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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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$ t, W" Q$ h$ U8 R  V1 |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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  q; |- f( h7 p. U( y+ }0 V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.7 C' v# z: R7 x) I1 e  b
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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 very
8 a9 k& ^! `- J# p3 v8 Binteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we/ _- e  M! n) D4 [* r0 V7 a( \
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
3 }) u" b' F0 Q& k. A1 R# d6 c4 c# u1 D1 P% ~# A* e4 J. ?$ I1 k
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
- I  N$ j$ }2 F: S" }30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
+ }& H% I( y* E' ?a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
- N4 ]- R, q! w/ G/ H6 _possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
1 E% C8 w% a2 L: `$ tshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
3 o6 ?( ^' Q5 lbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
: N& v1 V; b1 F& globby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,
. p& M3 P- z7 P+ F9 z. q7 z% Kwith people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
( B+ s# _& ?' u9 d6 _5 v& U* d4 Q People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but+ o7 C# a9 F9 q
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
* U% H. y1 W, D% a5 B! [! pexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
  v; j2 o; f6 J' R  [. Kflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
9 \$ m+ m9 o4 E5 F3 ^8 T( ]  Ia roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.0 M% P$ c! n, j) z, {- C
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The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,# }6 Q- y% W. w4 \: ?: _
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool7 Z5 S6 x4 r+ X/ g" Y
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
) D* I1 {& |% Z0 Hof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
# @1 j/ X0 V7 q) Y! sstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from7 A5 Z& g' Q$ Y
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes! ~& M& i* ?' ?  U9 y# g; V
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with; m# Q, y% {; d( Q* ]! r
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
5 y9 e0 h# V$ Ajust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
6 d& i* l2 M1 U, Y  e, }. ?+ ?0 [, e' efor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
- x; M0 \7 o* B2 \; v% Ptourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
9 d) p- x1 F6 K8 _( q, Da staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
( t$ [3 H  w+ p1 u0 e4 Q  O# 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
! i& U' p5 k+ c/ Y; k* r% jstandard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went) E1 f/ `% G1 z
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
5 V$ }1 M, T2 d4 w"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 M; x- h9 p6 o- Xanswers to our pointed questions.+ d7 M+ w6 s& e( A7 Z/ {- T

1 {- J) u$ d$ K6 k$ z3 H3 o- ?The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
; H0 |" z4 b  B! _" C( k45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
0 ?8 s4 S+ @' Xout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
: A: g$ P3 Y/ bfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
( `; y8 C2 H8 N# d. x1 w3 |to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 G, \( |5 Z. {( c1 S
medical schools.' W; q0 a/ u; |$ t: W- W

3 o; U0 q% J8 t1 I' ]7 CEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
/ ~5 v, M" Z# Y+ igovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
3 G4 t- V" R) b3 K3 P4 u+ Z: Uto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years# a# e7 k3 ~- D" W6 f1 @: o
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
! p( Q' O% ]0 o# Ois from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
% W8 j+ {8 J* y4 g& t- nover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There* t: ?0 k" e) ], C$ k
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and/ U6 |* w* @/ ?/ a0 G
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk* i' g' b6 U1 W. [2 M# x
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
; U: P) H) z. \' f. Wsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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+ M) e) E) v, m+ S- c( Q$ W# ZThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
# ^* r  ]& m  y6 bprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and3 |( O0 J' ~* O- E& N9 P
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people! }: w! v: Y/ `$ ?8 X& Q# \
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
# d" u7 q" k. V9 n3 Q0 T5 Uthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby0 o3 l. F  O7 X; U! O" I# b
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
4 U- o9 b8 ~6 O# }divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years./ G2 r( i: b6 |3 p& s
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When2 B7 I+ t) Q7 `' n7 {
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
9 H- Z6 e/ q; ^7 d0 v8 L7 @charge the fee defined by the state.. J. I5 H" C; E* b+ F( H( }" V

: i2 S: l3 l0 I$ f& P# U$ l3 @There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
3 Y( f) ]! n# E  T; won), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
1 r; T7 U, I; C9 t  wof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
. ^" @$ D, u. M/ Z; L! Ytruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel0 j- a9 U+ K/ P& {
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
+ O, F  s7 g4 y: |7 sworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on- l- T1 w; ^* v2 P8 ?9 U) w
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
- H+ F( {1 H6 G2 A. H" nyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
# G3 q% P& E. e3 J" K% d9 Ctrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch/ V  V# `- ^' ]' L/ c+ G% G# J. H
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% r& D8 ^% t6 x7 p* g
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want: x/ W/ D$ y6 s2 }0 V# l
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or  `. |9 d* l5 R7 x% d. y8 C; Z
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there, \/ A; ~% j8 [
are spaces.8 d) V8 R8 q% \7 V3 l1 p
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi2 y  x' B: d1 ?" |
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they* c" P% N9 I2 Z9 ~& K
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the: G0 [: h2 o% M$ w9 N
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
. Y! B3 r4 I! {# C+ C* H# B9 M- r8 lparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the3 ^! ?# _) u. x; R& F2 g# L/ ~
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
% m' ~+ w5 \. V# Nnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
' l# x+ A" d9 D$ n) `1 f' x  [car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
. o5 T! ?& r: a3 Y! ?, Pis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.
! o7 `4 g" ?0 y( P* D7 ]* E 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
& Q9 k7 \. @. B  q* ispots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
2 }; z# w% r2 x3 Qthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very! d( m4 l9 K: b4 m) x& G0 Q
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
( o5 P0 A4 J( V' W# F1 w5 Jrecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
* i* l5 n8 Y( bsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of. I' z7 \' `* }% O1 c; A
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
) ?( z8 j! N2 m" v- n3 chave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
  S2 c# S4 a! ~* V% ftourist area./ L" \5 u  `! h( H$ x; p( \, b- |
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's  G) q0 r$ F/ B6 S8 g
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)." j) _+ ^- x* G& f; u1 a1 h4 a  h
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 N$ h; H9 J( v. q" i
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 R, T% ?- v5 l, s
less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
+ N4 W) r/ c# n7 M6 f) [# Ygovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big, X( L7 Z; c5 `# D# M8 A
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
) k- {( M8 L& i0 B& Jembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).: ^- M; U2 E6 B5 b2 Z! M; D: a# O0 o, }
4 |/ M3 G( P, Y: Y8 [! I( D7 Q
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
2 p% ?2 Q4 W+ o9 S- B0 \6 r% gparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
+ m5 ~9 @. h! ?' E% tthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
2 S+ Z6 v1 t7 U: A2 M) P; Dconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for( @" t% n/ L4 ]4 V$ Q
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars$ I/ k, g( u+ i7 _6 j
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we5 T. b" p! Q: D% E. m$ _
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the( O' t6 L, \( Q! J7 ~
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.$ w+ \" a, i1 M2 Z2 E6 ?: V, I* ?
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
3 i) U+ M- u7 C' N+ Y1 Y0 Z5 a$ wor visitors.$ E2 n+ G( X, B" X2 g9 G+ n& z

; j7 b" k  G1 m4 e--  The End --

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