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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)." a1 y- x; ~* B, F
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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.
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' x2 C5 q* i# H" O$ G6 U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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1 j: t: b; m% s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
  @6 r0 c4 s7 i' ^interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
% e  P  W( O( h. t8 mwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.7 P- J" z8 D6 o

7 n1 i4 p+ R; s1 sIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
) ?9 _: t3 F0 \30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
( B" x* s% B$ O1 ba very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
3 D- \3 V. t5 h( [possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort5 b' P! p% g$ m& Z( z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep' v; A% ]; R1 J' M8 i5 ]! v
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the! [1 C9 K7 @1 Q) j" y- q$ }7 h1 L
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,& q( {9 V' y# a! j
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.$ A. A) b& D# d4 _8 u5 n  N/ C' X
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
6 A& l  H; N/ q. }% m4 |% {names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
3 o; ]+ t" ~% N/ i5 Pexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our# V, |/ T  M! e( [0 Q! P7 X% w
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through9 S/ ~& |: o* Q7 s1 C& O* U
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.) [8 |4 f9 @5 v9 m4 b# v; [" ^

3 U% J  r2 [$ gThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,, |8 T6 u* z4 _5 E$ H7 ^7 h6 |
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
' g) F  D* y3 d/ V# K(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top( A: a1 A4 t2 M5 m, r
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the# Z' k9 U7 k- H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 o" Q3 ^9 r  H/ f& D* K& }0 z
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
2 j- @0 P4 N7 qCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with" I$ ~2 @7 I# e- g& M
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
$ g2 L5 P) r0 s8 H' d: }just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made" g9 D/ m- \( F, v$ @
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba# ]: h+ Q# g8 J; g
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having, H) ~1 n3 O& d/ t
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
9 a" i4 T$ ^7 R6 j) Kdaily 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! G. o7 g, p6 `9 t
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
* m4 }3 @: u7 s' t  Uon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
; k" S0 a. \: s5 c7 C"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give/ q! u/ o) v. b0 Y9 b$ U
answers to our pointed questions.* J. n0 u! j( J- P$ ~
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
3 X3 q) ]& F% @5 a6 f45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 C1 h1 H/ j9 ]) m) q) x2 g
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is0 `) @; |. s  C5 K' h+ v/ k
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
. Y* ~# J+ D: _4 ~" ]4 w3 ^to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
/ R' F, ~- G  O6 u0 @$ @" ]medical schools.
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" ^1 t! B% Q& p3 ^Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
8 ^% ~  E/ J8 C" [government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants7 I2 W9 B" {1 {- X# n0 q# v( Q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
+ l' p7 s& L' q3 s1 a$ f" y1 yassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
8 k8 P/ ?: x* [6 U6 X$ x! U$ U& ?6 Kis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
4 f$ }7 Q* @2 g/ p/ S$ Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There% S5 v( c( I8 u& r) }( i6 H
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, Q% \5 k# m% S. a( }2 B, a& b
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk: q( K$ V0 r/ V9 S3 D
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ j: U- @8 ^3 K7 [. psugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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) C3 l; m% [9 e" r  G; |3 fThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
% M8 b+ Q" h5 m  y( F9 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and7 M* @; s. K0 z
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
4 X) k4 a5 s) l7 s) Z2 \have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good* {; d% o) q6 w8 d- N& b( ~
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 g7 d0 b, B2 u% e/ asitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 [1 ]5 }( b+ }# Y9 {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 H  @' [4 E4 u) r$ sDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
  ^: L$ H  R3 t* Fa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only3 X' f, m$ P. J7 P. ]% K; @
charge the fee defined by the state.0 S9 {, I% j1 H7 D% B
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get6 q8 o% \* g0 Z+ J
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# F- ?2 u9 E2 W" U: G# iof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big3 f+ P# Q/ F( ]* x. U
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
* W9 j7 s' T9 E# P- f5 aseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
. C5 u: I- F1 ~# K9 Q$ Fworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on: A+ [  T4 r; q
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' J" {: U" d/ \; L' A4 J
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people  l- s8 N. n0 T! N3 b4 K
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch1 ~9 A" M: M: \0 ]( E+ x  X
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that2 t. G6 v7 V( L8 _& `
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
0 G9 o. \0 I& d& F: e0 @to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or8 c7 _2 n4 u0 _
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there% u2 j4 R2 ]6 j# a) f: {& T
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi  S! q& N* ~2 P; t8 G- F
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they' l/ d! W5 Y3 [. l. s
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
' L9 x- g+ j; [& a0 Q40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
; M; w/ k: k( ?1 b* Cparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
* ?3 M# ?: }- y1 @- C& N  @best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
; G3 x5 z: I1 t5 Dnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of( U+ n( r# z# K
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it0 }4 Y# L& q# U( W1 t& t
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.6 c, @- @' g" j5 R8 P
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) b5 E. `4 C6 U* v2 \# S
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
. |3 s- R* E* M. E3 ^the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very1 G( y7 b3 c0 A7 }/ p6 L
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 z; Z% {8 k  l; b5 S4 F
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day$ G+ D. Z3 K  y$ ~  `# l1 H
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
/ B! r; [2 ], e: M+ mthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
0 D$ z, Y6 M, b1 V2 t6 Xhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the* I9 I1 Q) G, J# @* s
tourist area.' b1 `" c0 g0 @
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's5 E: ^6 m  ], v+ Q
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
1 o9 ^- l! @2 A% VCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were6 ]$ V9 d) ?: ?7 _  V
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
5 c9 l- P- F. B0 F# }less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
+ _9 _5 l9 S$ C, r7 V/ Hgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
" X0 r2 O7 I9 v/ |6 J  y) B( xblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US7 ~+ y% k; y4 }* V# }; D4 k% X4 L- x. j
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
! I  ~4 O, u; h: I8 g7 |parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
8 x! U. ?8 t+ J5 {- {! G7 Tthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
3 ?* Z4 [5 _  i% J  {) ]convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
7 F' m$ G! F; B* j- cforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars3 b8 @( p  \3 U4 ~1 m; X
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we( {5 [% [/ E, s1 ?8 M8 [
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
: y. ~& M6 T& _6 L* C$ g! _real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
" S1 r4 j; J& I+ F2 uAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
3 u9 y( r8 {$ Z5 g2 z: \or visitors.
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4 {/ I) N3 m* x, S6 Q--  The End --

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