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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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- k& F7 ~5 c# L- D  N* d' k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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$ x9 t/ q4 b: ~5 m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
$ h. Z( U5 x6 p% T# v5 U8 ]interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we; Z/ {7 Y: i" P' s. Y* S$ g( y
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.+ c1 X& L/ z2 C0 B! R
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,3 h6 v6 |. N% ]
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
. K+ U/ K& B" R, \& k3 p/ p2 s( \a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
& {3 {, ^  s- L$ f7 A, r! |( ppossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
# u0 a$ b+ D; mshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep* W7 i9 P8 v9 N1 h
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( Y6 c  b- `& j$ s
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
  l, V4 C! Q6 i5 f& zwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
3 J6 `* N( B) j% s: Q9 B$ X People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
6 x2 v5 I! F5 G) a. N2 Rnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not. A) g  c4 A; R' F9 y
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
) Y! S1 W: J# V- t7 ]  j1 _flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through: @$ @- v3 W1 P; q9 {
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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2 O7 x5 V7 i' w$ h6 vThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,+ s) [1 h. |  F3 E
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool4 I& B# \$ r/ I3 l) w& ?, k
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top/ ^% \" o, @. Z, A- B5 c: i
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the% S0 y) c7 P) ^
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
0 t& ?' O8 q$ o# ?49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
$ M" m, r8 }* _$ l  ?' d8 \6 B/ jCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
. w% V/ r2 K. V2 |( R8 r, ~7 Tfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 n' z) q0 w6 H1 ]5 T
2 v8 _! `+ N7 r, M( f+ t
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are; M: Z* U$ L  O; ^  s7 {9 u
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made4 l, e% R, h0 v5 m; Z; R
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( D: s2 M* h4 A6 H# p$ X
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having/ }* O4 Z' P, H# F- r4 D( p
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
" S6 h; c' H1 `* N' j' \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- l/ U; {8 c, Q6 @
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
5 D: l2 l7 z) _7 ^0 kon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
! [2 n. X6 r& W5 k4 T; `"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: {0 C& }& Y1 q
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
8 y3 N6 X2 r, I( A2 G45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
. E+ }7 d+ v  Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
9 R+ C- Y+ N' L) }free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ @1 O: x, [3 c& k# ~" F2 i* [; Jto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
5 w$ s  \) P7 K% K$ {. N( z7 ^medical schools.
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' ?! S6 u1 b' V( |9 T: L7 s3 ZEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
- W( s; q% ?' P$ Q( o* A6 Cgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' |. N. _! a1 r) O8 \  K* c$ I; |to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) L: m/ J4 L" e: C1 C
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba9 c5 j2 N6 q. T+ V
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
' C6 S$ ]0 ^2 w8 k; _5 S# Tover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
8 K. Z( J8 E* \! }! ?) ?" {seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and6 t4 v: Y7 s# u3 u
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk+ E. g0 C1 q1 G3 Q$ @5 ~
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
$ W2 x5 o8 i% d% s, Z5 U/ usugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
# E& V) \* O) h! q$ h8 pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
7 G$ t6 Q- u& ssupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people% M3 Y! P; l/ g0 H2 e0 K
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
; U: G6 T: _8 U7 W# ]' t2 }thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
5 ^# e2 B; Q0 d+ hsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) R1 h( q+ T; D: @" I3 Q  F/ `- i5 Gdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years., k/ {: m! X* ?5 W* {' D& R& X
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When/ Y6 ~" r+ m- a9 k8 F. o! g
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 W7 L, g' I; n/ d' @charge the fee defined by the state.- p) l0 O# X) w: a3 d! W

: |; ?7 e/ f) Q- w7 T6 n0 E( E0 [There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get2 H( ]/ q7 Y% Q. v+ `/ c- w+ c
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type: P7 e+ T$ o% }% Z" x
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
, w, g( @& r( ]  v" E; q8 G) V5 Xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
, y3 y9 p8 v) I; I2 G9 B/ O' Dseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
" [' w5 _* A2 Nworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on1 ~) U) M3 O! z) c. ]6 @4 V1 x8 Q6 c
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
6 y' n5 n! H) h5 h$ S( C5 P4 ~you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people9 I% T5 `* X2 \3 }. S3 u. X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! h7 ?; h: r3 E
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that5 Z2 R& p/ h, P9 j7 d1 V% S' y% ^, g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want1 ?# `0 C1 O+ o6 o0 I" w5 Z
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
& n& f8 N' s& N  f; p, {buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 c8 k, I) s3 M% h) u! l
are spaces.; p! a+ H' l  T( O
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ M+ c# _+ [( o+ o: P0 {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 f; |1 O4 H1 h) F$ M  L, \3 r$ Down a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
  N1 H" q: L* Z- g" D# `, l40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different9 ~, [' [8 n6 x1 J( v1 e$ m: x* G
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
) K$ x4 B; x2 {) c3 bbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few8 A' g/ U9 A$ C, N2 n
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of" {$ B9 A2 \: Z7 X& _! ^
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it' t" I- X* S0 P+ f+ x
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
3 S- i0 E" g3 |' e( C 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 beautiful3 x1 b1 F6 b  I
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
: @4 w# y# j4 athe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
; a! @* {* K/ \8 D- Z/ x5 Slimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
6 ]9 D9 m5 G, H8 Rrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day, B% P* O- ]; }; `9 V% J2 p
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of/ J+ [( r( T. n2 w7 v$ T
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms( Z, _" W* u9 B& f# }
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the) p6 ]+ y  d7 M8 n6 d& V* n, g
tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's8 J8 i! u' ?' Y
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 f0 x/ e" @0 a
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
# K- [9 ^' G& Z; d: Neverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
& X2 L! ~2 p0 R- u# ~less leader-religious." k( ?# B' Y8 K+ R; Z8 x

- B/ Z( T. s. {  u  P0 @About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba0 U+ O0 _0 l0 \9 L
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
4 E+ h8 f4 h( L/ A# p/ ^black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US1 @3 N/ r: C: G/ q. P* ^2 _. g, D
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).& V5 O' F) p* N+ c3 z  Y  J

: V: ~6 y1 P8 M: G! I+ BWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
6 X) H: R" I$ N  E1 h- Q! n. }: sparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
* v4 q2 W5 x6 ]( K) M. Lthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
/ N& J: u' b/ r3 j- c* iconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
$ Z- d9 H! B  c2 b1 X8 sforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
- k# M) E  }  f) ?% |' S(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
2 E4 w+ ?9 M4 T# Sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 Y  q. E+ t+ k5 {( G# T
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going." q2 ?' j0 x/ s
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local4 i2 ?; N' C  T- k9 L
or visitors.* g' H7 x/ b. @
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--  The End --

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