freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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).
0 d+ m$ r/ y  r
- H3 A/ |0 |: C3 W; n+ k) @0 n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.
  g0 E1 ?1 X% ~( l) l/ U
5 i7 C+ }: q! Z/ E& r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.9 w# Z- O0 H; S$ j
; P$ m% i4 P6 V* ^/ E& @& {
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.
3 w. }) N9 o+ u0 F
  ?8 y0 C2 o' v/ p% O  V0 n! S- ^& I% ?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.

freedom_2008

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very
& N8 ?$ K4 @8 n5 K, i# q. s# r% Binteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
. i! j& P, m: x8 ]wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.. i2 l7 P. r& ]+ n) i8 K

7 b6 B" W0 E9 M$ I& GIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
6 Q2 s2 S. D8 l9 F) F: W* |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
5 O. D5 r' ?% {- @4 w8 {a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
0 |3 x0 U, m" J. O$ ?" r+ Ypossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
% X5 X( {% J9 f. ]0 b! a7 Yshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
0 d& Q* i9 ]% }8 R+ P( xbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the% t  ], d( D$ r6 h$ z9 D
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,* x& Y2 ?# _8 f) P
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
- {  B9 M# X' D: Q$ `) C" A& i People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but. u$ M' Y. ^5 L9 z
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 {# e* Y2 r% ^3 r4 X9 V' U
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our8 c; N! b3 k4 z" n
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through$ J5 _' L9 F) l( y" E
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.* w  x4 ]) u; S+ v( m. a) c. F6 P

. q1 g! b! m" G9 ^4 z4 D: G3 }' ^3 xThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,2 Z% @9 d* I. w
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
  p# X' a4 w- Q! @7 x9 @+ Q(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
5 \6 l5 I" X' ]8 m' U. Zof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
7 D$ _' v8 d# F8 s! w  Estars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from( Y7 k6 d7 \. _' \6 y; n$ V
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes7 \% l& E# M! T5 s: M
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with, N' V" T8 h! H6 M
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
3 Z5 q3 a! f3 n# e
1 D, ~7 ^" V! x; _The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
% x$ c2 A. v3 r% x) ]* Rjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made* M7 y0 j& m, \2 f2 h% J. a
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
4 q0 b( E( j5 n; e" t5 utourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
: Z" L% [  M7 X# Ca staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China- o; m: }! d' i5 }8 L0 ?
daily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living
* Y9 R0 v. T' o# K- \1 W) gstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
- A, I5 g/ Q1 ^1 I) U0 U& R# t( B  Lon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
; i" t. [+ o4 C) Z"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
' j3 t0 t- [/ B" c# e  T% D# janswers to our pointed questions.4 H( v6 o+ ?6 N: _

+ \2 R; B& V, E. s+ NThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
4 S& d* B7 l% {, F4 K* F- c6 _45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. R5 j, Z& _5 O5 s7 |
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
( j2 T6 q1 o2 a& Sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 N1 ~- l7 E8 ]2 t
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are  f9 U  O. [$ i  j
medical schools.
( h$ z) I5 {- v% H
6 b+ k1 p8 j1 X/ `; C/ sEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the1 d1 g3 m, U4 C5 ~8 P& |- ~6 M
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
; s5 u( ^5 A0 `- F( pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years( J1 H% J" O* \7 q
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba! g/ B* l+ f! y' u
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 K. ~  k4 n- B/ t- e, `  eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There# F) m  x6 a8 C8 I
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# t* O1 F2 h2 Tmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
9 j: s1 ?+ s! h: F( W$ x7 e$ |& Yshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
7 Q0 R* W, r! s9 q  ?2 [* Nsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
; a$ q" v7 |; `  v! Q  \) h0 `$ d( b3 N( Z* T/ d
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no' y4 }: F0 Y, k6 V# F
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 k8 Y3 {- @+ X+ D. {9 E9 p
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
( k' B! v1 I: U/ V) I3 Chave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good1 a% F3 m# A# B
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
& O2 W! q/ d& f0 ~' Lsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high, T- `7 z: J2 l; s& h$ P6 q: [
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
9 H6 o+ g  J4 j, LDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
/ P8 ?  P0 g) @& da lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only9 i( F; k" ?' e7 v
charge the fee defined by the state.
& f% G3 q; b7 h. |6 v3 V5 ~* f
There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
' A8 Z; V. f/ Zon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
3 x' ]9 @& S/ Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big) j; |* }1 f4 e4 D
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
) c* y* g; D; ?& w, @2 V7 [seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 ?/ l$ D9 S2 y# P# pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
9 [" o  ~" y% ?0 Pschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
! [) n" E0 u4 u1 Iyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
  _/ {5 h+ }- I3 b+ L9 gtrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, b2 ^& R0 s4 y9 C" C: q- Bhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; k3 X" x; r& _" q/ d/ _" ^6 Speople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& S# ?1 j( q& ]$ `to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or* g8 l# [2 X5 Y* s. a! A
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' w3 U- i; V2 O/ Aare spaces.! k$ J- s( r5 W  D! l) ^
0 K0 x3 v  T  `3 d7 k4 x
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( ]" e( ^2 l* o& I" a: e& nto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 }% {8 t, c9 m- e
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 H& O: S7 p0 _1 y1 p# }5 ^' e40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
% U/ O4 V8 o5 Q! uparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 M( p7 n4 D$ d* v/ F" ]2 nbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few) c  R* N  M; ?/ ^0 y
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of0 ~$ N% H% s8 B  P. O% g2 F
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- t$ ^' d3 T& D& C! y  |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* _8 W- _- a# a- o: G0 r
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

freedom_2008

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful
' _8 a4 S% u) F/ _spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
* a( g, B8 M3 @% S) tthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very5 d$ G* D" D5 @
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
8 [9 N  I. Y% Z, {8 z$ ]recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
: h# E- F' _6 G# bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of6 M6 q- E7 R9 W0 U# M
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms) p0 @9 i3 m. ^0 ?6 Z% h& e. U
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
2 x: r6 U3 ^: L4 Btourist area.
; @0 R* N" ^: U
# v7 b6 ?3 y& S# E: o& O' bOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's) ]+ r2 `2 _+ o8 L! o, ]. y
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
6 \- V$ v9 p- p9 p* x5 }Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
) O2 T  ?) v+ n6 u4 d% W5 Weverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : z# R6 s! P" T" d; [! k4 ~
less leader-religious.
2 f, G* `; |' R2 n, |% t0 m4 r5 q# S) o1 T( m" M4 h. D! a" x
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
5 }1 M  \! w3 A  {government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
4 T; N/ }( y7 z2 b7 l! vblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US' g4 `: X, j1 b1 k
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).0 C2 l* M% t' d' v' e  u

4 v' R% X' i) DWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
/ U: A5 U- e2 P! O  L, aparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not6 R. O% U; N" H+ u  A
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
" s! u( c( X& Z/ m; F7 Jconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for" a; j$ |9 d4 [) e4 b  u
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars; B! v9 s% s6 m1 \4 }1 H, S4 B* T
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we/ F. |. g# w6 N
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
- n5 O  t6 r5 [real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.) H5 d+ \' F8 }/ p2 b8 c* T
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
$ ]# [" D! @' V( [or visitors.7 t: p( k" e1 y# y
0 e' _; T& K, _2 n
--  The End --