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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).* x3 r- M4 [% c

+ z3 _7 d) M/ d' k1 b0 X# o/ @' W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.3 k9 h/ {, N' y5 T
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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.8 s& D" R+ u! L0 y, `

. l2 l& V; g4 f0 t: R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
# G: [9 l& U& q" t0 B+ G" s. C; @! X) kinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
9 ]5 z8 z7 Q5 q1 awanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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9 o) ~3 d+ T% d+ r- }It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
9 P. c/ h- ^8 Y# d8 `. M30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
% ^$ \% z" T$ {4 m) xa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as( e* v+ U6 }$ A: V7 e0 G0 W6 ]: g% M
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort. T6 `7 K! V  q9 @* W( B
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep, B, P+ i" V" e
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
# r4 b3 m& f& n4 S! h, u5 i% rlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all," L; |0 s2 H5 Z9 s: P0 E3 X
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.; o; A7 r4 ?4 \1 f
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
% X6 k' C+ k  p  n6 U( gnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# E  k! u0 R8 h
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
4 p" f; U  ]1 o1 }& W9 t5 H9 Bflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through6 z3 w- D( N. K1 p4 y6 M- k- j
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.! H3 S4 N- Z6 Y3 W3 A" s

1 d% m* G( T( }  ], n% i4 m. \4 ?The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,; ]  W* Z4 P7 }( `) u/ ^& m5 R
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
  x2 _8 e" a2 S(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top- F+ r- |: M0 o3 Y+ Y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
' L* r3 Y. t. ?* @+ ]2 Ustars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
, Z7 ^3 g! [/ M7 l: [7 j" R49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
8 b  j4 N4 a3 nCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
' N7 M9 ?/ N9 M. Rfingers, 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) Q# H% s) }3 m0 l9 d% l
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made; M& E6 B" P0 j0 e8 m4 @! v; V
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
: j+ B) Z3 \: `5 |) C  f3 {' ?tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
; l' q  w. Y6 r# |) za staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
- ]& r. P: T! t+ Q$ Tdaily 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! m/ V2 S9 L2 F7 L) ?# ~. n
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
/ y/ I: R4 r: a. G% y8 z1 @: zon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,: m) z5 `. |) B7 w
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
, T. g8 p6 [3 k" M- v) w' f" a8 ^answers to our pointed questions.5 S) u+ }! R) ]& a: m/ i5 V# j7 Y: n
" a, m$ l( b# l. L. d
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,8 T8 {1 S2 R% _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
1 V# w9 x/ D0 Qout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
# e) \. N, ]& I. R2 qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams: w) g6 Z3 s. k+ Z. U) w
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are3 T8 M, F% F* w! W5 [# @
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the/ m; c  d: Y* n& i$ ?1 v/ \3 j
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
. M* S, s0 t3 G5 t1 Fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& o, q8 a2 q$ D0 ?; K7 j/ A
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
( W; K+ _2 n, X$ I7 Q8 mis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to3 g; E( ^9 k4 e* F8 r$ V& q/ e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There6 |9 V8 q# c+ s+ L
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and8 [( ?& D  ^2 E# q# _. L
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) ]% X7 o% |% _2 f
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 T. S5 E2 {( L: T5 ]$ |9 G0 G
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.; y# ?2 h" G1 F) y$ u
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no4 k$ m# j* [/ q5 X" w# m% l4 I# T
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
1 s7 l6 b3 f" o2 Hsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* E7 z9 {/ Y2 H! W: d# w) Nhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
. P( |6 N! i- I/ K; J; L! `thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
) P2 s# I/ S/ Isitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high" H6 R3 i, m4 l. b) a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 Y3 e8 k8 ~: a) ~* o7 SDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When% P" x* E. y# p, J) o
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ Z+ K; O7 m7 F# q4 f: Tcharge the fee defined by the state.
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! c2 J) U4 G& X+ gThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" Y+ S" @1 F% ton), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ C" W% c( x; ]/ J) Hof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big/ G" `, O1 O6 ^- |
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel# t. i9 G( n3 n( [: f5 h$ n' ^5 O5 z7 {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
8 U; Y9 p9 I9 _: [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
+ r2 o' t' d: O5 d! u" W1 Yschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
, n( l( W5 Y# syou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
; F7 H$ _' [1 O7 B! m% A7 Mtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
0 f! S$ E7 q& C. j: K  |5 q4 w7 j( w1 Uhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! N% h$ e6 m9 K# v4 i  x
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want+ c' B, B7 e- @$ x2 p( }
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
+ o8 G$ }/ F7 v& d5 s! |/ tbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' P. R* `3 C9 D9 y% Z
are spaces.
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+ c- S6 `7 x; N, F  vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ ?# O) W0 h, w# A" Q
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) l, L4 I1 F( p  Sown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the3 k. n9 o2 _9 x9 X
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
* f: f) ~( @7 J# Y! oparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# N3 ?, O* w6 v8 u1 z
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few; n! y7 {2 V/ g- |% x# a
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of+ E1 v) ]0 Z3 w; F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
' I) N! I0 c; S" dis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.& m3 K- ^% u& c9 x' h: \! N0 n5 A, M
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
0 h* G# O7 J8 h" K+ lspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
) L  W/ L! @% c* D/ ythe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
5 ~/ z0 T8 s4 f9 @7 P" O# ?limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep0 b4 l4 k! q" M  r( W
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day+ \+ B& `% Y- G, E+ }8 b
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of8 v1 z2 Z9 j# {" [) Y, W! V
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
. o7 C) J$ @$ \$ C  Jhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the' Z7 D' P+ R  l0 ~  l7 f" K
tourist area.
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7 i( O: }( E, eOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's& b. j  [  T+ g) L, H) y
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
2 s6 L5 Z/ q( x# oCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were( f" a! y' b. p1 O( H! F. q1 _  G
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 8 A: z- W8 Y  |( z  o9 g
less leader-religious.6 L; E: `/ g. X7 _
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba, _5 w; l6 I% ]$ ~! C; h
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big0 o# ~# Z+ }& V# U2 @& v
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US( O6 I/ y/ s9 p* p8 u
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).8 N8 ]' z& O) j3 |. \$ e8 t. T/ _+ C
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the2 p5 T! n+ F! F/ {* ?2 X3 s
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
, ^9 ]% d6 ?$ M) cthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
' Q" n. ~. b9 M9 D2 Mconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for/ x' G5 L" r! m5 U9 W$ B
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
+ G% a- n. j& T4 ^* v- v(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we! F; g- c$ b* L8 y0 V
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the3 ~8 j2 X  K7 o& I6 Z0 \
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
5 q, P/ U- s5 S1 Y# nAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local, |0 u6 w3 g: _6 O
or visitors.
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1 u- b, i- _9 @/ l! U2 \3 l' f--  The End --

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