsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
0 i8 P, W7 \9 l5 u4 ehave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good  k: g$ X! O$ a; n& d' ?/ O
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby! B2 g& W# ?1 L
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 ^4 Q4 Q+ O: Y) [8 P: J
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.1 Y, z6 p1 B$ c! e3 D
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When1 Q2 o# r2 u1 t0 N; L" T* n
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 m" W+ X8 X; B* U/ c
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
1 S! f6 U! Z; ion), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
& C4 p+ T* T/ q0 G/ |4 u+ yof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big+ i0 k/ D: F2 F; ~+ G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel! e% i+ A' G; p: l) {) g" Q: W+ p
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the8 z0 H' W* i' L) Q! ?9 o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on7 r' A! X8 a9 i+ V
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if% `1 Q" ~4 o+ W. g+ o
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people  K8 h& _, c- a2 M7 Y& b8 j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ w8 j: `& j, I  }hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; R* E# p# D/ e! G2 r
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 o4 W1 L/ \6 n6 t6 y  Fto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or: ~* h+ k4 e# l, M- G, n
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# Q3 G! P6 ^. i- u+ r7 I$ `are spaces.
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# ~' e! |6 R6 h4 q" eThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( X% M9 o7 Z' _" lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# t3 q4 g  C! V% oown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
8 e& v1 e8 B  [+ B$ D* ^5 ~3 n7 U40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 G8 k( P& a& l. U
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 |. p' s$ k6 U8 y; s1 m/ }: L
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
" ^+ C7 A) L$ s; v' [2 q' `7 b' tnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of. ^' O  J$ _3 H$ U- }
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 ?' J/ o! T# q! ]- E: ?
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
4 m' @1 e+ [% h' U. `6 _5 K8 _ 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 beautiful8 d' t) ]& h' D' H
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all: u% v4 Z" J, w; h5 L( e0 m0 Y8 y3 P* L
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
! k9 [; M% g8 |0 B, Rlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep- ^/ T+ o5 A; m. i$ l
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
: U3 p% `2 @: g# S6 M* Asupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
5 U6 U5 z5 ?. a/ c7 }7 ?them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
! R- N- z) J) }* \( c, k9 h, Khave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
, [* f2 j) F2 k0 Etourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's) ~. U1 }9 a% i9 W! t
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
* ]3 [- O( m" zCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
' c$ M6 D0 [$ D# U% G- Zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 7 n& ~; I9 P' Y' o. o
less leader-religious.. j% g6 k& j& _8 P* w+ u9 K7 i

# L* G+ [+ S2 z' oAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, L% A2 V  D' Z# V
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big/ |! D. Q  Z; G
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
. {& c4 l3 H9 h  G. membassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).6 W$ J, ~2 k/ v% {4 M% C7 F9 `
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
) l- ?+ y- z2 Yparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
/ m) W! W: U# ^the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
* K' n8 e) Q9 Q4 Nconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
: ]7 x' n4 x, p5 {foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
# c- H* a/ ^$ r" F(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( A  F  S- o" [0 m, z
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the; g, O* F! B5 S4 f) o0 x; l' J
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
$ a: {$ R% j8 z+ g* Y! K/ S0 W( v$ CAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
# z0 D9 H( j7 [! Z& ?9 R. P; ^or visitors.$ R* F- g7 e- ?4 X

% j& {6 [) g. r/ n+ u# p# j+ `--  The End --