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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).' `) `3 e+ r$ T; y
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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. & o7 h& s4 W8 d/ i; D: Y4 y) z- M

, z4 ?' t, ?$ _4 L( y4 d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.3 P0 U5 R. o, V

3 I5 o' B! D/ z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 very3 R4 A: \& r3 `$ ?' y; u- Z
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
7 Q: {. H* V+ c( l9 l$ s$ Bwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.# _3 ]5 `9 @; ~( p" u! R

$ i9 V- j8 T( Q" |It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
) g/ s! T# D( n0 j7 P! N" I3 {30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in6 w# A' \! A$ X9 m; ^
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as# x! @9 u! R" x" |  l( ]/ f% j: V# i
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
0 {7 b6 P: }( {+ m3 G/ D: m: wshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
( F* m* w0 K* n. G1 R3 qbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the  }2 z7 w3 x3 ~7 ~  {+ S2 \
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
0 `; G/ @6 P) `% c, K$ Gwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
6 t0 {% u8 P! r' t4 y' Y6 J People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
5 G0 `# n+ c( `  X# ^names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not: j$ R1 E. a; B1 F
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
! \' V6 R4 e# M* Y# O; G; ^, hflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 w' P6 |2 B' u- L0 l
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.  X9 o: j' Z' j) ~
9 v; v5 g9 ~9 d* h1 O9 t
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
4 f. u9 C0 v. r2 I5 y5 A$ K7 ], Rlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 D; a7 S6 U- B; \9 c" U% c6 S
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top" _3 x/ b; A& o; N3 ]
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the# z- W' Q) A" K: p" `
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from2 C$ \+ d. C1 M2 C9 Y
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
3 E  _3 l& w* V$ rCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
& c+ x% ?% ?2 l& I* W9 Q* t' Wfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.) i" o$ B9 T* _) \* P5 v0 N; g) ^

+ Y6 f5 h! h( w# K( S2 ?% nThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
0 a* `- j: J$ H' u- A! M# a6 ajust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made" I) l' o& Y( K5 N& e  W; z
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba  [# b0 l7 \- k& Y
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having9 a: ^& Q7 d8 X( l
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
9 W/ o$ E) x" ^1 J/ fdaily 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
: c6 h7 M+ K4 o& u9 n: k" l5 Ustandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
- I" h! E9 D+ Y/ y  won a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
8 g. C/ c' x; n' B& n4 P5 O  H% D- i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' n  a0 }1 e" a
answers to our pointed questions.& a0 k- Y% j/ v6 n

& q# o, q5 R/ T* l$ w. SThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
& c4 r" _3 m, r" ^# I45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
/ o, A! U. L9 {  _! Bout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is5 H2 h) S; [. _+ L2 e4 q
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ G" ^# M) s& Y2 f  gto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; k4 B. E& @3 _& P  f" u. |medical schools.$ q6 M, u# V# {8 [  g

% h! Q: k4 a7 Y% c3 r3 eEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the( N  k5 T3 S1 z9 {5 E7 A, {
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
1 ]; B; o  x7 r: E6 m" h4 t/ l' Z$ }to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years* v1 T0 G9 k8 F. N3 }
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba" {5 |& w. N5 v1 v' F8 K
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
# T/ V& o7 W& [1 m# ^* Zover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
& f1 \: e7 E2 y4 p5 A- U7 ~* w& Aseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
) j) F# w9 h# _. B- {mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
0 |/ t. I1 f$ y! E( H/ Gshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 ^( v" H& s. c* B4 S) O* [sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
! I1 K: c0 c( t6 T/ o! o% `0 Zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% @: F8 i9 a. Q0 O& t$ t
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people& @# U0 Z4 J- {7 J5 G
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
6 O  v8 o, m  O6 A0 f. T- qthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby' a  e" b3 n( l9 i  Q; `+ x
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high  C0 b. m+ [) T$ g0 C% E" n
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
% F+ [$ S2 j- ^Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When/ k% ]5 G9 ~8 {. f
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only5 C! a7 D/ l. S4 M  l1 T0 u) h
charge the fee defined by the state.9 A2 q7 N9 C  r6 `8 T1 i" ^

& r" c5 _# o9 d# MThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& V4 l$ J- f+ G/ y9 Uon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
  X2 [. m& s* c5 m+ i( K8 Iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
1 W% Q, C9 s/ z; [truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
) J7 ~' x8 y1 j, ]seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
- n7 l; F7 {( S! Q' r6 U9 C1 [working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
) x- d+ X. T6 J8 H4 z: gschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if: ]. s; X; F# C: }, X
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
+ K3 U! D, p7 t* r, z2 Htrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ n& ^8 |0 l9 L
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
+ s9 s! c- L  K: _5 Wpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
/ R# }' @1 Q) u) ^2 A" O) q  g3 t$ Uto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
1 _. K2 [5 \/ w; obuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
! q/ {; e! Y, R) mare spaces.! p8 v, U2 N; f- [4 n1 U! Q

# H+ b6 ^% ^: j/ o0 fThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! U6 j1 t: D6 }& Lto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they" F, P8 e9 a0 g" z  ^
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the7 I* j6 G" P6 l: {# j
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different: f) H1 c0 K0 F' `1 Z. S' G
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 ^+ O1 \. ^$ Y3 {
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
% i$ \. s1 t" ^$ Y& [/ n4 @nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of# o- M) t5 A3 P: q) Q$ {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
: l! s" b% q2 j) m4 U  eis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
+ u5 {3 ]% ?, i9 d+ [+ ]8 `' C 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
" J! R  P3 {' t* u9 b3 r9 X; `) U* Hspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
' q. C- W5 U( h+ J- pthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
- i" Y0 }9 i, }- q2 a' `  c/ P- slimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# f8 f2 O9 m8 C* l2 B' b* g7 c
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day' T  {) |1 X$ B; G8 z& b
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
, V  _- k& a3 ~4 ?7 J  J6 @them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
. A/ v2 p8 Q. P" Qhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
! z2 m! T: a- l" R1 ^tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's0 X1 H1 {8 o. [9 ]
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
2 A& M. I  M1 S* U8 yCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
1 T" r  t) B/ d- {8 Peverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
8 ~. z! t7 n8 I. ]4 g# Fless leader-religious.: Y, u& K, T1 Z8 T! }4 V; f

6 w( Y, q! A4 |About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba: \. [: \5 Z/ J) O: m
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big( k9 X: ^8 n5 p1 {4 C& Y! P5 E. C( I* K
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US) G. s5 I7 A" X
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% _+ _9 J# n3 ?' H0 E1 k1 \/ c
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
. W7 B: n( _1 ~/ u$ @parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not4 o. D7 j% g# @# P% H+ J5 l+ J
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1+ X  b1 S! Q+ d6 w- N
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
9 @- f0 e7 {6 K( Kforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
4 W6 G  E( k+ R+ a(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we" U! h1 T5 P, S) J" ?( t. t
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
6 R! |3 @% ~6 S8 e& i- creal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
9 Y- E5 K3 f  h0 |* E+ ~And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
4 a+ I! F1 V& a2 [0 d$ U3 sor visitors.+ }6 O' x3 i: L1 P. h# ~- u
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--  The End --

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