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).
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6 x) ^  O; {  z8 r$ Z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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; _+ Z  V9 V1 m( y6 d1 I1 Q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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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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, |) P1 A& l1 O" ]6 C9 _! }) W" `4 G% ^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 very0 U: R. k9 V. A7 ^
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we4 V: E; H2 @; |3 H6 o: v' B! M
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.6 T+ ]. V1 h4 M1 c6 T6 N3 v9 U
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
* u2 Y, e# U* U  D" I% r2 c* _30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in; ]( [: D. W) `( Q; v* G  A
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as. R) f  V, l$ X- L5 x( |
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort4 ]# X5 C* b0 w! ~
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
$ j! v! N) K/ Ubetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the6 i( }, i4 d6 T+ L5 H
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,+ u4 ^8 _; X1 \/ N' |
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.# M) k  u' \# }
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
- ]; q3 r/ e. Y" Ynames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not% d* n+ f) E, }- q/ O
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our, d9 F- x: i7 U
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
; F7 E- b  U/ X+ c1 u3 @! L/ U7 ea 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,
. O3 v+ n$ b1 P& R3 x; clow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
  {4 y0 x' l- F7 p, y: N& B9 s(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
3 u' ?5 |& z$ w* ]& Mof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the+ C2 B* b4 q% e3 C# D
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from1 R. K- X; q% a# A( N: _
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
* Y3 S* W2 b  h% s& v4 t0 J3 g0 sCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with# w# m4 C/ K6 ~
fingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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4 ]7 c6 Z. s, d+ z5 K+ M9 }3 j$ ?The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
9 v' D$ R/ O" e, G+ s- V& D/ Xjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
; W2 k% a4 Z; J5 yfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
4 Y: n+ \$ M5 b, t2 k2 C% dtourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having8 E' \& ^* C) H4 Q/ T
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China0 c) i* }7 ~: R7 O3 i9 r
daily political studies.

freedom_2008

Cuba in general, looks a lot like China in late 1970s and early 1980s, living( ^; O7 n+ M/ b7 A( P8 U
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went. I  L7 b( z1 E% x! Q
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,; z# K( R; X' B1 _
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give. q5 M; s% e6 c5 h: `0 e8 i* y
answers to our pointed questions.
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# [/ z, N; d) ?( wThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,1 `' |% Q* d% d
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand
3 Y, h# G  n, M3 h& B2 m* W4 |out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
' s$ K& l8 c6 H1 N7 G; T+ A; gfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams' F2 ]% A( ~* g: v
to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
3 Q0 E0 H4 F4 q: Smedical schools.& [0 Z0 `9 k7 x: `
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Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
$ O/ S8 @8 N' P8 u( Fgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
# O' P7 g+ T! ]+ E# wto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
3 V0 i* y" ?+ v4 C0 v: nassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba$ g. Z- B% L9 x* `! W) N
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
* E5 k9 B- n! R9 \over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
! G; b; e% e* \( D  i' q# U( h# Xseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and) W. _8 u( B$ k
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
/ P; V( j- t6 g. X. ^- M' cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
7 p2 ~# s6 z; B, N. Esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.
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: F" \3 S& i# V, VThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
5 C. |3 K# k- i5 F8 G+ v7 Nprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and: _. ~" Y- R& F0 K( B
supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people$ [1 E9 u4 M( O( O( ]
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good* h; D( a: d; c- N) \
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby: c, }& E# S( N
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
) K/ @3 |9 ~7 x. j1 j6 S% \# `% Wdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
1 U! _9 V! j( D3 wDivorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
0 B( ]* }2 _3 z8 Ya lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only( H& B% ]& H, z$ o/ y6 v6 x
charge the fee defined by the state.( k/ m0 J7 @. l: e0 k

5 G& v+ `+ c' c! W' pThere are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
- g* B( s: O0 W' w6 A+ y; Fon), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type( G6 l9 p- Y- G
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big& a9 M& L4 N0 {: I( v5 ]' q* Y- c
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
; {* M. |) V% f, B/ ^! @seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
5 ?5 L* }% h1 i" uworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
. f9 ^5 ^# T  B5 oschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if6 Y! R% v7 F# T. M" u4 r
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people
4 c7 N$ t$ U/ J1 Otrying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
! O/ k6 B+ y( O& \, Dhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
; m0 ?3 T4 Q" H! t  Q% G/ F5 Rpeople have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
6 Q4 R; U" M9 Wto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
3 ^1 C, q% K4 k) Gbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there6 p- k9 v, \+ v# S" O+ ]0 Y
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
: n# X& p9 \: k: [/ w8 H' Yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they, A- B: d$ G6 X5 f9 f
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
9 c' `' u- \4 S2 K; b2 N40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
6 u* S2 b8 ^7 _parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the. k- m: S$ ?, Y2 @4 c% l: M' p7 g! F
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
8 \7 a* O( e+ ]6 unice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of7 g  _9 K' V7 b- J; }# F: J# N
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 t5 r. B$ V& [( I1 D, @is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ w3 S3 J- A7 f( A9 x/ e3 u
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
, z# m; O6 E0 M+ V5 |spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all; c: x% U; S6 Q. P5 y5 W
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
* k9 K# q3 D8 q% Elimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
  p( e4 E7 B9 ]" A3 }recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day+ |' v: F: A0 y  o, [
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
* C# N" H9 H& p; j" c9 o6 Hthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
4 y' ?2 V+ a. C' [. M, [9 x- \have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the- E# F9 J7 R) J5 q4 Y% Y/ n
tourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's: [( `0 d" E, d
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
4 Q( Z) D/ |2 ~0 SCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were4 ?- {& d% P  E% X, ~; d/ c4 o
everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps + {1 q$ \" J0 Z4 G! U0 d
less leader-religious." t. _/ }7 l" i
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
" a! O! z5 G/ s; D6 s$ X+ \government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big$ J& o) I3 r5 S- P' q9 l2 T$ P1 T
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
2 F! X1 U' j$ y/ P7 nembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
+ A* p: h2 f% k# a9 C% F3 O2 f1 }) e2 [- @+ E  j
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
- X1 l! @" }$ iparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not4 S" X' {" o$ A' J& W: D# D* Q
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
& e4 Q* x5 T+ f! u' M6 Nconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for% {/ g, ~1 V# E  K+ L5 b
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
) t# z, h6 j* W! |; r(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we3 b9 b% b) |; |' Z1 c
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the9 G- C9 E( h$ Z/ U) F' M. f
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
0 n/ ~% U+ v# d' gAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
3 e) g: ?# r0 d8 `: j) ror visitors.
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. Z% b+ K" q- h--  The End --