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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& Z0 o. I- n. T; c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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" @7 j4 ^3 H; f, p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
( M# b  {* F. X; i( g" Q$ dinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
9 Q( j1 w. a) t9 T8 \8 l: J: T+ Owanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.) \+ i. d! j9 b2 R8 P; R
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
( n6 y4 F' `6 g% B30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in4 R# h& G* n7 u: _
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as" _  H  A7 ^, w2 a, |5 ]
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort2 V& D2 E1 A" Z- N3 L
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
2 l6 R! i, |  O% ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the3 V+ G, V/ V  v: ~" ]2 W
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,3 O. ]) ~( z/ f7 s3 Y4 A1 l
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.  e# t3 o, w$ B6 d# {7 Z5 w5 A
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
, ~& ?: v$ J8 v  D  fnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not  q6 V- b/ b+ E
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our  g; Y5 C6 X7 \
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through8 }+ N1 c+ \& A! j
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.- V$ C- G/ X, N9 o* M+ ~1 O" H
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,0 \8 z$ N  t3 k$ \" E
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
; \) Q* a' j5 a5 ]$ O) X' m(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
7 _( m+ b& x- e- Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
: X2 R/ h2 }# ^7 |7 Y1 Ustars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
. p8 ]- d3 _2 j49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes* Z$ O) S) C: i
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
6 y4 |. x- I- H% r- N# f. m* _fingers, 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 are9 T. C; ?. o$ H+ ]; {4 _/ k
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
4 }0 a# A. @/ s! m5 p* k" w: b  @: q  Ofor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
1 ]2 ]: x: `) @) Itourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
% T& ?, ]- a1 e! V% x! Ia staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
  T7 F# j0 D) pdaily 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, living6 l; m$ E$ [7 J; x
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went- l7 z! N% f5 r6 N2 n2 Y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,# x: x' u& C+ Q& J; i
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give) p+ f" Y$ e' g7 b) @
answers to our pointed questions.: J4 S" f! d9 e! p6 \
& x8 ?4 ]) N# W" K: \$ s
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,3 [3 y- K8 q1 O) |. y. q$ r
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
5 C  G5 A! d( |: x' J( ?8 Rout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
& H9 O6 n1 @5 M: v- h3 d8 Bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 |+ `7 z) R: J2 Y$ w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% q: q7 B9 o1 h6 qmedical schools.
" {3 M6 Z( N: u9 s1 M* W3 g& K) B9 A" e* y' l& I. l3 d$ J* q
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 @" q- T0 V) ~0 q% l. E0 I' Z) h7 Ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 S* j0 H/ ~7 L* q& [2 p5 l) ^to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ k; ~/ C2 S7 p! B1 O6 R$ T- z0 l4 Y
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
1 l" g! Q. J! h. i; Ais from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
  R. t1 z3 M) d5 L8 fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
; w( \3 I* h, c. ^3 o) Rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
- _! x$ w& n9 o/ D4 a) w( T7 E6 v: bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk' A1 X9 \9 f8 B' L* s5 @' T
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 \$ g* l  J* n$ f5 \sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
4 ?/ g) n/ W* @) v" o' Yprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 z7 D- Y9 F4 w2 r) o4 |/ Y4 C
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people, {: M: X! B8 f. R! S4 [
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good4 }3 }2 A! ]. _0 h7 P0 s7 f: {. t
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
$ ?: t/ M, q' Q3 [/ Gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high' A% v3 Z9 y+ ^) r+ c4 B# h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 {1 u* P6 w8 @8 K7 TDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When/ H, m% }2 s3 [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only& |5 s$ M+ `7 a( R- j) g+ X: f
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 [; I# }- K, {% T+ v" Von), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
/ o4 ?9 a8 Z1 k7 p4 a: hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big2 H0 L% S7 C( F8 B' l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
( F& e7 \0 _( h* K, l2 fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
* \' }8 J' W1 iworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; [. w) w$ h, h8 cschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if+ _* }$ n) k- y; t  \
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
  o, Y3 z& u* m4 l8 v5 Ytrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 W- x. \, c: ^/ ~( \, khiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that$ j4 e0 i3 h( d$ n7 w5 M. g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
2 W; I+ q2 F4 Q  ?0 c" B  b9 pto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 u6 R. j' |" T! p) b( i$ Z( E, I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 G0 p/ c" W3 D3 ~9 w7 Z, s
are spaces.7 G; S5 y' c* T$ V0 D6 z

) \+ R  y1 e0 j( i" c8 dThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 N: c! p+ a! h# |4 |4 p" Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
# q2 \! n- d( U0 Bown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 q& L* e+ e+ _0 H
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 ]- f4 K5 P( }4 P! @$ Pparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 z7 e) V. D1 J/ ibest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
! ~3 R  R/ S2 R6 Ynice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of* n4 p- S7 ], T- l
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
+ f! k+ Y2 h/ t9 ?3 eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.0 e8 z' `6 ~- H' y% A
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
! R3 a# D- J7 f+ A9 Aspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
  s5 P2 L3 z& xthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
: [# U; _% ?& |" O) Wlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# w( T& ]& }& A  V( |- I; Z1 K
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day0 M+ ~# _* l, H- t& y
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
; k( H* c! d8 }. R5 r* j$ ithem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms- w3 L* n2 z1 A
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the: T1 s' W! ]6 D$ Z- P
tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
( q  W& Y" C) S' T+ l2 ?! y, |; vpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).7 i3 u& |6 _1 V3 p0 x. e
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
3 A) a1 E$ ?6 {0 Weverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
9 n1 J% O4 d1 Dless leader-religious.) W( }+ q3 s8 e  {0 o: F
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba/ |$ Y6 b: ]4 B( c
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big  ?- m( W8 M& ^& q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US, N5 D) P; {* H" Z% v" d
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).! Q0 S7 g* V# ^+ t* O# p
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the/ h& N1 e) \& R/ Z' s
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 g! b% i" E2 F! k. m  ]
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 Y' x$ K- K+ ^% O
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for6 J! U2 Y( [7 w4 v8 z; `
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
/ n, f6 t* C$ f  x(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
! i) L6 v! c. ?; A( Fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the. Y- o0 z3 k* z# k1 c8 y/ |
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.2 r. R1 s# U# H6 j! }: C
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local3 n& z8 C8 L1 ]% M1 d! K
or visitors.
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--  The End --

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