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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).1 V. R2 e) Z' s6 T* Q* X6 M1 \

( D# j% T  q# c) \( c( c' o% u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. 8 V5 G7 i* V& e3 [8 r

2 C5 Z1 ]6 W: f: e% q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.
1 ^8 }/ P* _3 X. g+ s2 l8 B9 S& H7 W. n/ {) t: m8 F5 e
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.' v* p( u( ^$ a+ C: o% B
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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 very
5 Q$ d" ?" y) p$ {0 X# j2 e! ginteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
" O# t: p: S  D6 w3 ]wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.& N6 {8 P5 ~# K9 G( P

) q3 s0 t/ Z! D% T- E( rIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,. o1 e6 V5 D( }
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in! G  I& H9 k' B6 d* O; t
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
* S: D" ^6 s2 ~1 c' Epossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
. K5 `) I5 Q9 s' m. g5 |+ wshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
6 f$ N5 R  H2 p+ r: Wbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
: {# P. Y. W( slobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
8 K- {- W; j0 Y7 owith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.. ~( c- A* x$ u0 c, T0 R/ d
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
& w6 k" f8 b' V& R* q  \4 unames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
; o4 g" ^! i$ _% l+ B/ U" Iexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
, M" {% Q1 M  wflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
/ g, y/ V1 k; v2 \/ c% fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards." c6 q& y$ O. `+ A6 z& `' q

! u' K6 p  C. u* _. a! R$ Z- NThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
( ]7 c& k+ f5 p$ s6 Alow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool: j& E% [5 v, D" P. s( I0 y  Q0 G
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
' {( O) m3 v- eof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
; A7 Z! ]5 s' [0 C4 Y% bstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from0 r, @3 r. |# d# W& A: A; v! _
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
/ |4 \- S) W; D5 ?Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
+ Z2 X7 |6 T+ l$ Ifingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada./ n3 ~4 A* T3 U8 s* N

4 o7 K( v5 t& G+ m) mThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
/ J: K4 `0 ]# q2 rjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
+ t. L  A3 d6 \& f& Kfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
! X+ g1 d% X* e7 w0 Mtourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having" }4 c& K! E( Q" i4 K7 T
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China) ?/ ^9 S+ F7 k% ~2 J- A
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
* Y: e$ p) C$ x. k& x, [# W5 h. Ustandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went' D: v* @7 {' ?6 m% i5 Y% w
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,0 _' c# J, n9 ~! W) p( r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
9 d8 s$ g) B" e8 H5 `; `; panswers to our pointed questions.
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9 Q2 }. j: t2 s1 h- ^: C5 EThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,6 u0 o" `% V- Z7 L8 H# b
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand# r2 E: C& s1 P2 m+ I
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
* ?. J& d9 N. C1 i: s% ?% Jfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams2 @) G: L  ?/ O2 z1 M- B
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are- B$ \, I+ Y4 q$ Z' i* ?
medical schools.9 F6 a6 ~# b& c) _! v  b/ u% Q5 m
, F; }& _% o5 }& e$ ^( j; D
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the5 X7 a; v* t6 P# w! F3 H
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 ~$ B1 g' |8 K; t) u: |/ dto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years/ h2 r1 s0 R2 @4 a
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
- m) C+ [" {1 e. v5 g; T( Z5 mis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
! z! @4 n. b; i8 O1 _. G- Bover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
2 y0 z" R2 @6 a2 l9 q; X( rseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
: s; V6 t) G3 C3 p1 U. bmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk2 J4 Q" ~9 p+ I/ O+ Z# s+ j% R- X4 W0 ]
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some" `6 o9 _$ `! W8 ^4 z& K* R
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
, H. u& O& u8 t9 l2 X- wprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and( W* l( d( y+ T+ Q0 d+ s& l
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
5 @2 C: Z  ~7 a/ H! _$ ghave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good/ \) a0 }: Z5 h/ F0 t" Y( }
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 }4 U: f# s5 a# N* f
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high3 K0 U* K: o* `) I
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
' o* j; e  n2 m" G0 BDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
! s; j( C4 G0 oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
6 O# K# v6 W9 Z# ycharge the fee defined by the state.: R) f/ @+ x" L! k* O

- k& l1 m5 w) D& O" ?% A$ K3 A. YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
& L8 C0 N: B" Aon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type. k5 k3 j6 [& X, X
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big# U8 Q' K! j2 a
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel* `5 @" I/ O8 ~- T
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
9 ^4 O$ q7 O5 N, g2 g/ n; mworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
5 a+ Q5 u" T/ Tschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
% _9 m$ r5 {8 ?: d4 a) ryou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
' y1 l" e. _# y9 R  _5 H* Btrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ s$ G6 q( _4 t( w/ w9 a
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
7 Q+ f3 |5 I0 o- ^" Vpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
5 j  E: M" N7 X$ m5 O" Sto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or/ u5 g3 s2 V7 m
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there  K# O8 F- ~, f5 p
are spaces.+ g  x% [% w- Z% d  l
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! r4 \3 j5 T  Jto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
( s  W, h/ B7 O9 V- h+ jown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" Q7 p1 M) I4 u
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different1 l8 R6 W$ H6 n- A( g
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the5 C$ I6 p# `- k) R( D
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
! a& B: }! c2 ~0 X( D3 snice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of2 k# d! X1 U" {
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. K3 G: u! [* S* ~3 t' Jis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! n. ]. x2 z, e, N 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
; R# y$ A& M4 v9 @: x+ P2 {spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all4 ^2 U8 r4 ~8 z; @
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
% q" X) v& U, X. R6 g% tlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) Z. ?. T: T* ]0 }: N
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day& ~! l' J5 M" U) {
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) L5 X; A% v* R% g
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
6 r. U$ Y8 G% s" s( B6 ]) e" `/ Khave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the% ~. @1 k4 q" U
tourist area.  A( i+ i# o1 I- c) ^2 j' I
; J5 Y- B2 J+ r* R% ]$ ]4 f
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's# N: G! O3 T% m  D* K' o4 b- w3 R
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
  r7 \5 ]( z8 ^2 sCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
' W3 U1 V, E3 ^6 M7 j# d7 Peverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps & N+ f  C* g* ?! w! I: T* ]* |: b, T
less leader-religious.$ g, d' z, G0 T2 f) i
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
, M' p  Q" u/ @1 Y: `8 cgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big5 w& g) X3 r! q: V
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US/ m( S9 b0 p0 c' G0 d' Y( I
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).4 ]4 _) Y0 Q  D$ C' h! z3 ^
. h( ]/ }' h  a  ^
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
5 @- R  F7 W9 b6 V/ kparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not  D5 u) i! Y  W: |% o$ p* |! K8 \
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1: I$ @$ _4 J1 P- S# Z4 i4 T1 U
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for  b! k7 s5 ~" u* b/ C% t: s
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars. |/ B% e: o0 w
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we2 }, |% j5 t# Y9 O6 \
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the) Y4 I# K" Y3 S7 k; I1 n
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
/ ^: F4 A$ V2 a1 z! |- qAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
1 I4 b4 v. y' A/ R1 Oor visitors.. q/ o0 y. R" A1 {, |

% v" k8 J( _, ]. U+ C3 s$ Q' Y: o--  The End --

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