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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).' Y9 _, @; P; r7 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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( w3 w" l, |. t! k0 M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.; I" i3 u/ O2 d, j

: w% J+ S: d' Z- x2 l! f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.- ?) c% @7 p  p6 k" w
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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
3 Y/ t! o" j) N. C% R6 z! Y+ y2 Y  dinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
9 ~* v& Q/ q; c3 Y7 v5 A  M" swanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
/ \0 i6 E1 Z# d' o: Y# f30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
4 u* K" U$ I5 v2 i9 Pa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as; X, t2 ?2 t( |& a* ^; b% }
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
6 O- @* w+ q! Y5 Xshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
. p9 L3 p$ c( L) x; y+ Sbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the$ t& b/ v. N1 s) D2 F7 S0 B
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all," U; B; H! M- e  R. M: k: I0 n
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
& ~  K3 Y# b) T+ G: ]3 z* j: S/ s People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but% i" R5 G3 O- @! D% V+ S
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
5 V  F2 \, ^: P* B* Bexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
, [' b3 @7 O3 [+ G* W% Z! J) t! W) mflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
5 F6 ^3 f# m$ w# za 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,
1 a7 Y6 s* y& G( y4 {low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool9 u( Z5 u. j( N
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
( \- `- U% }) |5 }: p6 I( b- iof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
; o3 i2 H3 F# o" T8 G! ]1 {$ Wstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from5 y% _6 S* u' c4 N% _1 _
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
0 g6 F) [% \+ C8 D" q' C. HCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
% z" p; ?4 k4 n5 t: Ofingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.! q: k  L2 e" |
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
0 n& d5 Y' e- [0 ojust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
2 U( v5 y8 `- s+ s8 Z5 P/ mfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba) @4 m/ j/ d7 k& n- l9 L
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having$ l% G* M$ e, n
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China8 Z: J8 H* [. [+ `1 L
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
! k# a1 ]4 ]9 Estandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
- b" V0 O4 c# H4 n# e! M  Oon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
/ ~! I4 I: Q' N1 B! H"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
. D4 |9 P# j: e8 hanswers to our pointed questions.! [; G, p/ M0 S; Y
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The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
$ L2 C7 G0 J+ i! F45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand7 w3 ], h4 D1 {
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
' O2 X1 h7 g0 z" l+ e6 x, f* sfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams6 z- `2 z. C) d6 \1 }
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are5 b0 t9 B' ?$ U8 }
medical schools.) @5 r) `" c8 A3 M. _# h- N

) |- T. i) o2 H. h% ~3 N; A- SEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the6 k* h: u6 V& J! Z2 ]
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
+ j# ?/ Z! T$ ]* E. m9 uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years) g8 H! b2 h8 _9 a
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba0 ~& c' b! ?; {3 P& y
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to- D) P- T% X6 `! E0 o
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
. w( b1 [' m8 o. ^seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
0 a$ i2 D. z% e, ?  {! u) smostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* s& _( l3 y- N. X9 ?
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
8 T: e0 q4 V, f  J( M9 ~2 ksugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.# H% f! a% a# _$ b6 ]6 j
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no0 l* S) o; l7 T8 D
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and' S$ S( `/ \& P: H
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people/ K2 Z% Y- m3 w9 v2 _7 z
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
! ^% i2 ^: W0 s7 g$ s3 c, m8 bthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby- }' z- p+ d3 p
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ u+ T: f8 _8 i
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
$ H+ y* r3 o/ ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When" G8 f. B( Z: }6 R+ g5 S
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only6 s5 ?7 b8 Q# R3 ]' g: C
charge the fee defined by the state.' d) q" R* M* k

/ B0 j! ~! M/ V' KThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) T! D% Z1 K  T6 t% won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
5 G& Z, q% v$ ]4 S* f! z) [3 Y: ]of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& u0 T4 w# L* s
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
+ ?( M+ g/ D2 A' w) z2 f7 M3 Useems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
; l) [; ^( z- A  pworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
8 B/ B, J! X, D! ~- c9 Z3 kschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 O$ s1 p' t9 X, S6 byou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people% k% g' Z" Q1 B" q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch- N# I  |# \4 U+ c- ]2 s
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that+ t1 C; f6 Y; k8 q0 Y" p
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
( U: t/ x7 k3 Z  ]to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 }: B/ p$ m& g
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 Y4 q6 D+ d# }0 W2 D$ d
are spaces.
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' u2 n6 z* _* KThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! y5 T$ K8 k7 ^8 e. xto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
4 v1 Q& k- S7 @! w( P- J8 ?, d# _own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the5 A, `% _8 ^. }" G# }0 }
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different" ^2 A9 r0 o, b. s6 n: z* p. }. k
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the2 Y+ m/ d* ~( B3 S( g* o
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
  I$ {* }3 |3 |; c8 E1 X# Anice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
6 ^& G. u/ \5 t; {# u: C- m( qcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it$ A5 p: S3 d8 r/ G) k$ T
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
: N, p' o+ R; X7 g* v0 | 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
$ B' ]# e0 q* j4 _spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all! x: n$ F! E  n) l9 P/ b
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
1 R1 u# S* I0 x, b/ i+ qlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
6 o$ O* J5 q0 g% H7 @recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
4 I, v$ D$ p# a' N2 {$ Gsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
+ z! d) _6 d2 G9 Hthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms. \; N/ j( `$ [. u& V% K
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
7 X) C# {( o) e! Ttourist area." W3 a3 R! g( E2 h2 d% k, y$ F
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
  ^' n9 }" \  rpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
8 S* S7 {1 _: s+ R2 X2 mCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
  A! e6 A. U  J. J1 Q4 s% A# Y! H1 yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
' W% z- p# b' C5 F* iless leader-religious.
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, U; \/ S! @/ P  r+ g! o8 {About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
2 u) V! i7 L+ Hgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big1 W5 X, Z/ a) h: R% u
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
1 s1 |1 F1 U: P% V* M& Nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
  S: g, _# T! B5 U% u* \parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
& N. P1 F& ]; K( Tthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1. ~% b( [6 K* u* B$ c
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for+ I3 @! {( C- V3 k# ]# ~# @
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars# I* f) i& C% D8 |3 C, @# m; h
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
' u- I2 Z4 g" @probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the" H& N' z" Y+ P- J
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
3 g8 W0 v- g7 [+ e. [And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
) k, x$ R1 X7 F/ M1 k9 R8 f' bor visitors.
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--  The End --

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