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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).9 S% N, _2 h+ H4 d) m* Z0 b

- [) a; O* \0 `$ b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.
* {' o+ V! o) d  _, m; z2 ?* [* P& m  J: j
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./ e" ^* l, `0 v

" ^) L; c3 t: e% n9 G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 very5 s1 T# r" N4 c
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we& |! S& R2 Q9 [4 ]0 E: U# Q! G
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.; M9 {# \) b! N) o6 j. C
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
, f. y3 }$ z# l" O6 J30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
3 `) I1 o( {% t6 P% v5 sa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as6 z6 j9 L# f3 C4 j" S% e4 [
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort) {8 O& `7 I! ^6 I# ]+ J+ [
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep6 e6 w6 f0 v8 F% m! ^9 D
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
2 E" Q8 Z( o8 w' Ilobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,  u" p- w% b( ?! z1 W/ {! O; F
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
4 x1 s8 N& H8 U9 M4 q( e/ ` People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
, L  R( W6 H0 \1 A4 unames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not& K7 j- v: d3 Q0 G( _6 |; }8 v
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
+ P" ]" |! y! l) f1 Nflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through. z' V' v7 V' w% m
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards., k8 G) g2 S. I2 W( @2 n

  V2 h" n. l. y; bThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,$ {* y. ?& Z/ F- V2 t
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
6 J# l2 z/ v- L+ |' M& v, F(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top6 r+ _* K5 b% k, G. k
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the- [" ?+ M; _5 a: w  j5 D
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
- b; L& _1 ^  m7 w$ r49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
! c) k( ^: P# iCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with# e( F* V2 c0 _, i6 v$ ]* _
fingers, 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
- N( V' Z: p$ e+ l( xjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made7 B. ]' E0 S) `8 ^. g( }& \- [
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba- F% }& Z8 I5 V" m2 s% E
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
/ p* q4 F0 J) u& la staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China( {6 w& z+ ~4 [" r0 u5 y# D! ^
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, living0 a8 b/ h  e1 [6 M
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went) g  L- Z. b# E
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,# l8 j+ [- d9 ?8 T
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
  ~0 j  d7 ?: oanswers to our pointed questions.! s0 r- i" Z3 X4 C1 c3 @% ^( F  t
  Y) U$ j" P- b# J3 l( \  H8 C
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,, t9 R7 s5 _' ^% E# }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 W) [; o- p# G3 I" Yout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is# |/ I  x0 t1 @9 s8 W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
! `. b+ ~4 L7 ]7 i, B+ P: G# D2 bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 \) }* h3 h& M) j& T( A* d* `
medical schools.
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( d: `9 b, o* o. EEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
( F9 P8 K) H  l7 a  n: N! Q: m8 ygovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 T! ?1 e0 {4 ]: R" S
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 k' x+ R- v2 Y* N6 R8 U
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
* v2 S7 j/ e2 R) K$ Qis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
7 x6 D: l+ q. D  c) _/ ~over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There+ r/ w2 x1 }  j. o8 I  ^
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
* C- f. _8 A% I7 `: Amostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk6 [5 W. h: ^5 m2 e1 _; l6 ]/ M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some1 [' o) [7 c8 {; b! }0 q! b% W
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.+ k4 v# d" a4 ?3 ?

6 |) i5 W* u' ]* @$ EThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
2 b. @  k7 l& y- k) @( K8 _: Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 e! q6 O) }0 I, \) a: o9 N& Q# w& K
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
% ]* h3 ?, ^' |, }have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good5 O2 p8 g- r+ F) L
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 J7 t' s3 V+ }) |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high# s$ w2 }# k6 l7 D9 _3 K
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.( N0 w. l7 v1 X  k, o
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When9 b9 [: ?8 L% \3 }
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( W! a+ t4 g$ m8 K, |6 q3 H6 {
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- g" Q$ H6 ^8 N6 c3 R1 uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
0 F% e( A* u2 n. f1 j& V3 g' y; z/ [8 ?of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 T, P7 R* [" `
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel9 u! e, L7 B) K
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the* w4 p0 R7 E% J8 Y3 r
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" Q- r: o4 p$ X4 Yschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
9 l+ O) j( `. {you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
  A2 c! B0 S6 B* l- {trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
3 S# s  f; W7 x+ E; M4 M7 xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ n2 r6 p7 f7 M9 B4 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want  c0 e- e( ?8 r3 t, T* C' |. u
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or$ B/ S  {2 L- m7 `" j
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" F" t1 ?& }+ K: dare spaces.+ v( A0 a) S' m1 P8 c

% N9 o. W  y0 M( B, qThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi; }3 q9 ?) s0 A/ k  M& D( o
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they1 C% M3 @8 M3 _5 l5 o' q0 u# K5 u
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the) ?  `6 Q9 p, T3 y, i
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different* S) o. a; [: u
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the0 q% c- w: U3 y, U6 ~5 n; l
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
4 W4 _8 A+ e! v$ b# C6 `0 h  Qnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of  ^$ \0 C" Z4 K! N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# s- M: T2 G& {- d9 |is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.! \' Q) e/ N( m8 u; 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! E- g! _- O! v. x0 x! q1 B
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 [5 `, t6 s2 i' k: X) g: Y9 N% ^
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
5 t$ G, [+ |& {* H# Q' Climited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
  b7 I0 }4 ^! j  y: G- u* Krecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day2 U) l5 A& Y/ G: E
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of3 v. F2 r1 r& `5 ]# L- B# W
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms; h0 O2 Q( L/ c1 o  L  @
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the# y) p& E+ D0 L+ y, U2 d8 n
tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
. j, r& O; ~" Y2 }& [pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. q4 _- Z$ m5 m4 [
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were/ f0 c' p: b( t8 {5 q7 p4 u
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps   L' f* O3 F, u) ?
less leader-religious.% H! N& E( I8 d, e+ t* A6 B% @
0 p7 g' {: b& h0 l. A" @6 e  P
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
$ Z; X4 f3 f/ F: Agovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
* A5 v# v" S1 W+ o% _" D0 v' nblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
$ {  a5 b6 ^: V/ H3 _9 T* k2 Bembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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: Z9 ^: {  a/ Y2 I7 @7 \; N" hWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
4 l: U6 |( C/ e8 L% S) tparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
" z, C2 ?2 c2 O6 z2 ?the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
% f& l1 c4 }' }" x( M* Rconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for3 _8 ~2 ]8 w, S) j
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
- ]* Q" D  f) U(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
& {. B. e" g; `; x% @; Eprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
+ f3 h5 D, N+ Ureal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.6 {7 y, l* t2 o" v
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local' v8 f, q0 Z  i
or visitors.
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& `& z5 J* a, M--  The End --

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