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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.
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3 L! M* W# |# X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 ~. P3 `- M+ K

; e  ~: R! y. P) e) R$ |: O$ q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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0 }, ]9 i2 Q8 ^" {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/ b2 g& Z  f) W* V# E$ j
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we
( J* ?2 ]: s: Twanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.: E+ b8 L: w! v# y

* D  @/ [3 B3 X" V1 Y2 m$ @) \$ PIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,' Z8 \* V2 T5 u7 K
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in: _# N+ F" p+ W! F
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
+ v9 ~' Y3 Z9 cpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort: {5 Q- H" e. Z7 \
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep: a1 Y  h5 O$ w; K7 ?8 T3 b" Z
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
4 w$ |. d; y3 |/ q# z: h6 K) u' `lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,: b. p' O) y$ {& T
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
; F3 ]9 H4 F) T People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but$ G1 J, S, K6 e- A+ _& b9 ~
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not+ B8 U3 N# r( c* V
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
& |- }3 G7 T: X6 V9 p' x3 Aflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
- M6 _) X* ^- X; b, da 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,% E* m9 u/ ^+ u* K# [
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
9 ]' J2 r( t, R0 e(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top$ v0 t2 R# v7 C) m8 [' `8 G3 h
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the& a/ u7 f- x8 a8 B$ o
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
+ Z& |# N' y' c! w! n49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
2 q" f! @' f6 B" B( S1 O0 f, JCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
9 \9 c* p/ E7 u; nfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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+ y+ q3 Y; i0 Q/ d1 M& _- b1 Q+ QThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
$ T' r( U& S8 j- djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
& V* q# x0 S8 C$ h" c; k/ I4 afor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
+ `3 n3 @/ t. Itourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having; j' o- [0 N( g% k
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
% x6 G& @6 d, x/ `, ?, c1 V& Adaily 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
( T$ q6 j" n) R# K# Z: u3 j, P6 _8 {standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went8 j) G7 p; K1 p+ r' y) Z7 i
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,2 ~; w- a* A) z
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
  J8 M8 S' E/ |. panswers to our pointed questions.. K+ ]! v7 H# H# S6 x( Y2 p

) n7 _7 ^% A$ N" {The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
/ V/ R% h( M/ g7 T$ J0 o45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
8 r' ~5 T: r* iout too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
+ `/ ~) f0 U% cfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams( ~* }; ~% b% u+ c5 l9 s& C5 \: Y
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
% m4 [7 j) Y. J" o; e) T$ V" Z$ Z) pmedical schools.
& S0 C- ^* B, A  n+ D6 g8 j2 i: o4 C& g/ u% }. \( ]
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
1 ~5 R4 k' E; c! X) [& H5 ~% ~government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: o' N+ R& X+ H# u# M* W
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
; A  a% }) A" Bassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba- e& D' M; \. [- f" ~  B3 H) A
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to+ h; S7 G# F# r7 o# B2 Q: }
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There$ P7 u5 }8 k2 A) p
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and: ]0 N* c# H6 R; v
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk7 G- ?% F9 m& l
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some$ c9 ?! B  Q( E# g: i, z( T
sugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.5 d6 t: y# M- S- R9 E

, E6 Y4 a' ^+ i" f; SThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
, Q- s$ L7 C" ^private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and9 i$ w# j- V6 j9 u
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people6 @- R# I3 R) j/ Q, g8 q$ ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
8 G& _4 |! A( l, H; |9 n0 Ything about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby% n# l) _/ n: W, T) Z* f* |
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* V) ^& S3 F( q' V% s4 `0 rdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.. c7 R6 U2 j9 r; O: z% a
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When/ k. Q; C( z7 X5 |7 j
a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only7 B0 v1 i1 q/ d- U
charge the fee defined by the state.
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. G# g7 U4 H4 n8 V4 x' e- fThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
) c5 B" Y- J/ V, h3 L; a( ]on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type2 X, o. T- l1 |# z
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big, L% `0 r! [) O7 q; l
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
+ r+ s3 S5 j% T3 P% s% _8 i9 @seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
, ]3 P/ `4 g* I; U- N! kworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on& B7 l) M! u8 u- T  Z: @
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
7 c  T- F3 r- i7 Y" @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people7 E9 h: o2 I# b( {
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch" C+ C! [8 `8 E- i$ a8 U0 D6 K$ ?: C
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. \! B& b* |0 L. q$ J" zpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want3 c$ r) E5 `7 `4 a6 I
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
; n3 u. Y  x  x) O' F  x# Lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
/ a6 t" y" f0 hare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
! |  @, z$ g: c1 j4 s. U1 oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they$ {2 U5 p: S% _% @" [" b
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
7 w1 V9 `& Q+ e8 [40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& H+ C4 `& e' m0 r% l3 L( l
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the9 ~( J) [& k" T3 }* J2 b
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
5 f- x+ H- I3 hnice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of/ [% i# [/ s" }; P2 }. U: D
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it7 \7 c# u/ p9 _( k6 k3 D
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.4 |) k5 ~/ I$ r% Y' Y9 O
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
7 D& ^! t* U2 @7 `. D. kspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
. n7 C/ n' r! F# u. t. w3 X" z; ^the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very/ M  e0 R1 }& u& x! ~- {/ Y
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
1 F! h1 D! e! ?( I8 F: \recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
0 i* o$ K7 d: Z0 q5 jsupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of) a: i" l" {( f- f) A4 v; ~
them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
. G0 E& C* j' A$ v- ~2 z( nhave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the# o, `: m; u6 {
tourist area.* T. g! ~0 h9 P, n1 m4 Z  \

, k2 J2 C9 _$ @' ?' kOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
' F! H2 R0 V' a' \pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).) m$ H* }/ I6 Z2 Z
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were3 N& _2 u3 L9 N# Y
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
- ~2 \: a6 _3 z  U3 Q8 f2 W% A% wless leader-religious.
* {$ w  B; [9 ]+ E9 V8 [$ n" {2 c! P. j# Z
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
+ {: E$ H* r) A+ U: b0 Lgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big8 I; e- x4 Q  Z  c3 U
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
  W* z5 l# r( hembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% ?% _% t. a! x$ Z

7 p( d# y+ t9 x) ?* NWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the( p/ l1 y% c8 }, o
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
  ?6 z+ }; ^, H/ i* uthe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
8 G( f$ q6 l2 w* Pconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for* `0 k. S: n! I4 s' f
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
5 u6 l' o0 Y+ w4 q  a. w( s% w1 q(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
, L2 b$ b( D& a0 i5 uprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the
, }" `& |8 t' g/ T: d+ y" F2 C( Treal Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.1 b1 F8 ^) s  s- M  N
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local/ z5 F3 C0 B1 }* S: g  e! T
or visitors.
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, X  i3 t! ~7 L--  The End --

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