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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).! G  E! f  D8 n4 i: x% x/ H

5 Q: ]! C/ F3 Z" x& s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. - p: m/ y3 w3 ?9 ]
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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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1 i# g+ g: b$ o/ X/ ~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.. r: j% q) [: L* L9 _" D, x

2 a, |" K( c2 O& @! c% [6 `4 Y. F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
3 W7 ^. x7 }7 _interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
5 w" Z( @2 Y: T4 f4 ^9 i0 jwanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
, |5 R5 r9 p/ Q( j2 ?3 g1 p
- \3 U/ j) r! G' C+ ?* VIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
" S8 O3 ^9 e4 y9 r2 H7 e9 B: X30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
" q' Z1 @$ ^' L7 wa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as3 ], S% d; O1 q4 y  w* q/ J  o1 V
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
* M6 L" M! ?& D. ]show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
# @  |/ s" P( m# f, c* ~+ j6 pbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the& A. J; i4 [1 `' r' m! `6 Y; H% ]
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
+ ^- L9 v+ r9 R) ewith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
6 G) Q" h5 G) \: f People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
8 e, J. p7 e9 x& W9 {names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not+ ~7 M1 d8 S  h6 S
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our, X. x! W% _8 l
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through% ?& [3 Q4 \5 X* j$ Y
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.( L& p3 b1 ~7 m: w

2 G3 Y( X2 Q: JThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,7 L! f0 I! J  h$ e: j) _/ h
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool: e6 l1 @; S' e" g- i- {9 y8 S* r9 `
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top  X( ^/ B- p3 t# I% l/ e; d
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the7 L  o; I5 B" r0 j0 e/ r! M0 [
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from  X: A, T5 M  D$ d
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
/ t, n) ?, y8 b3 ^- l( t" cCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
. E0 W9 P  ]7 ^* L% N/ H2 e5 }fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
! Z) z2 [9 [7 f& s# N* h  C2 I( Y0 A. i+ j: E0 H  s3 h
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
4 t! G# u0 ]- z9 w+ u. U, v' mjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made4 D: [8 C' A- O2 O; a' P0 S
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
3 V. d) z6 t& W4 ]tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having# E  y0 T( _# \0 `* G
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
; f+ u) A# Q! odaily 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, living5 g, W+ J+ u, S7 f7 @
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went& q1 x% \' k) I$ ]1 V- {
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
; Z; M/ D2 _, _! e& i"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. J9 l) C6 Y$ {8 I- f
answers to our pointed questions.
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 X2 Z9 k; }( N
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand. Y9 `! p' m3 K$ X- I' h! |5 i1 a
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is: U" d/ f1 F( X: B, f
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 r. _* d1 o' @7 J& O  A
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
; U( m# V# V" Emedical schools.
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; x' x$ ?% ~) ~7 F7 Tgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
% f6 k' D4 D2 R4 t9 d! Rto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# s4 M; g$ f3 p- d3 \
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
/ @- a. {- H" w! C) N" ^- H! cis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to5 q1 Y+ Q$ F2 A4 o1 Z; y
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
$ E$ ~" D6 p+ N% q! ?+ zseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( I3 j# f7 j. ]: @7 q4 mmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* C, L/ M7 t2 V* @
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
+ o; a3 N6 u& r' M' A5 N9 Z3 h* _sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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  g- }: [4 Z+ R/ Q) qThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no8 o9 v) s$ r8 h& k8 A! ~& J7 ]
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and! t  d; u3 b# E# y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' U$ F% p5 f* O3 g7 u& ?+ {
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
% ]9 d- A: A8 _' _5 l0 bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 z4 D- U( c7 ?. J
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high5 n, u; K: K0 p+ c$ }' T
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.8 s1 s- y) L' j9 z+ D" ]8 }9 y
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When, a4 G$ g& ?5 ]  b2 K% N, h+ F
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
3 }' ?- f# t- X& [charge the fee defined by the state.% ]! `' T( W) \6 t# q1 N

8 Q' J! C( g9 c; _3 q1 v9 rThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
% @8 v  O8 y$ \& l) |- }- Z6 \on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( E  r* r! R& }" o2 u; @; _
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big9 q: I1 M  I8 W% A1 Z( P2 o
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel. S9 b' D1 p# o7 P/ i+ H
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
/ c6 E1 A% Y- z, q. x8 s4 ]% zworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on0 p7 i- q  `5 n, |$ E; _1 e1 G
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! C- q7 Q2 C( I) ?% Y
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
2 R% l4 q2 O( h1 h6 a5 t% q& ], j, Q% n5 etrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
9 w0 b- r: z' J7 {& Fhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that6 }7 s1 K! ~3 \5 ~& {+ ?6 |3 E! J
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
: D  _) R1 i' i$ }! J9 Y. dto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or' |/ r5 [, x9 D2 H. c
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
) v) [- L# b- u2 Z. t4 R* oare spaces.
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  c# E* f  q" J' M5 m5 V8 DThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
$ y8 \5 Z1 t8 H' E; [& }) Hto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they; b% a, |( i9 G) ~
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
1 {/ z* Q  d8 u. M$ k  @40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different$ K2 U0 a% `: c# J' i
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
' |* T" w6 v, R% \6 kbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
4 m$ U; M) n, d) E4 dnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
# y1 l. c$ \- fcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
2 ]7 Q  G8 a" Mis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.. Z7 ]3 {- g9 X  E! x9 V3 k+ `
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
3 w; {5 V& P/ `+ a7 z0 aspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
1 x4 N7 X4 u3 j; D2 ~' ?the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very' H$ B* U/ D9 T: q
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep  Z3 ?' c( F2 C5 a- t% |1 z
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
: w* Q! h3 v+ b- Nsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
# k2 a4 O: f5 I; f+ Y+ ]5 Z% uthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms4 K8 k" p' E$ h5 t7 p' y
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the. O! Q5 D. `5 c
tourist area.
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, N) D1 l) s4 l( xOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's/ M; ^; U- H8 g" |: a$ l
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
2 O$ _5 c/ f* m) w! b2 ZCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were% e/ ]# B6 I/ m8 G3 \
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps # K6 ^* Y( G4 o' z; n2 p
less leader-religious.
1 H$ Y( Q( I4 [5 ?- W- z1 ?
2 D5 }+ y+ n/ v( HAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba% k' P1 \! G% S5 Y$ E
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big) p, F; C; G$ T3 j9 `8 _
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
6 w, \& g% h0 N: ~3 nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).* @9 u) |! n0 i

0 g7 J+ c- @1 g  C% sWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the; n! `& ]0 a9 m  ]0 u
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
/ c* C) y( Q3 c9 hthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $16 V. n) }& T( `+ K* f( g
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
% ~/ T% `$ W) m  Y8 `* Fforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
& C/ c1 u% p9 g' v4 A(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
- Q% ?' F3 ]4 vprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
- {/ T; y' }! h9 g0 U2 L9 vreal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
% q! w) r, q, Z' V+ b  J7 y0 P" i1 jAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
, h7 X9 d" N) B+ v6 O8 B. M. Jor visitors.
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--  The End --

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