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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).1 B6 w& r0 A! ^) ?, x9 w
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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.
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& E: J5 ~7 I) k, J" c/ b- I/ W! L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.& e, r+ X- M6 @* |+ e  H

% d0 j6 I6 \3 |5 }+ O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
: f; t8 J( ^" R9 _interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
; p6 H4 q1 r6 M! F' R5 D  Jwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible./ G* F. j6 z/ @- ~- I, }" S( g# Q

- W1 b: ]/ W# d. rIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
- Y+ u' M7 T! J( {$ I. G' |2 w30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in7 e( Y5 G! [, P: k! S8 K
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as+ {9 ~% m, C$ W" k0 J
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
( {' T: l- y  x' @# L" gshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep1 W1 d2 v: V. b8 W) Y
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
1 K+ @1 l5 S- K( x5 n4 @5 y  Mlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
( }( z' d/ d! o; J9 Mwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.9 j$ y4 H( l, k5 v
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
. f( i0 a) o7 Rnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
$ f: r% g5 O, N' ?. r& Sexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our* l  @0 @( `0 d1 F1 x, s7 X+ V
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
) W* V+ w5 U3 _1 ]3 w$ ta roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.8 x$ A2 F& y# ~, [: B

# k9 R0 h; o1 |The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
: G/ O/ X8 {8 |( n6 E) hlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool1 n: C$ d8 _9 a+ d7 e
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
, @/ k$ \' p* {of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
; z" R. s$ X* M1 Zstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
. c' b! u# i: P  d49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes7 A, y3 P" K3 g/ f1 A/ X/ @3 K
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
4 Y) Z! O3 q/ G: i# @% }% Ffingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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( n+ d& u) {. i1 QThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
( F7 P5 X! U# _8 r5 X0 Bjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made+ `& g- D$ T3 K- j& V4 D* }- X1 S
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba! x$ O* W% h0 X: M# R8 b$ f8 `6 l
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having# q0 z' S3 y: i! g: ?. I6 ~
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
9 I9 V+ ?. N$ c- ]8 `' h. w3 Edaily 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
% B7 z+ D7 {# E5 vstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
! U4 C$ i$ f% P6 E$ ^. Hon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,8 h. T& J# M( ^: c0 D8 J
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give, Z$ [9 h6 l# N6 E
answers to our pointed questions.& O$ f0 e$ U. n, ^& @: }- `

) t& H9 p" H/ L& x  q5 l+ o' [! P, n( ~The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,; t6 r" [) I6 N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand% C) R! T/ h( n. ]/ @( A
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is# P( X, [- z- _! \5 K
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams- B7 ^3 C4 J$ h# O
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
& k! ]' k" O2 z* S- Q+ ~medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 e8 v; e' ?' E0 I4 \
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants+ v4 B' u) @8 ^
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
4 ^6 E$ V3 a/ q% xassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba9 e' O- Q$ e6 n! g. Y5 D
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" ~7 N. Z7 A9 A; }: I, x0 e! fover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
% }+ q9 m% N% i  N. U. Xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! U7 R; e( {  w+ H, [+ A% `mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk5 z# y$ y# k" W; @6 o* E3 E7 g
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
' e. k1 [  q/ ^5 P" s0 ~' U3 Hsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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8 g0 [" J: e9 Z; r# r) u1 _The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
# t( J! T% w% ~5 ~7 Pprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and1 }0 P2 H3 U7 j) [7 N! T9 W
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people8 C+ T. H6 y) \6 N) i
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
$ b9 _# J0 L0 J. g* B  N. H8 Hthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby/ n* L: X- I' L9 Y5 o
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
& H2 C) x  D( P1 i8 ~2 J; o! f4 Qdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! T7 p' K+ ]0 p& w7 Z7 Y7 ~Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When8 p: y  ^5 L4 Q- e9 f; L8 j  |
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only/ t8 a0 }. a- N8 o- n
charge the fee defined by the state.# ?5 p9 I' s) f/ Z5 A* I3 g% r
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
; P: O2 u1 m: Q( \  oon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 l9 V( E- y1 H' p9 R& u4 i' ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big  }  H( [" ]- E
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel" S  ^" K: K& e
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 ^# H" {% h( P; @% c! o+ [
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 A% Q, L- B" Z, R* ~
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
+ R5 d) S0 f" cyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
4 X; d( O3 C/ K* {" o3 E  ]trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 i" M% ?" B4 p" U" I
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
& I5 A1 V6 f% k7 vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
8 g- |# Y) M0 z6 tto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or* e+ f" |$ a; |7 ^* V) b1 \( H
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 ?) p* I3 L2 l* U1 p3 `* J7 Nare spaces.
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0 Z0 O* n( g+ X+ |/ z; JThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
7 N; h1 J9 h, D& S# A# i; bto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 p0 }$ n, M6 ^0 u7 w# zown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 e! m2 [' ]9 o" Y
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
) X$ A1 N% `, _$ J7 zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( U% D  C+ p& O
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
. y- s, w! `% vnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
6 {  {; ]/ G. r# m, t/ [& lcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it( w: G0 J) X  {+ G3 U& ~
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
" O2 d, E0 ^$ 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
9 S* B( Q1 J" U+ }2 y3 E  Hspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
- `% Q5 S1 q0 t$ g/ y9 `the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
. H6 n) H( I0 C* h6 M5 z1 rlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
6 L! a& H& I8 Grecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
' W& A4 f& [0 k# f6 Z- D7 W# s% }supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of: R* Y; j! b/ s7 l' X
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
0 J8 g6 z4 U; }+ Nhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
$ \& J  X* B0 Q$ w: N; b; ^7 \tourist area.; _9 Y3 ^1 \; f1 k# {
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's- V# Q5 S. A/ b
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).! c8 P; O9 \! W; m( K! c$ a$ i
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
2 t$ R, L$ ~; \/ @- z% K) [( }: zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + D. F# h) Q* i' N# a4 m
less leader-religious.' Z. V1 w+ n$ @& f0 k; M6 F

# H, [' v4 Z. V- G# f# [$ |About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
1 }+ U8 m8 m  mgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big  f+ c! p+ W3 i6 @
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US- }) S2 B+ v+ w& p  t2 J+ R( Q
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).9 _( ]# K' M' [- O( l- E% b

  b: u) m2 q, L: I  R9 F7 i! kWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the( J. ], i% ~  F' D5 W( J
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
! t# M. ]" ]( R! z. ^5 t0 a( L. Ythe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1( B% B: M! Z0 T
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
! Z, Q) A5 T6 sforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) H/ M1 k) U; ?) a( o" O
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
+ G. E+ T2 ?5 l, }probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% f3 z1 f! v  q8 c6 N
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.4 A1 B& x  L+ q* r
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local% p, w$ k( R4 E
or visitors.
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--  The End --

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