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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).
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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.   D  Z" y4 |% A
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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.& |& l6 X7 F# p8 \0 X
9 d$ {1 z+ 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.; E2 ]1 K' H7 a( M) i/ l

6 [. ^* }* p7 m6 h+ ^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
' S5 f1 Y4 H  K9 n; D: ginteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
: ]; [* E1 E% f" i3 Vwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
5 w4 ?/ @. a$ f, m30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in5 x8 z' k2 o5 h1 {5 ~
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
2 w8 j& ]$ l. p2 l7 rpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort1 q5 J7 s3 _: l0 X/ Z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
( C. y5 W/ ]4 Y  s& ?between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the& i- }3 T. X" `: A) k* Q
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,, F5 V, f' E4 n9 d" \# r
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
9 t3 p: M+ W& v! Z4 K5 W& j People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but6 g- V/ `" ^, A. `6 \5 P
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
0 v0 q& P: Q) z+ j. g3 Eexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our, i- k0 ^) V9 y& b8 Y( Z7 \
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
, m/ f/ R2 m7 D, R# S6 @a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,: l* N# `; d- }& S8 Q
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
! \) n! k" j  W(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
' \" c: |9 ~1 g: _5 P' xof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
; p8 c, T( |& @, N2 R6 v; c5 ]& Cstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from* j: ?: D, H6 {: s/ u
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
0 n; I6 p6 b+ b" `+ UCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
  h( r9 c1 l7 F+ y( l/ Cfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada., v6 L/ c% q" }- C
2 W1 o8 ~) F. n( L6 \
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are' \: M; \3 }, |6 I3 D
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
; ]) k0 P4 P* G# f6 O! G! i6 |/ Xfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba8 q0 x+ U+ o( ?% ^! X/ \
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
; D* b& g7 V4 Y, W/ s7 B7 Ta staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
$ n: o+ z+ }7 x; T2 pdaily 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; N! G  _8 [' {* [
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went, ~5 s+ g9 ~* ^& X
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
# ~  v9 N0 B3 `  [7 d"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give; \+ p4 j% y& w( x" ^6 u! d: N
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
7 M' N# s3 i" ^45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
4 ]& w/ n- [) N# v# tout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is$ R: n5 b# w1 P' d" [+ O" a% Z, b
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ u/ d; H4 [7 N) V  Pto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 _3 B% }/ w' `, f9 e5 Y6 \
medical schools.+ f5 T9 I5 |6 M+ F

$ [7 g3 i$ a- I1 xEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the8 [, W5 O4 r' V; X& |! n4 j
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; h' T, W# g3 t' L: Q  v
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% C# h7 v0 c! R
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba7 J. l% R- X0 G, U& A
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to) ~% p# G7 |; N" i3 R5 T6 O
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
1 ]# J# _2 d9 a  D* u5 Fseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( }  |# h/ K# gmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) D- H. B, [! D1 v+ L
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some. M+ ^0 W4 S9 K& D6 K+ C5 B  t8 ~! t$ V
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
: \6 q- g- t4 e! G) Y3 u, Hprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ r6 Z8 C* u* S) {$ _- }supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
8 ]% _4 |/ E1 C2 shave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
5 F9 q! V8 P2 c2 d* E+ {( w$ uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
% n6 V6 k+ J. W! H  |- b  V. Q! gsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ s7 [& o9 \/ X/ D2 H, h, h
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 d% P5 p4 F3 R2 N/ H9 _8 c$ XDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When) w) F/ T4 {( W. B& a9 Y3 c/ [
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only1 ~1 x  |$ q* c$ L; J
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% h$ G+ _9 w* F1 g8 p, B/ Pon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
4 z3 O# J7 w" Pof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# Z9 M+ R/ h, J' {& j2 W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
# R$ q0 Y) `1 w/ a8 k( X  U. fseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
4 Z  J! o) b& F8 S  \2 kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- d; K; r9 \5 n* C* t. `; m
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
" W% P7 x0 g* L/ uyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
; G# v7 ?6 k. `trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch! h* M% j5 k  h! C0 f1 @
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
4 B( W$ V4 F* G/ Fpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
7 U2 m$ W) g! p- d7 @8 M" cto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 ^; X1 W# U$ vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
# _5 l1 x) D/ S7 U3 ~* f0 [9 Rare spaces.3 `2 S7 n7 k6 l: ^1 ^* a5 _
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi/ w0 I) ^2 H5 w; x
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" R# y5 n; f- p* D
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& w( |! x/ m- r- _2 t% }  \40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
9 Z7 ~/ G; O1 H5 B. z' lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the! h) ^) g2 R- g2 Z# M/ D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
+ L  {4 r9 r1 ^5 j* v. \8 i' wnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
3 q* [  S# \- J: Q2 acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
% G1 x* G- b; j6 \0 J) Pis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
2 k- J! F5 G* A$ k- E3 j+ ? 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 beautiful3 o: X- K$ X0 f' k
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all2 E9 o+ u6 r6 K- D0 H% y
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
! c3 ~1 c3 Q" B/ {$ l1 }limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
! S8 Z) ^& w1 Z6 w: b+ P+ xrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day: M$ J6 U' u5 v% y% r! ?* K
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
/ m( O5 M+ @* G4 n( o8 e! p, F  Uthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms5 ~3 F0 z3 ~7 L/ m: j3 O4 p
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the  Z0 B) b7 Z# ^7 \+ L# ^" a1 q' e  i$ I/ K
tourist area.
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) X* V  \; u3 GOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
6 q; R0 P% w5 c7 g/ Ppictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).; e- G) t, J, `( {" x. \
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were; a! _, q$ n$ I( n  v
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 5 J# f  H# c- o9 y$ b
less leader-religious.& k7 l+ K. T+ l5 D9 Z" Y/ x

, R3 r  M+ s$ q+ m' fAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
7 Y2 P# l9 ~/ _9 N- k* lgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big. f. j3 X$ t* V2 l
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
8 r) l! m$ O+ O  @  @embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).. q" b: |$ }7 \0 Y: J0 d

! C& ~- g+ ]; j4 lWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the  S2 k2 g$ r( I0 u% N
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not8 M! l# c4 a3 f: I5 A6 V# u
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $11 Y' N8 P8 t0 B' I
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
+ s3 `7 m0 M+ I6 M, R! Rforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
! s& \( K8 m3 {(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
. w, I, P. h+ {$ l: `9 tprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the2 ^: _% u- G2 Q+ T2 p/ s
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.8 X6 a' C8 T2 V, _, c
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local0 v. F/ J( w, j7 n& j3 H, H" q* L' y
or visitors.  K; o2 Z9 d5 s2 w& @

* m" q' U; E0 O--  The End --

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