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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).! R5 m7 Z+ I, r8 p. A* E% {* z
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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. 1 G0 o) {0 x/ m5 z% M$ t, J; a

3 b) E3 Y' E$ N- W5 M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.
+ c1 M2 T1 I& m/ O+ ^
& z: {* g" w8 N5 ^8 ^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.0 N, _1 q( [1 `. u$ e

1 P5 _" O3 ?& M7 O  a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
. C, x% Y& R! @# ]interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we" f1 s" t$ e/ t( v. E+ H/ j
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
& l4 ~% w4 @; ]/ a  _
  G* \! f' M7 m* eIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
  ~6 s; Y, q# h- |30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
- B/ I2 s( g8 _' \- ta very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
7 G4 d/ n5 E6 t( Tpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
1 q2 p3 y/ m, W0 W* Z  `+ ?show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep5 ~& P' R; ^$ j/ u! u
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
6 U/ ^/ z. J$ [0 o- R$ Plobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
9 o) |& K$ u( c6 ?& pwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
; Y# H6 Y' X: o" m; P People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
* z' I2 O% g4 H( }names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not: e/ G) w3 \8 |. K  W
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our2 D: K5 \/ j: C" b
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
+ Q5 w# J7 [$ pa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
) I/ }* e- e- a$ G/ Z8 ?" u+ g7 c
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,$ s- d+ u# B! J' s
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
. v( w7 ?0 \2 A' Q4 V, i(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
/ M. p. ~- D0 r4 s# `of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
  K2 I( N5 y& e# N% j3 f4 H# ostars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from8 C$ A6 s; f9 m9 {1 M; |& o5 c
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
* J9 n& R% w( X9 W, G- |Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
% z4 k: A' U5 j2 g6 w* }9 hfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
& s9 B* O- ?3 }3 H5 B% K. v3 r! p# l8 B3 O5 v
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are+ B) @+ }6 d1 O! m- e# H
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made4 m0 {2 C/ g4 C, a, e
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
! h6 I$ \' y5 c# }6 O3 H5 @$ E: [tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having6 M; [* H  M$ f$ ?
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China, G  a0 @1 L2 E: p) e# r- m
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, living- s' i& n  f+ d3 q+ ]8 o8 s
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went1 @7 F7 [% I8 L4 d& M0 C6 @& f" J3 u3 Q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,; S2 Z5 C/ ~: ]# g1 Q( f. |% g
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give: S5 a# H' `$ a0 s1 ^* e
answers to our pointed questions.
# V1 Q0 F! T: s' U, G0 Z& D' G6 u# o. j6 e; }
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,5 v# U" X# J" c' Z; {
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 P8 d, ^; h" F0 K% [* e
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is. q0 C* J* u! F; y3 }2 ?
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
+ x) R9 t# Y" i* i- H0 s/ nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 J2 w# N; y# W2 u2 `
medical schools.
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3 c& G. ^' G% J6 p# w  V- K8 p! P, OEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 {  d& A8 {# D& @government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
4 c1 ?/ D" j9 |( G! y; ~7 f0 zto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years% U# s' i2 g* t( B4 A# L" |* V0 D
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
0 E3 F8 m& Z8 E" pis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
$ h* l5 K! R% k' X' V9 Eover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
/ E% Z" D# f/ d3 Vseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
6 e4 r% o: |+ r  l7 i0 C9 Q2 j) Ymostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 X" x3 E% s/ v' o! s# I1 v. i
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some! A2 c- t1 {0 @$ ~2 d6 t
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.; Z" F2 n$ w3 ]5 E) n

3 K$ P; @( C6 l( D/ F& HThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no  M) |& k, Z8 Y7 y: N) y# J
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and, z/ S' `8 q& I9 c
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
  r# X/ F' A& \: Bhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
4 f# S0 ^3 ]/ F. Y& w7 e6 U  vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby5 z. Q, T" O- ?2 I% x6 t
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
# X% `- c- O* n% p8 Rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
5 s) M8 H( ~9 _9 Y9 LDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
; r6 F5 \5 B: Va lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
2 \0 `. k* z& U% ~- N, Pcharge the fee defined by the state.1 y) ?9 F9 ~+ T9 A8 ?% n

" g) q5 i8 t4 q% qThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get( r/ x& u4 {* K2 B1 G
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
* v; x# X6 H/ Gof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big( T% g+ P* \" e) y6 M& m* V9 W
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
0 e/ j, i! H, {# X* K( ?  h" Aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the0 w4 @$ b2 F9 d) r$ n2 y5 m
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
! u( ]2 N9 Y& j& f% e, x* O1 D, p. hschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if7 ?/ H4 a- H: ^# Z
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people# d0 a% }# k+ X6 ~( @0 d) s! e
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
. X; y2 V# F' M" p' a0 ^4 lhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 K9 R, ^- x% c+ _people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
) i% T8 g+ h7 N# P' u5 Tto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
$ p2 m  g: \  R. b$ R0 Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
2 ~8 \9 f2 C" J; L6 F% q) W: C9 y4 ]are spaces.0 g3 c$ d; `  D8 n2 F9 i! @

8 W7 }% \- ^, V* e: _1 ~" ^There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 n8 z: K+ Z5 c1 v: d" l0 |' h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
3 R0 _! Q4 F3 u' H6 l# a& Lown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
  z. x$ Y) w" e: C9 r2 H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different  U4 ?2 `/ m- [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
9 O1 P, Q: L4 ~; n$ n% z- j1 Vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
4 L$ b/ Z$ O% `$ J& H3 Inice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of2 L) i$ n% T7 y/ n" c4 t8 m: s( H
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" v3 t8 h7 t+ d) {is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
/ A0 r' Y6 r) \) E. s3 { 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$ C% [2 ]' s; W2 v, I; @
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
5 i3 F8 v, a' o# i' Zthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very! @* e. s# f! ~& S* P
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
; j$ F4 e* H' S5 H. g9 f% e: [/ frecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
7 W) V& `7 D. C! Fsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of" L' f+ p4 W! L8 h
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms4 D* v8 @* _+ W* q9 m
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
5 S+ t  c# v- d9 S, Ltourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
# ]6 o2 q9 ?& opictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ p. N; L; b9 d5 {
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were  l) _) Y- Q! w% |
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps $ Q. ]. ?2 I9 M5 |8 d2 ]! ?
less leader-religious.
& l1 y6 ]$ ]0 g$ o1 K" V
+ M+ k! E$ I& a0 d4 ]About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
+ L4 E) u4 o+ M: e5 l* G. Jgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
3 ^% M& e: u. d, xblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US: d  M' r7 u5 G, N* Y
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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* Q7 ^1 f- ^( ~4 g3 ~. o* G0 V" |We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
& c1 z8 J, a/ [- T2 Y7 u' Kparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not2 m4 c  W" |" d+ j& f: D' Y  _
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
+ u% G/ c% }5 }9 U1 I. aconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for  i; s1 z4 ^1 S) `
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
: Q; H! P: K/ m& H* m5 D% _2 s(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
* W, `9 v/ v. e$ K5 l: Oprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
/ F2 k, i! M3 qreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.0 S2 w9 @. J5 K
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
3 P( c( {3 }- Cor visitors.0 j% k7 R) \4 l! k  z: l8 ]0 Y

) S) m5 ^  u2 f; _--  The End --

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