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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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% I& Z! h9 V# T& [& f7 i+ c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. ; I- p: K8 W" C' B. D+ }% _" \* Q
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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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$ ~: a) q) t# G7 p1 U8 y% F# 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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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 very6 q4 z. }) f0 }- v
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we0 O8 _0 |" s9 H4 i* C  R( V* `
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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( p9 }4 R! D7 e) W. }! o. T8 `It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,) t7 Y) ^3 x! |+ V, L
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
2 Z. U- X& j9 \a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as5 U2 ?8 E% w& [4 v$ F
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort9 h% C* q" K% E2 L+ T
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
* c' X; m* E5 h4 dbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the$ i- \. r$ z; m6 v# H/ b0 \
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
$ G. K: ?  ]7 j  ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
) \$ s3 Q# d( l: V$ c* D, Q People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but2 m6 a- h; N  }' R5 `
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not) t; p+ Z- W; K8 K, d! T
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our% t& G( n/ ?# Z; G7 [2 g
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through9 t( p  u) G$ @2 K0 a% k) M
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.7 U- [- A$ u: [4 }9 r. g

& B1 d. C( V) }) N( s( t6 oThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,& \* f7 a# C7 n& N, Y5 `/ X
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool8 ^* s  ?) x* J, a
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
  S4 q" Q4 N5 X$ d7 Oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
8 L- r  S& B8 T7 S9 t# [0 lstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
  O( {- U( h$ t% O49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
4 J) V$ U1 j* s( d9 l* E# UCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with) t9 r5 w6 T( A2 H. m3 b
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.9 s- ]/ M* ?- O/ |# x5 l+ o

* {9 F6 k2 D# ]( \: H0 AThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
: u7 w2 _# \1 j! O2 X8 q. Rjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
! E/ E3 |2 R4 W! [for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
" }' l5 c; ^) y3 V$ L4 y3 Utourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
9 T7 `) k; ?9 Wa staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
0 a+ k' y' ~; m' J7 {2 q! Z1 Q+ L8 edaily 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+ ]8 u! o4 i. S3 i0 l: i
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
, ]# X! X* [* L) l0 j' aon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,! h, Y' w& H7 p" c( G$ L
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give& J( ?; I5 K. X( P, B6 @$ B2 x
answers to our pointed questions.
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# t- `8 A+ o/ o& o; [8 G2 [% KThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 n0 O" @& [. T: r1 G0 i* m4 }
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand( Q+ _9 Y+ M8 l
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is% I& T4 y* [1 h( V" Z6 u
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
- F: q8 W) ^7 X- k0 |2 d' Qto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are" q- R( v1 M; p1 ^- ?. h6 C6 i2 Z
medical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
. t. E% R1 G- q' i' S& jgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants; C) n2 Z0 c2 s0 V/ q
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
' h- p2 G8 d/ d- f2 yassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
1 Z) U0 K% y6 h! Fis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to; g0 v, N  }9 v9 A" b
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There7 ]7 T  b2 P8 L& L$ s" q- @7 G  D
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
! O; Z+ a" y6 E7 u3 A5 W) {; lmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 y" v0 N" W& s
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
1 Y. D) C+ k7 r4 fsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no/ C% V- R$ }1 f5 i, q
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and% v- U$ K" z9 f3 r
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people: d) v$ H0 j$ ?8 p5 p. m4 X
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
* }3 H& ?. v; Z1 Vthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
- P0 G" N- [3 L, @7 ^sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high/ g$ ~% H+ V; }7 r
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 C. F0 s, x- x' p+ m& p+ F; B
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
& C$ R7 H" d& [( T2 q, Ma lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
/ A3 ^' J" P4 A, T3 [charge the fee defined by the state., I4 U' |( A! D! |. ~
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 p' U/ i" b4 y1 `on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# B* h$ n* i" n" z3 z3 Mof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 e3 T: `3 P$ P* N" N2 S  j1 l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
! F' X* k* ?8 f0 b( f2 N3 @, Lseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the9 P- l6 R# ?: r. w7 u( B; @
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
1 d5 ^$ [/ ^) e, J, Oschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if# j7 _5 K( D; b: L+ _( M
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
# d- X7 n1 a! ]& Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
$ ^* f) t0 N( |  r: k' d0 E/ shiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that! a; t: R. E! W7 I1 ]1 k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
4 h& }* Y2 M" k; V% `2 lto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
( n9 J  w& `3 r# Sbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there9 m# k- E2 e$ i3 `- r6 l
are spaces./ C8 k! U. X: _* g
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: V. W7 y1 w6 G9 ato make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they  ?9 J, c. s; m8 |: K
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the. F1 E3 B7 a" q% Y# }0 q5 U) ]
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different7 C! ]' G. ]' N6 G4 U! d9 V2 P" e
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the# c! u0 _% N! }) q
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
# v, p0 T9 I1 T* P- [" Xnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of( E& f  W0 D0 `* U" u
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it2 v0 p, c" m) c( N2 [6 D. `
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
) y/ ]6 |. T& S% ^ 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/ q6 }4 h3 L7 s7 x6 T4 @3 k
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
$ v( \4 k3 A; v7 I; V- ^+ wthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very' I7 i, x) Y$ r* U6 k. [
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep6 H3 \; t$ w9 K1 k/ m" _
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
) Y, J: U6 U# y- Z9 H0 ?supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of$ O7 ^  ?3 E% T+ i  d
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
  ^- W3 B8 b) Jhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
7 Z1 L  N0 s; G8 w( ptourist area.
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7 r/ ?  L6 b3 g6 C4 nOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
9 E; M% d# [- _7 w2 l9 Upictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
- ~5 b, E/ z3 {, p& r  ?Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
3 T. _- o& l' s5 eeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps ! {& c  j) a& W7 q4 h$ C: E7 V
less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba  P- Y5 I) c" ?' l% |
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big8 ^% G% }. [/ R  r5 A
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
" c+ M$ E! v$ Z% w! Vembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).- g' U3 z3 B% C2 H% O2 S

/ X" f8 K% g3 T  J2 P5 MWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
) @# C' X1 m) Z: p: U, kparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not1 x" r% R; K& @' I+ |
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
) o6 {4 }  G' A' z; V4 X. Sconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
2 d' c: ?. i' k- F% U/ G1 Fforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
, }" c7 G, q2 O  w$ W" R# `(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
4 `* Y/ K4 N5 Cprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the7 ]; s, S. ~# e% H- w- A
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
- _9 Y: }6 ?" k# {And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
, l2 @- o- @: T0 _: for visitors.
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--  The End --

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