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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)., i# o3 ^9 X8 P0 p. o/ N8 w% C' r
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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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3 s: e* w1 q; V6 r' f$ d; @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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9 b" I6 y% y1 u, F3 ^/ J4 ]9 Z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 very3 m7 `' ?5 o- [1 _# R: s
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we& g# M9 q* ?, H
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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( i, a' w9 f% z7 Z, d0 jIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
9 e/ Y, c7 a  ]4 O  u) G" u30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
! Y) M4 S" Q1 y7 _a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
7 e) x( I2 a9 [2 U8 l8 h- Rpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
. Q" O8 a5 t# D" Nshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep/ C4 V  a2 s5 O/ V. u/ N
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
, q1 \0 b: m8 b2 U! hlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
0 Z+ \2 P3 A8 v( P6 c- twith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
" j3 I) U$ t3 O/ {, l8 K People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
2 Z2 Y+ A, _. h# ~. Lnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
  ~3 K3 J9 P; l, G) y3 w- Lexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
, F& p( R( d3 ?/ c7 n( @- j; P; ~; Aflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 Q. ^) o" o2 y# r/ m5 Q3 w
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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& g* {- Y8 H2 r% a+ M. YThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
" E  o' ?, x& G  N  O5 o8 D. m6 Blow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
7 z7 i( @# [! E# F(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top0 `! p% g7 a1 n0 m0 P9 X
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
- z' \* Q+ m7 o) Z% Xstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
. g8 o; r# @  q  Z4 M* y49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes6 b9 x! ]/ j# O6 z7 V0 N& L( e" r
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
( u9 Y2 t9 {3 Cfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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& ]9 [7 a9 K* m8 [8 ?The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are1 I* A- M7 l% e) k1 g
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
6 A  ^/ r3 m8 Afor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 @, F" I1 c7 z; b& I" ?8 |' _' g$ J
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
4 u, v3 |% }/ g$ i, w8 K  za staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China) b' D' S/ y& f, b
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, living2 Y! v! x% o$ t1 a5 H- I* N% [
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
% A. p8 ^8 ?1 C" X* [& V' ~' S: J% don a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
- ~5 r: F0 `7 E7 y"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give$ E( q- }6 ?) Y( Q6 ?* a
answers to our pointed questions.4 H! m+ ?+ Q! w7 A' R

; Y- U% w. E+ n$ x( q! sThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,( x0 q  n! r3 `
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand9 s& C$ P" @8 P8 a  `: w( w
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
2 L$ j( y/ t8 y) y& Pfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
8 l, b, {4 S# \) a8 fto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are6 Y( _! h7 |- m% I! m$ V
medical schools.
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3 ]- C+ `% R* C$ C$ C5 ~5 W3 `Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ c9 N( A, p5 M- f9 T/ S) f& S
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
! X8 e. `5 m9 G0 Hto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years5 o0 F( m! S4 j- L9 P* d% @
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba' V) v6 [  F& ~" a. p0 b
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
0 m% J+ D6 N% ?4 Qover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
/ h# P$ }$ C% }; H( k# C- _seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and' |. R% z* y' D
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# m3 ]0 E: e/ Q
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
4 _+ q- }- l6 T/ y! Asugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.1 `/ N! ~# _) p" V
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
+ p) z# b( T: K0 c/ fprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
$ Y4 ^. h2 ?9 H/ b0 F6 ksupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 M- o' @+ x+ W+ u, y
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
7 R! O2 _; ]# C6 W) o1 Y: A! `thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
8 u  O8 I. J* `4 `* M4 `sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
" [% N2 Z, Y- i7 tdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
" E1 F7 y8 j% s1 d$ i) f8 MDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When2 x( a& y0 N4 i5 m2 S, ^
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only2 C. ]! `4 g6 _/ V# \0 H
charge the fee defined by the state.. r  P/ }0 _+ I1 l# ?4 V( r0 ?

6 s- h7 V- ]: ^$ z8 YThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get. s! q; u- X" M- q$ N. c
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
# [6 _, J) A  {3 w  S# D; [of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
# V+ ^5 d# C9 o5 E: Jtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel0 ~0 o4 v9 q1 S- z, U  g! }7 J
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ m$ S6 m0 X7 M( E) O  M/ Vworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
0 O* {1 b! F3 T: x  W7 bschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if- Q# O2 H* H) Q
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people( q  [% ~7 D' H1 k" X
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! x) T; V/ F0 x4 k3 ?hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
% Y  z2 l' s& t' \( W3 apeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want# y" {) I! |4 ~8 }( b
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or) x2 Y: `1 `) b8 L) V
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
, I0 D% k7 F4 n$ J, pare spaces.9 }; @% U3 R) p+ t# c2 r: v
) g4 w/ ?) y+ L# w
There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
1 q- G/ e% Y7 {* _" O9 @/ M! l* Vto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
" F2 U- U7 i6 [9 R# Jown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the" X7 d6 {1 Z* t" z+ u6 W
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
4 h1 q; A& u7 E! E% hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the( B$ J  E/ Y' x+ N% A; w/ K' W3 P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few9 A1 p) S5 ^8 O; E" [
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of  a4 P' l4 \' o- `
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it+ ^- T0 @/ s; [7 d3 x, u
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 {) x: t  Y4 ]* V/ C* W
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
, \/ ]* j$ p4 yspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
7 l/ @: M# @4 k0 M1 Othe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
0 w/ b( U& S( y$ P! ]* elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
# y5 x( v$ V! m8 d% a/ O) T& Brecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
7 x* e2 F5 B* s; @supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
$ e6 x& Q, w8 Wthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms6 Y# i5 N8 U) }, Y* M
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the1 G9 n/ ?. `" {7 B) c
tourist area.
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$ v7 e" h3 ^7 O/ l/ e- fOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's. w7 _8 b" Y% Y) N" T! ?; s
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).: }/ u" W+ z$ _+ J$ F6 A
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were- {" T, u2 Z4 m
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 4 d0 ~" _- ~0 ^9 B- i- {
less leader-religious.: i- `+ ?# [' e7 v1 k
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba  [7 d8 k; o1 S4 q
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big( r. h" T; g& V# v" u8 O
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
' K! q" C2 G9 Y: Iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)., _! g& I8 S7 n7 [* V% `" f3 ]" @
9 ?: \6 @' n0 ]. X& a* u' F4 K
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
6 p. W# b( m- qparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
% ^. f( C$ V7 y7 W/ l8 @the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $19 _# c  N5 ?$ x8 y; N
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
9 E' }. W. r# x( Sforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars- S1 S7 a" O5 F( }
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we/ ]" V5 G8 j4 I
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 ^8 w9 S5 H8 x4 p5 ~
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
7 V5 k( p1 m! F) y) H  b# UAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
7 ]/ M/ d+ q4 ror visitors.
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--  The End --

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