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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 I: E+ }2 g0 ]; o7 V1 J1 h
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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. ' ^3 Q7 Y  E& l. o
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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.- i" P6 Y) j7 U* i+ A( u

. X8 c2 v5 N2 s0 ?  T+ K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
6 ?6 s4 ~8 P! S2 [% \. Linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
. ~+ F& }7 ~- [& Z9 m/ a6 Kwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.# ]9 A1 {$ `+ @5 L# m( G4 B- k
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
+ y# `5 \* P% i' |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
; I/ [/ s! `) M9 e: C8 t6 pa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as8 _4 }0 W1 v, y
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
" k, L4 g. }- R- o5 o7 v8 h/ Ishow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep( i( m' m" I5 [6 E1 Z) ~1 O' M8 U
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
. H  z5 n; z& a- V# {lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,2 {8 h( Q6 X. S" [! {
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
; b0 f  I$ V# ~: v People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but: M% Y$ g5 M) e% u# t
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
: k. Q  C$ l: R4 y2 q+ ]! M5 qexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our1 E: w4 P$ t& Y! c8 q: e, F. z8 U1 @# r
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through" H" `+ F0 j1 u7 \. M( U% O$ G
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.$ v4 K% C/ [; h  E0 m: b

1 U3 W: M; |3 {( U' V$ NThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,! @' o$ u$ r5 R# u
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
0 `9 P$ G0 X% G* e2 c/ d& i(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top, b& r7 B% R/ G+ R1 r$ Y9 T5 y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
% ?7 S& j7 I2 @) @4 Pstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from) y7 @& x2 e1 s: k4 K
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
+ [2 i& N- B; f  m$ O) {0 n1 YCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
( l) P& c# V7 L- l5 m" M+ Nfingers, 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
& K, ?, B( L9 W" q5 k8 h/ B! ojust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made6 e4 x7 X! S9 L7 H% V1 U
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba$ A9 f  {3 j2 y3 ]. p' ?
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
  N- V7 b  P- G: v) y7 Y2 |a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
- c. r# r- R9 s3 O4 ddaily 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
, C" F* B" j# R, `1 tstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
3 s' o2 Z" u5 u+ O3 \on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
# {' ?$ G  j: Y' p$ D7 F$ V/ Y: B"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 N" H; z3 A" B- v  a6 a) p/ wanswers to our pointed questions.
3 i- x9 c4 t* B/ {8 @7 L! ^# z" _0 y9 v, _+ w9 _. G/ `7 d& |
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,& d! s  ~3 J" `! i. u7 l
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand/ ^/ Z& z) o- k: m! k3 d; Q
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is: N( u% o1 G6 i8 L
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
: u' O0 Q( }  J- y+ U1 x" Fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are+ @; L: C7 q( v; z. P4 X: M
medical schools.
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* `' L- V- G6 y, A+ c# TEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. i* k6 H. U% D, O9 a, C9 m7 ngovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
  k" N: m  t! fto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 J% D. M- Q* \/ A+ r& Aassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba- U2 c9 T9 h, ?  p- g
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to6 O  U. K1 g( q6 M
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
8 `! e1 y' Z( i3 t6 K2 e) Bseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! @' U$ f- [5 c' ^% k' [# Jmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# Z' W5 F& M# u3 R# W3 N; c' k  a8 n
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
) i" [. c/ _% bsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no$ N0 T. S) |5 `
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ ?* n6 A  }0 b$ y* T" \8 ]+ wsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 S: T$ @, {* z5 D4 r6 W" ehave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good. r7 r& e8 b0 u
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% I% [$ Z4 a2 i6 R) H' N, n
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
. ^$ ]0 w8 G0 l5 `divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
) `# n3 g& c. DDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
! @/ s; B7 x; `+ C& K& M& aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
) p7 t" |2 \- B. |charge the fee defined by the state.) `' L, P" l# z; _, z  w5 L; A! Q
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get: F# O/ C1 g* h/ r3 V2 B# ~
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
  S" m: _- C) ^+ F4 `5 Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big6 O# f6 P" L, ?9 L
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel# {8 \/ X' G5 E6 Q4 `4 d: j, Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the4 m- x- {: `  i& f0 k
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, _) }6 j* W% B0 D6 H* ?) z7 L
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if2 e4 x( f1 @0 n2 q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people" I% U' @/ d1 z% j
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ ~( Q( o1 N0 S6 ^
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
- K0 m  r2 G7 e2 e+ a/ n4 W  H  C0 Mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 a: `, Y: W/ h8 }* K
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 o: ^2 T8 I9 z1 R
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there  K2 m+ a4 r; U3 B/ H
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi- U& Q. }: @5 ~" D
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they7 m% y: F1 F/ s, t8 v* C
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the0 k( D0 n, Q$ Y/ ?6 f. S. q
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 ^8 A) R! X/ a+ g- Y9 @parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the8 p$ X8 B& J' }* l/ ?, o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
# H. b" t$ ^4 D- k5 Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
7 P+ k- O6 y6 O1 qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it5 \1 c1 f+ h8 _8 j& L
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
. I  W" w6 b3 W6 D! h/ `6 D! D 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- E9 H; z5 O& O& J( T2 N
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all( ^$ ]: Y/ U+ T
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
1 E; ~+ x6 q) y6 P$ O# l# Zlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# w3 D: k7 L  f2 H9 U$ a3 ?6 Z
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
. j9 x5 {' f5 d9 Ysupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
0 y# e( D/ H$ R8 ]* J+ K# ?9 Qthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
' e) B$ a7 m9 m& }8 D; `have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the3 ~% y: q3 T' Q: r+ R
tourist area.
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* W. H8 r7 F6 i! u  c& P$ |4 [; IOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
; p5 Z. L8 B! }3 ^4 N+ Epictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).+ {* L. `$ G- V7 X! c0 M
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were- g- C. ^7 r$ H
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 2 F* M' i9 ?+ d0 q* w9 X4 i6 f
less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba; M5 G' T# A. t! }: [
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big3 n; J# H# |/ h4 ?4 s4 Q
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
' m' _% c; V) L6 y8 tembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).4 {" a" B+ p/ d
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
+ i" b# u) G3 @parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
3 S3 |5 ^6 [( c4 c5 u5 Ithe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1# _6 x; C3 J- e- _6 O0 U# U
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for! r2 ^: C; [$ I
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
; f2 K4 d4 i% w(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
5 o2 V' ]+ O7 fprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
0 r, n% K  a' r8 Dreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
& c4 |! M  F7 H9 n6 b: }. SAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local' g/ P5 P  T' ~' x% a6 Z
or visitors.
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( o! \4 }; G: B/ Z, G+ c& q- [% K$ z--  The End --

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