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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).5 U. a, b( P3 H
1 h+ j( {) c& e. K  [2 r* y7 l" M2 k
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.   J% L# ~5 s" j& p
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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.) ]" p% L2 Y4 a: }- `$ K; l4 C+ i

8 N: i/ ]% [; P# b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.7 x5 G' A4 F. N8 a* T' p

9 a, f( K4 |4 H7 {; ?7 U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" V: e9 J- {0 ~' m8 M
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
7 [9 r$ b8 U5 T1 d6 I+ m1 ]wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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! Y3 x3 l/ ]+ i9 H7 {It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
9 C  _4 f7 `3 G2 D8 \30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
3 B& u- |7 Y0 [! l, i5 K' Qa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
0 o6 b) _6 R, D! e) C  K  Ypossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
$ B" Y. S+ x4 `0 f4 g7 T- _- q9 @show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
) v6 w1 q4 p5 Y" c/ ybetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the( ~$ o9 W- N6 o( s8 p, k
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
2 O5 t7 A4 O6 f( |9 O: s/ Owith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
* p" J# w" o% T People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but: ?6 v& H; C) X, w" Q$ R
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not2 i/ I* d: A! V. u6 t/ j# O
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
( z0 a; X0 F  _6 tflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through* u0 G. H. n, ^8 E
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.4 Q% w, I& ^4 q/ O

8 _# |6 ?: p' U% s5 KThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
4 e2 k/ E- \% N0 P/ }3 ?. elow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool* c9 ]6 a( ]& `0 a! p
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top- r( q. N7 c( t4 S& \. Y
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
* @4 H' Z+ M. |% A& Q: i0 wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
; X' Z2 Z! r8 B$ }- {49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
, F: E& E, ~, l5 SCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with( o2 t6 a1 r' N
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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% |3 t. U: g( l* v# ~4 A4 y* K2 lThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
& a3 a5 s6 g0 W; `4 w: |, E1 njust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
7 Y: @6 s$ B* `* O- Dfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba/ k* M  D$ Y, ~' b0 ?+ W
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
+ S. z' }) _3 u/ V  B7 n. @3 S- Ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
* }! l) z7 f% _0 q/ [2 L$ @# Xdaily 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/ g3 j7 [5 s  P9 `* M- b% ?; K
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went0 w) S" t: D$ t  v- k' \+ ^9 y" t
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
9 _; f( k' [# t9 }3 w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give9 l- b7 A" G5 U, v( b1 {/ S
answers to our pointed questions.
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- k; ~& I- W# ]# N% l( K5 nThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 Y8 L  r3 E( M) `- X
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand4 ~$ _5 m0 x8 c) m$ ]# @8 s# \
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
; ^; f' E; {7 S# {; n5 L8 Rfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
3 P) ?3 P% J: Z: k* O3 i; \5 R/ bto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
8 |2 \) b% k! j5 ?' h- ^( I7 ]medical schools.2 V/ r2 l! X6 J/ \
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the4 Y/ j0 M+ a0 p, K# R
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: D2 ?1 l. t  f7 B: o7 i: g
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; p4 D/ C: o5 Z; ?& s2 b: ?% aassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
$ ~! N5 B# c& c) }9 cis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to, L+ s+ G9 [1 R5 R9 z: o6 |" j
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There  S8 g& Z8 K" _9 ~6 I9 T
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and" A( T& \" U$ Z
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk, K& b8 H/ ]; v2 ^, R% B
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some6 j6 C1 w4 e  I& U5 F( A. Z6 f
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands./ E+ @! E" j9 g/ Q; R
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
( o" `# ], f4 K; o; c+ Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 v, H  M$ m9 `9 g! q* Xsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people0 [! S1 _, s6 X/ ?5 J% m
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good5 r( W0 b, o" b, {
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby, Q3 U( M, B6 U/ ]9 `' C* q: V
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* A0 p0 V; F  k2 B7 U$ T" o- hdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
7 N' l% @5 b5 [2 w& @- M6 q. {Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
( k/ n! h2 O( ]2 f8 }" Ja lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
; B5 {# b$ M8 dcharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get' v) Q7 |! w  J7 _
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
2 D  w5 H) u4 j1 b5 T* n0 B: R7 ~of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big4 E6 M: Q* v0 j  V  X
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
, L' s! p; @  ^" x5 h8 f1 J! jseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; k, r8 y( P: l. w; h+ ]4 g
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on9 ~8 y+ q" ]8 g6 l$ h, w+ E2 w
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- T7 _5 U( T5 _; [: y* ayou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
0 \- U& d; i% n" ?trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch) G& E& G; u* y* e2 |' ?+ x
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
8 h; ?# ^/ W% o, Lpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want0 o, k# o: K  Y& e' d
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or0 G6 C" q3 H0 A+ I
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there7 R- T. f; J; {% I4 H7 g2 G4 l) j
are spaces.( s' [, E- }3 c0 w; f
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
% H7 [( y7 u. b, M) F9 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) X& W# w6 B) i( I- [% m3 ^
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the' i$ H, J9 l; V  ^9 @2 ~$ e6 K
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
' d" j1 V% k( U6 j* }1 \' x  t- Zparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. F3 d( b/ F: A# Q7 pbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few5 W) y( E9 z$ n4 @3 R& x. w
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of, G0 C' X% {  f0 V
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
# {8 J1 [& e+ \is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
' f/ s6 ^# w% D1 b6 j 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
" V6 }( @$ |  m! Lspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
2 ^; w# g1 C4 P2 `& s& o/ D. hthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very0 }/ x3 D: E3 q& N' w) z
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep# V7 j, v# A7 I! q4 A$ ]  v
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day* [3 U0 j% \- l) y
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
2 _/ v0 E# [4 f6 T, pthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms: k3 v% v0 }( C1 V0 v0 l  G
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the4 [' c! _  L" ]% [. A, O* w
tourist area.
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& j' @8 q: l) EOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
/ \! ^4 y6 z( dpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
/ R( G0 U' n+ GCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
; C( |. M+ K2 }everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " ?7 T* D0 S* b. u' K; w
less leader-religious.+ U8 t# T! \+ P  i1 b4 @

0 K( y7 G' w4 i. V3 {7 KAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba8 E, E* s. }, ?  J
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big3 U9 Y4 {( K/ f2 U8 x$ R: y
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
2 m* {, h- X- P4 ~7 B9 _embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture)." r0 q2 N: i7 ?! W! e& |
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
% G) F: j5 h; ]4 V5 f0 }1 Oparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
; Y$ X$ E9 j  Nthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $15 R# j$ t$ n) ?& p$ {9 A
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
) b+ {+ Q' {+ F# E9 m: Dforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars+ w, K3 ?/ y$ z7 t  X, c
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we5 n  a4 v* x9 f+ d- H
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the. n( I/ G' W' @+ J" l
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
7 z. g' u0 D7 eAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local- S$ ]8 q/ U6 t% U; O) h* E2 v
or visitors.
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8 k2 U: F1 F% e  J5 p8 Y# V--  The End --

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