freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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.

freedom_2008

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).6 u. V" f0 b; Z! v* b+ J) X. l
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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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5 L7 }: T- h2 ]1 f) c0 E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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# ~& i( p# T8 ?8 i7 J5 I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.

freedom_2008

We didn't expect our all-inclusive vacation in Varadero, Cuba to be very
( v8 V" a3 [5 R+ v1 iinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
+ X, Z3 @: U/ Awanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.5 ~$ _; Q/ ~4 W5 ]4 a, f9 g
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
% D1 ^/ W" M  m' M& W) k, x30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in$ ^  m; i. c: {/ Z
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as, N; N; \0 \1 q
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort- M& E) f. ?; ?5 z
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
! `; b3 s8 ^2 rbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the. p' X5 W! g1 c6 a; r
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,$ U( ?( d3 h9 T1 e* T
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.$ G0 c) {6 b5 g" p; w
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but3 N2 s% ~& t$ d$ Y4 F3 I2 P
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not1 G: K- n. k4 t9 W8 ~, S3 M
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
7 E5 J) r( E5 A/ ]* Pflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through5 T' q9 [- I" Q
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.3 ?* {6 V" @! l& T

: |7 D  q4 X2 Q, r9 p+ [The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
: e6 m* ?) a7 c5 h/ V6 mlow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool% ?1 g7 t! r& @) K
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top, s6 }2 {0 ~4 W4 N+ [" N
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the8 p& V8 Z! D2 O) H
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
$ @  F& B( e! Y. n3 f49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes$ P' x" P# I+ d7 t3 l1 Q) i; ?
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with0 e, _# l) ~* M3 i) s
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 are3 _& L0 Y' Y0 l; E" F
just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
. [5 ~- G2 t+ L  N) K& s2 y6 q, }for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba1 O% `6 E2 `2 q! n# ?$ D( o
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having% F" S) e( V+ S: j) X
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
3 O7 E. @! N) S" ddaily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living4 Q& N! o8 @/ a1 z$ B
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went- o- T; R* P" R" b+ _9 y
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,2 F1 [( D) h3 |5 r
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
4 o* Z( z$ b. u2 N. ganswers to our pointed questions.& l( K: }6 K" J

- ]8 O! V) A# q4 e: {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
- b' k( Y2 A& v% @. m7 Z6 |/ j7 z, c4 \45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
2 h# h5 w. S5 w8 m/ m- L: b" A" R% s  `out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is8 Y9 f7 O7 [, e" ^8 C
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams1 q! n4 G6 ~; O- N% q- Y, ?
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
( w, _) a6 `" [medical schools.
+ l1 j% e5 U2 n" w2 F
7 J( ^8 a- \$ ?; i. v% ^. wEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
: M* I  Y* g8 t: o7 W  B. m5 Pgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants$ ^/ U8 G* d. c$ E; F
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 V1 Z" j- h4 c- k1 ]8 B
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba: D: ]3 R. {& x. Q! b! Q) P7 T
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to. v* I9 H! j5 T: A5 c
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There$ A; |  o( v9 D4 P0 m$ W
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
9 k+ }! D# h, j' r# i% W& [mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk( z& Q- W* o6 L4 H
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
% o8 Z( m1 G% l+ X. ?sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no" X$ J7 A& C7 @/ C
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and6 }0 p/ r# y, Y
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- T0 k, v7 Z( E) E  I" M* w8 v
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
9 l; }( h+ J, Jthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
+ I) i3 x. A! r! ~2 }. ^3 Fsitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
; g" v6 _+ c9 X- ydivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
* I! ^, \, m  K( qDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
5 `1 F8 i4 v3 r  `a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only' n) S6 x2 u% u1 A! v
charge the fee defined by the state.. d4 K( i3 t0 a4 F1 B* j; s
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get7 M4 N8 n+ B9 t  O2 N
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 O- Y5 H1 V% y5 C& L0 ]
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
8 @' I1 o4 m: y! S8 }6 Z! @* P8 mtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel, Z) \8 w1 f- I  X; I
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the; _; [1 n; s% Q" L( G. H
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on8 \+ s+ W  F4 B+ v; b. {) c
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if! T$ e$ U- q# X  o' ?
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people: Z- [6 W6 {1 e  i
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch+ f' w0 N1 y! `/ i: y
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that; d% A, c# Q' H3 O8 ?  L; f5 b4 h
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
' d. B5 R# U* `to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
. V' b  I" x, b- y0 V% wbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
$ L7 Q$ q" u" a( d- R" q& Aare spaces.
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) J7 o$ z% n/ t7 f& q8 E% vThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
( t2 w, ~6 F1 ~9 C- ~' ~* [$ Ito make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they5 n9 d) N  E! z* F
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the8 _8 e0 U8 v" E# _4 ^# r" K8 U# f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: c  @3 u- R5 R' A5 S2 W! tparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the$ }1 d2 [* }. U5 I9 S9 P
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few9 i& k9 a4 {" Y( s
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
& f6 K2 }' ]+ ucar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it- H* ?4 C( E0 Q) T) Y; k; |
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.9 o, J* ?* D3 |# u1 r; V
We then went to check our bus, sure enough, it has a blue plate.

freedom_2008

Havana seems to be a lively city, with lots people and some beautiful, d( [8 V4 H- ?
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
7 v! m4 K& Z& N( B# h/ Rthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very3 M$ w7 M' U: l! ^! N7 B. j6 P
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep3 [7 I9 \5 ~- _5 w. k; k! }# l5 E
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
! Z% d5 p0 p1 N5 l; m' o/ d. D% @supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of, ~2 u& o3 E, [# x+ _9 l7 V; r8 z
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms: K9 U" A- @3 G. [
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
" G0 [/ q0 c5 R$ E) y7 ?tourist area.: X( j0 t: G$ a) K

( b9 v3 m; A3 z* A; r- K2 |( c  n+ |6 NOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's7 r) N+ s# F8 ^, G$ j' m5 ]. O
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).2 |- D& ]( b6 g+ W
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were& x5 F7 R5 R" j8 U+ c& D
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
$ s. d& v9 ~% `4 `/ z* o& @less leader-religious.. H3 S/ r. c. e0 K% x# N9 B  g

  z/ y& {0 @0 N" c7 R. j$ B& [About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
# B0 z  F+ F  }" }# M4 t  zgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big4 W$ ~9 A8 }$ b# R
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US! S$ D5 x6 r0 v7 Z+ G! v# N/ }
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
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* p; G# I" ]* T/ ^/ l( `We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
) A  |  _# ]4 p! G2 jparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
$ C+ }8 t1 D+ U$ ~the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
2 _7 z% n' ~& t9 D2 z  D3 jconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for4 v% W! a; C) V2 j# }. B2 s
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars) E% _- g3 R( Z1 d
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we! _+ s, C" D% l* \
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the; @9 I, k9 b' d# o/ K1 W
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
3 S3 Q- I# O9 WAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local0 E) F/ a8 U+ o2 g* s
or visitors.) i. S# i+ T) E* R2 o$ @2 {: X

9 Z7 z9 X1 S. D/ l; K4 J, `--  The End --