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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).4 _$ @+ W# f: ^

: |: q, q, }+ H$ Y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. . B: x6 g# r/ p+ S- ^8 O2 {; I
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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.) x0 a$ x" M; A6 ^( s

2 f1 O# b) S' H* b  y9 Q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.; \+ h& v* }! U" O# v# R! B8 K" w
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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 very6 R& j8 f* p# ?
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
7 m, ]# F$ T9 y1 awanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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+ ~# H! T- j# y2 \4 d0 F( i1 }It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
) V1 {  \% L) B- W4 {4 P30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
1 q! a9 x4 h0 O' {6 Y1 P7 Xa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
6 G$ ~! T: m* f# a- d$ wpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
) E/ D( _% y, G  g7 eshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
- F  }/ s  i9 R3 P# ]& l( f. ]between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
( \" L6 d! p; R! X: Nlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
' w1 @5 G% a8 V0 u& H& Xwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
. F5 v, ]& f7 J% R3 x. D' ?( ]% N People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
  }+ O% z* Q! H- ?. o7 Xnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
7 j. O' k5 W5 W" h; B' [2 Kexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
" t) W( u2 O0 T4 R7 ]flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
, b9 i+ a3 K$ R( ~, i; R  ^; Y0 J/ }a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.( b2 `7 z2 O! ?" U
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,% g' o# x, q, l" X: R3 X
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool" f" j& z# \, V+ M  l
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top- n6 P1 J: _+ c$ i8 n" Z: a& m
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
5 W8 h" i* n6 \% W! \0 mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
4 ~( c8 r. M) p+ J! r, N5 d" l( g: R( F( h49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
( \' ~3 g! D* D) T, @& ?" T( ICuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
3 |; h6 G* h0 x' F% J) s) hfingers, 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 are7 Z& Q- u& i& T8 L
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
4 G: o. S$ v( s8 Jfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba( H! n: J9 W( n$ g
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having; }) `' e( O9 Q2 Y# `- _
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China6 |. A$ e# H) Y; b5 t+ W, U* S
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/ S7 ?* n& R/ }! K6 {$ u! T+ M
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went: [8 A* v3 s2 g+ b8 [! l! U
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,# O; b7 ~  M7 {2 U) O- O7 [
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: N$ f0 z- s6 S* ^
answers to our pointed questions.& z0 j3 I$ F% J1 {6 J# D. g

3 q0 l2 S) Q6 P4 j9 uThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
5 N) u) |" W: D1 ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
" H3 O) r' E  X( Y( i% M% s9 l9 iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
. r3 o, e8 H; Ffree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: p' u# C' Y( M8 Q. yto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
. U. _  V7 o- B/ T7 B  r5 F! o+ Hmedical schools.0 \9 p: a0 X5 i8 T" X- i  ?1 ~

) E, g# Z( u& t/ f7 w; C5 sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the% s1 \* i) ^  k( R( C- N/ t4 T. a
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 W& i, A, h: |# N' ~9 ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
/ |1 o1 P2 b# S& ?5 Wassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
& ^. w5 \0 J, }& m+ Mis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
( O  b! J" |8 _; x* Jover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
; ~4 `9 W) o0 D% o: ~" Tseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
/ f  ]2 R, c' gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
* K8 S% ?# ]1 U6 W$ ?3 Z3 B7 v5 Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some5 ~. }3 v; @& j. a, m& @
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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* ?9 q6 u% n$ E. q; t. J* eThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no$ C8 Q* o& H. v: J# q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
. W) _1 j, N# O1 nsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 f$ \+ L6 F# T$ N/ C0 R
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
7 G( l  j7 O: n4 H- Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) }6 n2 f0 a7 I& f2 N9 U5 q! \sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, p8 Z+ Z: G# z# U
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
6 Y+ d2 J3 E& b( n+ ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
6 @) z8 x* ], \5 m8 ]7 qa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 c$ q& W& N8 M* Wcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get" t% P1 |9 p+ c3 D
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
) B* e/ @1 k4 |: hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big5 ~# P/ e9 Z: ^% q) E5 D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
+ H3 {; \3 T9 g, _% a  Y0 Eseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; ?! @7 n8 K2 C) @1 O5 c
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
; z  }% X7 J' O; x: K; k5 Uschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if0 U+ h* g7 V4 f! d+ T, @) S. K
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
: d9 N4 J! I' Atrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 G  Y1 ]) s* ^: |hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that9 P. Z6 G9 A! H% j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 }( U! N. ]0 fto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
' c1 i7 v7 O1 S: m3 Dbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there! I0 F) V# C0 m# ~
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- m+ N; [$ t% o  i- Q% G/ x
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
* y* t+ F. u) F! pown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' m& _( b4 l* N6 A40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different% c; r2 s5 a8 F3 i1 r% V* K: u7 @
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
- e( ~- r% {1 j- W" G; \6 Abest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
* B, y! M- H  ynice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
; E" Q& h- `; @7 j* k8 H9 H6 Scar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it. R+ u7 B4 V& g0 G* ?5 F
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 c7 t" v3 o/ n 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
7 _2 C$ P1 g- ^: R! uspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
+ k4 T$ ~9 p* W" v" A( ethe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
; j9 K1 f% [& O% y1 B6 h' llimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
/ P5 V6 \- W1 Y2 |8 N/ m0 Vrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day6 G* n: c+ l7 w5 j& L
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of, ~; @9 J; w( l1 f
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms5 R. k& c8 j+ W0 e
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
/ f. d% o0 n# N9 Ptourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's$ e" }( d4 o7 K1 W! |  u
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
! U. G% u" g% `" w4 w4 DCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
* }$ K7 ^/ K. O" ?- Jeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
; Z% m3 J8 h+ x  s9 `less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba0 i: q+ P" N( q; k) |+ b
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big  w: k' ?) V' s) y" U
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
) J' ^, w4 V5 K' L: G5 z1 u$ _embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' d; d- E9 c: q: _
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
2 E# s) a. L2 H) }( s9 gparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
$ e% r( w% _: V) }the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1' R7 u8 q0 ]2 ~3 U( N2 w1 I
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for+ u( Y  h2 }* h, j7 G8 f0 Y$ T$ W
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
2 A1 r/ b! p; N: G! B+ J/ J(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we1 G( x& Y# M0 n3 j2 P
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
' ^! u2 C1 u2 p, V' ~3 E5 nreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
% ]; Y" T7 z( R7 d% RAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
, g+ r8 C) ^( ?* `. a& n( Lor visitors.4 s8 C& w9 s& |6 E( _

5 a# g6 g2 C9 u--  The End --

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