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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).
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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. 6 }: S# D3 k$ P3 s

$ k4 C4 ]( O6 g/ F2 p4 s+ b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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" _' Q( F  C7 y( t7 W" _; M+ K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.

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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 very9 x7 u' M( ^& E7 s! N
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we9 \* V* y7 t" ]. `& Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.$ M2 H' a1 X, T# K' {$ ?! f
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
5 @+ z, o; |5 M# x30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
0 S3 ]( ~' X, U6 g0 B8 [: @8 f2 C+ ua very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as' j& ?2 V2 D" b* d5 D' V' u
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort4 g) j' `2 F4 ]
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep. Z3 G- b" |0 f) M. ^" v0 \
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the. \5 Y  L# T' w8 B
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
5 ]2 n% G% S' Rwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.% [. E2 Y4 ~; m8 p% B* a
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
6 x1 b8 m- v7 [* O" Pnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not( D7 F" }1 D; [& G$ m/ }3 d& j, e
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
: R% Z5 i! [/ C5 z! Zflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 G+ ~# Y" ^/ r7 F* ?
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,* @& T( I9 [7 i. h  f/ S" c4 x
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
+ Z& q4 o7 S1 s: e/ ]* }: I' n% W+ [(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
- R" ]- Y. [  C& \3 V" W' u( Eof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 E  a# T& ?9 v0 V9 g
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
# K/ r3 j1 v) F) w49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
+ ?: W+ R- o# o. ]6 k) J, NCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
& H7 v4 X- y/ \1 @! xfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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/ c2 m+ h) ~# eThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
; V% ^9 S) O4 j: ]just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
3 c# U/ Z5 J. G  T" n6 b+ E/ mfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba' I7 `5 g; ^3 b0 c* g
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having" j/ V6 R7 r8 i# ^& B1 G2 D$ C9 W
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
, m! M$ u& m/ ?. `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, living7 F( I) t% @5 c8 \
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went& ^- ^" \5 |. Z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
: _6 k+ g+ {) w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; f& G, `3 h8 o, p0 h# Danswers to our pointed questions.
, M- J& |: m! V" |3 w$ Z  h0 t- f. d  O$ v: t6 `7 t; K% P  K' V. t1 U
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,) ~2 Q" P: E! \* N  p: T
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
( D4 a- R* e/ iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is7 t* `/ @- q4 W
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
6 P7 }. d4 l( y  Kto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are/ z( t/ p5 \& g6 ~  ]% a
medical schools.+ ]9 o8 h( R- U8 q
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
; @3 J! E' H! T+ F8 Pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
0 d8 K5 Q; i, o$ eto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
& l: P$ ~, e7 s! Q6 t  _assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
% D& `+ {1 i) b) r4 X' }is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to: V3 ~+ J( c" K6 g1 J
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There+ c6 g# [8 A% Z3 |  t) k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and$ H" m* P- \" r
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk& [& M4 q9 _( u2 i
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some9 t8 y+ I1 f, Q6 T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.& d" v& S% d4 M( s- A/ n
+ r% [$ G; Y1 {. Y: o$ h
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no7 A  Y2 d& V- ~
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% ?5 Q7 q' h# v$ i, X, `% Jsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
7 i. y0 X: \8 X7 s9 u- Ihave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
$ P1 d# M5 v+ l/ Nthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby& g% b2 P* m3 e: D9 h
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 y! m; o" _8 Ndivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
! Z9 \/ {! c  j: @- D, i& Z, t( FDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When7 U: f% e" ~# [# x8 V+ F3 h
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only, }/ x2 Y+ ]! N
charge the fee defined by the state.0 T  R9 }) {  O6 k; I8 ^5 Y
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
5 g% f; w1 ~5 _. F! L5 s. Non), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type* Y/ S8 z3 c( ~, c" Q% }
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
" z* t2 s' P+ Itruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel4 Y0 b6 B) Y7 _) {3 ~" c
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
6 C/ o; D0 ^5 o+ E# Tworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
- R. J1 [% y/ _* tschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
& e4 w  q( u5 c& d2 hyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people4 y. P$ k  ]# P" l* l
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
/ ]$ ~# R6 J9 Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that  Q% ^5 E$ t+ p4 [
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
* L; x  [8 n+ u- X. f! n" f. Bto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
* s- [3 p; I8 e9 W  P  ?  ^0 Zbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there' `1 J, F7 _; Q( W
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( B1 S6 j$ ^) y0 o' H3 S  Qto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
6 k& K. Y' ^6 `7 K9 \" E+ p; vown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the( W3 P" j: Y8 a5 \2 ]2 l" g( |. L
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different3 W1 E2 g4 `; K0 ~# B9 _. q0 E
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the+ S9 ^; Z' G2 P- K9 h4 R
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
. Q- e7 Z5 D( g; }2 P+ `' lnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
% t/ x+ l+ `0 i: p, C& o1 Mcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
" r! u' M6 j7 P, @" i! g# z- Iis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
& p  B) ^+ Q5 t! S" M 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 beautiful5 x+ F6 ^" n5 x) h4 A0 ?6 S
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
+ B! h# a4 ^3 [* `. q& Q3 o3 l! k" kthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
0 a" R% a" Q5 O) b" Qlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep2 T9 M' d8 }: O/ c5 L) w( k
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
! C2 E* o1 U3 {supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of0 O  n+ f' V6 j* G4 k2 s
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms1 a! ?( z5 a, a& S. x) v/ G
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
: [6 O4 t' Y% L0 x/ a4 s, x+ ?tourist area.0 _% m; h% K7 r3 M0 X3 [4 f" t; f
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
. P" J$ c. x1 I% J4 x6 |pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).# e# R/ E) v3 |# M; z7 I
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
- I0 M% z5 b9 T- ueverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
+ f5 |2 M5 _0 l5 P# |, gless leader-religious.
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( }+ }* @$ \5 E! ?$ q! s  P: iAbout 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba! J0 o: O& S1 h( V: H
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
0 _+ e+ V6 {! E' Ablack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
, l/ w' N, s" N. ^embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).9 b8 G& X) H, [3 a# U9 G5 m/ _

, |1 {5 [* h8 j; m1 Y( `We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the  t- P( _& I9 f' N
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
$ p" M& x% z7 R8 z- _/ jthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) O. r2 v4 h1 z' O# \" W
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for$ b  f0 W; k5 k% B( t2 L
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
% v! s. \6 W# p(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we" A* Y, |3 `9 X9 h$ }
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the& E4 l+ i& G2 }! ]
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.$ b. [. o5 Q8 Y9 y( g
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local& n# O# t7 X/ n6 H
or visitors.+ j5 ?, M7 n9 `9 t
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--  The End --

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