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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).* b) w# Q2 S( Z" I0 `. p

' }  _: U9 W% r5 S( R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. 3 j) l6 ^5 h' I1 Z
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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.8 O$ q& C& ^0 L: l; M
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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 very# B; U% ^! _0 I& y" K
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we' J1 J# Q4 N' D2 a
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.2 X5 N' v" d! J6 C

: ?8 C: g0 M2 C9 WIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,% f) {  I: v2 \- c
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
; F$ m! p, w) c, e4 v3 ]a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
- W; n6 q2 H  ^1 J/ z% P& i6 o3 Ipossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort  a1 d1 U) ?! x- a. d" v
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep4 u6 `1 I6 z# f7 ?
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
! y& {8 J8 \) X: B! J- ]6 zlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,% ?% r$ e- }  v, [
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
$ r9 `7 x0 T0 L7 R4 R$ z People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
5 N  x/ w9 P$ t3 Xnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not% o; v, m0 \: U& G
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
: ^; {$ Q& {: Q! ?. jflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through/ S' _) N; _* n
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
8 _* W2 p! Q, x9 h$ L* C# p' i6 n, k  I1 y
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,8 |8 `" f) O, G
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool3 @2 f. c6 ?. A, k: ^# x) X
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top! r# B; ]7 a+ f
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
7 ]1 n6 ?8 A1 \/ H6 [stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from9 y% l6 q6 Z; h7 v7 m
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
9 W, b7 E. S9 XCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
9 R9 _8 U6 k9 ]' l9 P% }1 xfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
- g' x. v( j; Bjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made5 T# a& Z2 I# I4 ^; B  |
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba. t& e) \3 F0 s  O4 Q# P/ F/ H, @
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
" v* w6 P8 Q0 d2 S5 ha staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
# M* L( z4 {  z+ ?" p* L! Cdaily 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
5 t/ _# m' v# v, M9 f6 q7 sstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went  j2 b, b- O, X  u6 Q# E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,9 @0 V) N) l' s, y6 E$ j; b: }
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
% D( O% G: x! J  J4 z# n& z. k, @8 eanswers to our pointed questions.* v* V1 u. _) K5 f* N0 I

3 a9 K, s. E+ a0 @0 l2 {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,# z1 X* ^- \, u1 t
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( g" F/ A& Z! B% w) F  B6 Y0 \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
! _1 P6 A- |5 u0 T' B4 B6 Ifree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
# M8 Y! x; K, C* fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
) f3 [2 d' W1 F3 \. \medical schools., m* J) ]" ?2 O

: X+ M" Y% x, R% M* OEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ F* U  m5 h& bgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants# N8 h# }. Y# ~; U1 O" d
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
" Z$ l6 Z( {3 q5 u: T. w1 Cassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
3 f9 _0 @% c& Jis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) W, I0 k; e. d$ y, e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There" P8 |; @0 n; [( V9 z! L% C
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( O9 S( i5 j' umostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) V# q1 A& k0 `9 e
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some7 S* V( E, C/ \% f3 f, Q( [
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
/ j9 M& J7 R' J2 ^4 g8 l4 J0 [private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and# ?" W8 L" O" |5 N* p* @
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 o- w% j" c6 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good+ t" B$ [+ V# C( ?7 l
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby$ L* y( ]& r5 g: K) h- T
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high. I  `1 I, R8 m  _* t& f# X3 G
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
( b! y) j: t2 r9 f7 L/ }Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
" w) m- V( h( wa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
! I& c) v3 c: l' e* M$ y0 ]. hcharge the fee defined by the state.4 }4 T- N0 h  w3 U: l5 U' E2 v6 m

: W( B- U: x  F: d, I! N2 k2 ]5 F$ bThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( W1 J- S: j& `% ^3 q6 N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) G& f: u! ~9 W& S0 }! t2 Tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 h1 }0 U* p3 j. ctruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel3 f5 A2 b* a5 c) z7 _3 I% S
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# e$ _% Z% k  [- j! xworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
6 z4 Y- ]( B- V$ C. N) Cschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" o9 E- i1 N9 e2 G) vyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people8 c! s8 Q7 h& n- M8 Z& a
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch$ o  E2 s0 M6 j) y# T. b  u
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
/ _3 |# I8 M. i% y# Kpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
- Y2 `) w/ }8 Z* [to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or* N. f8 u9 n+ A% c' M4 i1 G  F
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there* m, n& J4 r% M. x+ Z3 o
are spaces., N8 P4 K- Z, T' a4 c2 r" c, ?% f* R

3 f1 b0 Y( f* V/ L+ _! [There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 v# w8 `! f0 b5 j# z7 mto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they( Z5 p* B8 X9 _* S- P' V- Z4 \: T% d
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' q/ V+ P, ?% R7 ^40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different' l6 i6 i% |  U( G& V
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 X7 X) P; R* ?' P7 Ubest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
! t) ~9 n  [7 ?7 Z' B$ I' c6 snice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of' N9 o+ ^. q/ j6 I+ C  _
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it) X7 F9 K3 R- v, ]
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! k5 v' K$ f( `. [: T 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* v3 k5 U8 W& }) Cspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all7 _7 p/ F; G7 D: u: u) ]
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very4 E8 z4 L7 n! \$ M4 I
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
9 d6 F1 V! W' R% X3 rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
$ n+ U3 c" G4 m& x# g8 lsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
: s9 W1 L7 h) g7 {$ M- n4 W) Fthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms, J4 w$ d% a: r7 K: s
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the+ C3 s5 z2 o' {1 `) s
tourist area.
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5 I, k% p" z; b0 x; I& cOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's' U6 J% b# {7 Y' f4 c% X7 ?
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
. s8 z" Z+ a2 O; hCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
+ z' ~8 S+ Z$ jeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
% s: j+ A( o$ p* I+ tless leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
' {$ j+ h5 D6 m& m4 M8 Z/ Z' Vgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
6 p# _0 i% W" _& mblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
' f! n: J+ `' F* Y$ l& X4 _embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
3 _) y$ k! h' N4 l) A2 {, x7 H( Z
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the! V# A2 v3 Q# e1 y
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
* H3 i8 H2 a" f9 Othe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1! o2 Z5 o6 ?* c5 j. ?# V- ?4 z. m
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for2 u% o" p( u& w; O
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
+ W' u1 d8 L" R- O" N0 z(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
2 F5 f; B% z5 L1 d% b& ~probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the5 v, G9 U/ e+ F1 J, n, b% f7 N
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going./ h' g+ o; t9 l% {5 w/ Y4 P% B
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
* w% g* l% r# l: k1 Ror visitors.
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--  The End --

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