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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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8 s$ R# Z8 s0 J9 a+ I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.
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" @4 Q9 P6 B8 @8 v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.& @9 V$ k- ]! q2 N( v2 \

- G* z# H1 `5 C3 z" H7 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' Z4 X) }  }% `* y4 R& D, e
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
, }! }2 J, K+ Q, C9 swanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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; V9 J. P* U. M/ {/ y1 ^It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
% z# W# X& G. C0 C6 [) z/ F30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
, [. d, n% j$ Ba very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as3 n" R1 w( O5 i# v! z: g
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort" x( O4 }, S# f
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
" b5 c. K6 F4 |' M2 t( f6 A5 Dbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the, z) T' @# O0 w# Z% E8 q9 _
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,* b) F/ r8 `( m. _$ {
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.' ]$ P" v3 O; k. W
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but8 y8 r9 F; B) S" M% B1 v0 e0 Q
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not5 ~3 m  ~  h9 F6 x% J- ^: B
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
  d, V3 x2 D$ D+ y0 G$ Q& zflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
8 O) O4 ^) C8 Y0 M7 P: Oa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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5 n6 A$ }9 ~' \$ M- {The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,. t$ k0 z, Q, N. Y( h. j, P  x
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool; M2 }3 i$ l  p0 c
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top' f! T8 a( O1 H
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the6 R; }% e4 T% R' p
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from( i3 W' H  Q0 }4 k
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
* i% f0 y+ n* d. x9 |# b4 UCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
9 D; F6 j8 h3 a  y  Wfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.: }% O7 B+ W+ s
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
/ i- _; i. ^5 B0 `$ k3 Hjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
' l& q/ A( o5 l. y6 pfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba. E/ b- h5 s( B
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having3 H, [2 A  `; V2 t
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China  M0 }3 L6 I$ U, N6 H# O8 V, @) x
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
: ~7 _- _5 n7 v% T6 mstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
6 c& I3 [2 l% e# T# con a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
) ?: B$ y) I: |"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
$ f9 m3 `& p% ~9 ]answers to our pointed questions.
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% J0 p4 N% O7 E. i9 M" AThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 b2 y# c4 L, i45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand1 }; K  N" K+ Q, G) ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
$ Z0 E, L2 M+ @- }' [free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams9 U; o8 d2 G) J9 u" a$ c# ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
' I! |' U( s# |- |medical schools.) n& x& s! w, ]& w3 O

# V5 M; c. i$ n2 R9 q3 O% W: D: jEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the& [7 w* a8 A# Z+ g0 ?8 g. Y% O, z
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants1 t' k' G; c: h: G% m
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years0 J& s; i1 j6 n/ s: K
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
: d# @5 Z& g- iis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
  E) \" x5 l1 Yover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
( H" u: T' d. h1 X' Yseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" ?' `& y0 [; S+ e% v9 j+ Cmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk8 \  A1 J5 M* D2 L! }
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
3 N' b$ a5 |/ R3 Vsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
  G, w" G* l5 S+ l2 Oprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' V# b+ {3 J& U- v; b
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
* F% W3 T$ E2 P) p+ Lhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good- e- y0 T- Q6 A) e4 j% F
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby3 t$ o* z" g% v2 F, i; a
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high6 `2 V) Y2 Q6 i$ J, J, a
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.) D5 k5 e5 J4 U. R  C
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
; l# M) L. U* [$ [a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only  W& w' ^% m: O! K1 e8 ^6 ]9 ?2 P
charge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 c5 w; K8 a) M3 K) N! o5 hon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type' p* v7 u/ t1 A7 _" P2 t
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ ?# q0 Y1 W: X% ltruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel. h* d3 A. B- r1 A( n  l2 c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the3 E. |8 y6 B& o. W, i
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& e6 L# }, v& _; I& y
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if3 T  d% h( o; L2 }" A2 D- f
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people% `5 S3 v7 t/ e+ \1 e* P
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. u: d" R* V2 U9 T3 M0 {
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
6 i2 M3 e) u" g6 mpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 N/ p; Y+ Y7 F4 kto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or5 W5 p# X. L5 C# @7 N- g
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there0 E$ m, f6 H* G3 T+ ^( {+ p
are spaces.) x4 o9 M' q' K  `* J

5 {" m5 ]7 a1 |% l# FThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi6 ?. _+ @6 Q! a1 J0 u$ h
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
5 I6 r% p* \, T. T. x6 down a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' L0 h6 t' f& S40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different0 l! k1 w# K' W- ~! w
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 o7 c5 f0 P: r* b+ W5 X/ Ybest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few% [0 K7 j7 H' \; A8 ~* G
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
8 l) [: x! V, `$ Acar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
  q$ {+ }+ @7 F- Fis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: G% D' t7 i3 l* S; m! a 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! U% {; \' W, R
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
) Z% R# _1 i! x; A3 e% p& {, E+ Rthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
& d8 D' T3 Y1 t. q0 m* [limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
1 d. N5 G3 k! M& J1 Yrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
* |' ~( _; `' rsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of% Z6 O' L3 a" n
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
' u6 {# D+ f: X( r7 i  zhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
, z! W% _$ i$ a9 |" c/ T$ ntourist area.$ [0 u, m" L5 P0 k/ a% I
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
. j- d$ y% Y( q: C6 g" ?, C1 [pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).8 b0 z* [2 G% B6 d  {# l3 r& q. I
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
+ }* c& d$ D% `. x( D9 _8 U& eeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
- v+ x- G0 W( U$ ~6 ~( N3 M7 Lless leader-religious.( A/ V! \# }! R% g
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
$ L5 c; H7 u3 k7 s# V9 `government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big, Y5 R) L1 N3 X6 e" l) b
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US) V, E/ U- a* g/ C3 _8 W
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).+ n! j) H" p( U
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
9 j) j! b$ ]  ^& wparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
$ f% A$ t; ^; L5 k- W) l6 athe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1& G; T+ _. D! m7 e) [
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
( |7 t4 v& J; }: }foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars: r+ L0 @: U0 H6 z
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
0 `+ {' h; h7 W. Hprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
2 l9 q, @2 h: p! ^real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 ~4 G6 }1 r5 J0 r
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
% |6 e  g$ L! A9 H0 F( s4 n1 eor visitors.
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--  The End --

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