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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.
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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., B  v5 m4 C  W, T! c7 F

, l- N  P/ o! ~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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9 H% v! \( H8 h6 a& j6 b% X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* v* S+ h4 q3 {: f* A
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we# Y0 g( D* c/ F7 p/ X
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.( `" l' t5 R: e6 g8 F2 X
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,- g% u9 r7 M. f9 u
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
7 M# w% v+ r5 K, c( \a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as) h- f; ?0 G  ^2 G+ s
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort) V2 M9 x1 W/ G0 x; s! f: \4 G6 T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
1 ~* |/ Q) K" E8 i/ ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the& A! @4 J. V% \4 c
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,0 n6 B" v: m8 B2 I6 z$ U2 Y
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.. Q1 U0 H; c! n  ?/ l
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but# p' x# a! ^$ y) k: Y( ~( s; l9 I
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not7 `! L2 W1 y0 y3 r
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
3 Q# h& j" x5 ]8 B4 uflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through( I: ^7 x  L2 V& W& @: s! p
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 ?! X, o$ ~5 \0 j
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,7 W; |5 b4 V- J
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool  y) r/ ^. N! C3 Q2 V0 t2 U
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
/ r7 [( C$ p% Uof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the, {- U% p* Y% d' b
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
+ v- Q! D  a& G/ o5 i: i49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes$ D7 h& C5 K0 G( X- U" \. R7 v
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with1 h6 c& Q' m/ X4 s+ m. ?
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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; l% g0 g: i) lThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
. s1 L. T1 l4 n5 u  M$ h# xjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made' ~+ Z3 X, K& f& y$ P
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
3 D7 i- O3 v% e0 k( D$ o/ e- r& u% }: mtourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having* @7 U" D) U3 h* k0 n" q0 m- b
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
0 F3 n1 `3 g6 F* y7 Idaily 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
6 s  O* t3 ^( `+ F  X6 Dstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went* m( J2 \* d. J
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
. A- D( g4 e, \8 v"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give" [2 ?/ S4 I& J2 _  z! F
answers to our pointed questions.
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, [- F: z; Z4 v$ N' a5 |2 L' zThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 E  U# z( [+ E; @# D8 h" i
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand8 S: z) ^. x; {1 z; F- j2 f0 j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is3 B; d% M' @/ |! b1 v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
& D- ]" ]& }/ }4 Q0 s; Uto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 v. K2 Z, F; K0 s. k: fmedical schools.2 }1 v, N7 a( U# y- C) e$ Z2 u3 q2 q9 H- H
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 H: S% @0 g. T
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants  M7 C. d# {5 Y/ Y& P: A2 z0 T" n
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years& ^& j$ `! c; p) n5 k- X! q3 n( C
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba* k$ C( n% r3 i' t
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
8 n4 b3 E8 e. ^1 H4 vover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
- m7 l# B) O+ M/ C1 dseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and& T5 G5 P# Z1 @; z1 r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
) M1 }, D# }7 g1 J( |% Sshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
  z( o6 ?( U  isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.  `) l- U- P9 Y1 J$ I

. ]" @$ B5 U8 S9 C3 }: @: yThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
& ~( a2 W) j% @  S9 zprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and* N. v8 X+ ~; }  X7 J0 b' J5 B" s
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people4 L& y/ V" Q) z; S/ t  {) V
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good# L5 l1 b& R/ o6 U
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
9 z2 i& Q0 i! T1 `: Esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
( h) h$ x# ~4 @4 \" mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
; a8 P  D" ^# P0 S% MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When; G) Y+ p1 E4 c# B2 w
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
4 l( H/ e  `- y% E/ p# `charge the fee defined by the state.2 ^0 K8 S4 ?* H3 o- `

2 h# |$ z/ q+ F' _: M/ r. x' I# UThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
* P- r1 u' A. m+ [3 f# J9 Con), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type) J6 H& d2 }' j" v! b0 P
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
3 q+ N1 D: S' n  S& C8 Ptruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
  I; u# n% t( v4 hseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
# o# s- a' _" c5 b8 Eworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, b! Q, u2 B% \! j/ g, O) c- u
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
# b) h0 x2 K) a7 T, [you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
0 `- K0 S( g+ J8 z+ |* G: Ttrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
8 k; o' l# Z, d. rhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that1 I/ E* I' n6 T4 S) Q( c" |
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# j* L! o: z  ~
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
  Q  d  r& Z9 Z; k3 Rbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
2 l4 r' R; A1 n$ [) Uare spaces.
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. H+ D  h! z, l5 A; P: x3 X% MThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 a/ X6 Y1 ?' G8 }% V0 p
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
! z* y+ U. X9 }4 L* b* gown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: u7 y* s" j8 [" p: Q( S8 O- k! l
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" V3 r$ h. n2 \- b1 L) t
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 O) t0 m0 I' E& mbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
$ Q) ]/ T# V9 a( qnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
7 N, k/ \+ f+ X6 \1 pcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ h4 G: a) ^# ^$ U# O7 E7 H2 O
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
8 E% Z- n' i3 W- h$ W* Y 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 beautiful5 Y( ~9 Z/ C% I& Q
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all4 y# x  M5 x" m8 Z7 ^' o: ~1 c
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
9 {) X* O& n" Y( X5 P' A) |! i# Zlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep8 ^6 a- h* i* ~8 U. c" D1 B8 S
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day) e) p0 r4 Q" i1 {2 X4 A
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
  v- ?5 x( ?1 v' Lthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
6 n/ @# b- A5 W: s% Y, chave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
9 {, Y9 B9 V, t) ~  atourist area.+ C/ H6 F. X1 u, Y
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
. c4 f3 B* _5 {pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 q8 Y8 z3 b6 g5 \' a
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
& i6 Q: m7 r# Q  reverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
: X3 C: z: k+ cless leader-religious.4 R6 I1 D0 i- j, C+ v; _- y- A
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba+ {( }- R4 U* p, K; `: N; R
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
- R& A. K  h4 X' O, [+ F# Fblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
. K) b8 t$ O/ I/ iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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! \( y) T# a. A/ SWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
* \4 y* y$ N6 O) @! Hparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
: b& O, e/ C4 {) M/ `& jthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
; x5 L$ K$ X8 h: dconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
: Y# o$ J- R$ C) d+ J" vforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
0 m% O! i7 f6 i+ s, i, C( m(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
3 r. r" h" w2 h( pprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the% q$ [* O% K7 {$ C6 X' V
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
! b& i* ?. f5 Q) c8 T% D3 Z1 `- R/ vAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
* f, K+ a; B& S) o6 G8 Cor visitors.
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- m$ C% H1 _3 u& H--  The End --

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