freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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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1 N' T) V; [+ t2 ]' R6 g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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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.

freedom_2008

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very
2 }  T/ A, k8 Y$ t" iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
$ k) u8 g. y  V- R! P/ ?4 Rwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,( X8 u/ t9 U. l) m2 B
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
- l9 g9 G0 i# O6 v6 K, na very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
' _7 A) }- Q7 f( Cpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
( I- h5 O) c$ B; T) N' {1 ~show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
% \, G9 Z/ s  [5 y8 s6 Kbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
: M# X; }1 ~* x4 m( wlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
! v) {/ n  K7 a- h/ f. ~0 h2 Zwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
; X  ~& h, Y- z) z% V- k7 ~5 l6 R People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but/ S, G' R1 E4 J6 z+ H) n' [7 S
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not# I& N( {* y) e. r0 O9 c; o$ W
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our! D( F" G8 n6 w) t6 }( s7 T" U2 ]
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
: p& E7 I! C; G9 c" Pa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.1 b5 M  e9 A. V; H# ?: ]' S

6 K8 R3 |% k- C2 QThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,* B1 O7 j1 N' o; {& N0 d3 F  D2 y8 T( |
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
, I9 z1 p; }# E( }+ c% M7 B6 U9 d(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
' A+ |9 |9 ?' U* C( `3 C" oof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
* T4 Q% w0 d  d1 m+ Mstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from& [" n) O; }% I  l; w5 c
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
- F* w2 w8 r% g' g- \2 ACuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with; O1 y9 T+ v/ s
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.3 `& ?- T1 |$ S) d# C8 n

, K. X. O+ @# ?/ VThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
5 `4 s" d' a4 R# njust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
: d* b* J. s3 O* Y! Ifor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba" H6 W0 K9 a, k/ Q
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
' d/ R. F! m  B- F* u! f- ia staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
  m# I% X& P5 s9 {2 Wdaily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living3 Q) K+ G+ }9 T. e8 t' L
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
- u# S. Y6 k' Z2 C% D( K9 fon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
8 q+ `* d. n9 ^# F( `1 ?"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; A; K$ i3 k9 }  y5 ?answers to our pointed questions.; K; C: P8 a4 V/ _  T" n  p% Q# a
0 b* [' u/ \5 {& O$ X
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) p, f* G0 m) d8 I; ]  ^
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand- e6 K4 s; }' d
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
7 j! o( t" m5 R7 f6 R+ o: Qfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams5 K1 Q/ \6 q) J2 e2 [/ y0 I
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are8 l+ x3 C* V/ J& e- p, l; |4 I
medical schools.
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6 J, p( @  E1 `3 i$ C5 QEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
% |2 r: N: L% @+ C0 l5 igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
* v7 Z  B0 |$ F) I7 l! Pto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
: u3 p6 z0 }- `- ^assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba- [7 q! R! l* `. m$ t
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to$ D6 v, o3 W/ E  f$ k
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There' P1 N1 E# g0 g* @6 L& z6 `# L
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
" g5 `9 |' i. dmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk1 K5 e+ t$ {# A+ x
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
, ^/ F+ O8 w3 K% R' Csugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 F+ N6 @! Q7 l. L+ B
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
( ]6 ]; C+ i8 p5 |private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
: G/ y, L9 d% _supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 ?/ s# t2 Z) z+ x+ phave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
! A9 Y) b& m( d1 m7 B- v: O8 i3 tthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
, Q- S3 a- ^% A4 Psitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 l0 a/ {8 Z, O- \divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& h* |9 G, l1 G
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
  _+ s4 e/ _! Aa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only# T! n8 @7 o7 {# o# a+ c' m
charge the fee defined by the state.3 y3 d# F/ f' D2 v

* M* a, M* C" X3 V/ j! X. f& UThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
9 C5 B6 Q2 L7 O/ P5 }8 _: kon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type4 g# |# f' h; Q2 \. @6 T
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 s* b) o/ t1 w$ q+ C$ E* G
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel+ b( r3 f& t, R# F/ y4 o
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the2 N2 ~6 A/ [/ @- E. ^/ J; ~/ J3 f" Q( s
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 j3 t8 M, S# d) I, R% o, Q/ ?schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if' a7 Q) s! r; ~8 C
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
' z) X7 c& c0 }+ o( W. |trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
1 K: x2 z$ M# }# Yhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that# m1 z* @  W' C$ T5 e$ F: u
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want2 L. @5 r* D! `* ^8 n8 @
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 `7 @1 x8 d3 d( j; J, }+ a
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' L* {7 H. y7 \% C( }5 v8 h" ?
are spaces.# F3 B+ \" h# G5 v& h
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi+ I  m5 x8 @' U8 w
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they  {2 e3 H9 n' ?- t  \
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
3 c7 |! [% r6 H40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
5 j9 g- v) @0 v7 }' ~+ }parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the; O7 T; v. M* t& N. F+ y
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few, w! Q! p( B# Q" Z& U  n$ R
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of* w# \/ h5 i" f7 g) G9 a* [3 E
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it9 B% ]. N. C: c
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.* |/ _) h! B9 {' p
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

freedom_2008

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful+ Q. H& |! \& r& N5 S$ H
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all. c! G) }0 q  b: y) H: [
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
; w+ Y6 U% S; K# N+ |+ ^$ Plimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
. ?4 Y$ }* a" Wrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day) ^$ H0 m6 a  A  Z- L& f- s9 w
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of+ A0 C' n' q4 ~# c, ?
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
/ |2 _  Z- I1 l& v. t7 _have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the2 |3 c' I% d: _
tourist area.  r8 d/ Q5 g! b

  s- m, @* [9 M% Q! rOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
, V4 ]' L5 Y% ]$ {: u7 Y! E1 }* npictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
! v+ @+ L) N1 z  `! p- vCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
5 z( p+ f  w" Y$ |( Zeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps   a- g& m/ g8 T2 V
less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
9 b+ a5 k# K8 t$ w- |government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
9 a! O' e/ N* y) m1 ]  qblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US, a- R. S7 N1 ~1 n" Z" N
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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* b. k$ [0 _" t0 u9 j, O$ Y7 gWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
. b' ~5 _+ W4 [parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not+ K. U7 a4 w. C2 Q1 z9 N( L
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) x5 e. Q% z0 D! ~$ T
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
. V) O% ^7 @5 {7 nforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
- Y) B. [7 _0 }1 ?; Z(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we' l: X; R7 J# ^, i6 }+ `/ O0 k
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
& U! `7 B3 |7 R. |8 Kreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
" G; c  M6 h8 ]And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local9 v! p5 i& I& g3 @8 f5 \
or visitors.. h, q. x2 W# l% }
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