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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).6 |+ T2 G/ t" f, P9 M( I: _, H* g" }2 Q

. I" E1 d1 f0 ^$ D4 Z& b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. . I& r% {1 h9 j/ T

- j: g  Z9 U; P- {8 o- [+ P* H' y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.+ R- `& x( l0 [

/ x7 E1 \( ~/ [9 Q. 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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7 _/ z4 v- i( v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
1 i, T9 Y1 X" @7 m( Finteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we' C) R4 |# s4 E) ~; H- v
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.6 ^6 e; A' h" c) y5 x' m: S9 {) n( C
% H' v% @' `- t/ h4 ?/ h  ]- X. [, L6 o
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
# \2 Q6 C9 U( u5 ~30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in! Z  V* N9 v/ a' M
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as' ~& q9 ?, v/ ^2 g" \/ e
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort" l' t' M% ?8 @: B- h2 v* n
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
) f/ S- U+ X2 d' n% ~# abetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the/ _' Z3 b; l* Y% t
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,, O! {5 v6 H  y* h1 J. o$ N! [
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.0 J; o6 J5 i% }" d% e
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but; r( y2 B2 ^& Z- h) H
names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
% u9 ^+ _- u1 B# x+ ?  q7 j3 \exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our# a+ Q; @7 ^6 \: i
flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
+ W8 s: n6 k6 ]7 fa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.$ X2 G* a7 ^% c5 v7 K* J& ~

! S& D8 K) {+ `9 l6 eThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,1 {  g: `- r, f$ J+ z
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool7 g3 c. B2 N" |' H9 a2 N; x3 z9 F0 S
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top7 w! Z- r- B2 r
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the1 |- B4 G0 v0 p; W: Z4 W
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
) R! r% G% T3 E; F! \# g. r49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
: R' F5 W' d' ?3 RCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
% p4 }5 Y2 G! @$ Qfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.# ]8 \2 m, K+ h' g
9 R0 M2 E" P5 Z3 G! g8 S
The resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
+ V8 a1 U0 W7 i; b5 G) l2 ?4 L# K- _just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
* {! O; Q1 k% k. ifor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
$ M" f% Y0 I- J8 Z$ dtourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
6 \& \( v. Q% S- ra staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China
! x0 {8 O* ?& l" l/ jdaily 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. R! |; U) U* e; t" t2 p1 D+ U
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
2 Y/ b1 i$ J( ^- ], k, t' ton a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,) C1 M/ E9 U) H  P
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give( L. _+ |* n' n3 ?% l6 l
answers to our pointed questions.
# A3 \- `7 ]/ J( @; N2 S: ?
  @: R7 S% Q4 g: E1 X8 \- CThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,9 ^2 P, x8 W) }7 i3 e# v& v* _
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand$ _6 u( v, g) G, U7 L% V7 Q3 c' ^
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is$ G) s$ @. B6 e& J* l7 v
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
) B" z6 N, E7 D4 k' o- eto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are
$ Y: T6 L" Z# E7 S; _7 t4 Fmedical schools.
' Y7 M2 J  y2 t" Q/ |' I( c) V# T* w% `1 v, Z7 ]7 c. [# ~
Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
6 Y& b" y# L+ Q; H4 @8 rgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants: j  f% C' i6 a' `( p
to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years: [" E* [* f4 `6 K: s# {& T! W: n
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
0 k! ^& Z7 J3 p2 tis from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
" J4 B/ n# y( u3 w) v! j. m9 F3 Aover $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There5 f- {  O8 V. g, l) z: u
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
# b- z/ f  T) _$ Xmostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk) q5 }" n  N% M
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
: r: m$ a- q0 Qsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.( j% D& e7 D4 A  t$ M' l7 O5 t
* |  m  B4 v: X: d5 N  A' U
The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
- |& N  }' D: h" tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
% M& C8 i- U. y' dsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people' ^3 x" h, S" m- e' i
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good7 H1 F; }, }! C8 N3 x" A
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
0 ?( d0 p2 v+ {sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high$ C- e" p3 u. {
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.9 E9 h' l4 L* u
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
& @) C) i" N3 ?a lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
- Y$ h, |$ n6 B! r" W3 Tcharge the fee defined by the state.* H; B4 F% L# P# V. W5 V
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get! Y5 d: j# Q. i$ [: x0 {
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
$ p; H* x2 L  E' jof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
/ S1 z$ i! U5 S  @0 ktruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel- ^, C. H7 B9 V- {5 K+ _' K, A, Q
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the1 S: C  E0 }, T1 k& `0 ]
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on, b, ]( f4 r+ W
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
0 {9 C& S6 y. i( ]& Jyou ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people5 I4 C0 X3 Y( ?* q7 N" d
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch# ~# Y) o( t# O  K
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that
. O# R" `" e# ~people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want% B+ `/ [* n! N( C7 i
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or, z9 P4 X: h0 p& b  q) X
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
3 I9 k+ W2 x' V+ k8 care spaces.
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( ]! s) ~2 a' u9 WThere are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
8 \# Z# J; b# Yto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they) L( o; v. k) u0 J
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& x8 _  R1 ^# E  |5 Q& x$ ]! O40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
( i( u' V' e/ Y# [" A, Nparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
2 B: L3 X1 Q  w; |3 P9 A5 Xbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few6 r" `, n! ^$ |' f1 c. X& g
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of8 y9 o2 V; W- x. L
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it: C( h( m- b8 h  i% `# h9 Q
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.8 }" l! M9 b$ l
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
; P* V) u4 l0 x# X1 C: Tspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all& V1 R2 N, k" ^( C4 v
the nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
5 Z% v2 j5 L9 }/ m2 O" xlimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
! L/ c: H+ m  W. Q$ Urecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
6 p+ P6 p2 H& D% Q" ^supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
5 a3 B6 m' B  D2 x( n: [4 }them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms# D% i7 [3 ]) f9 b- f9 S0 l
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the) e$ i) Q" ]+ z6 Z5 y
tourist area." \  }: X# `3 v

4 ]3 g/ L/ t# y0 z' d7 k3 U: h$ f3 W1 NOne thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
, B, Z3 G/ e0 m: \pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).
1 e0 Z4 w1 h2 y2 c! dCompared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
0 L0 l6 @7 \( t1 p6 v+ R" n6 c. s& yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps : C/ t$ f% m' Q
less leader-religious.
& L; Z9 y1 L% ?/ ^+ \$ h4 X5 C# K! w/ a4 s; L* E4 z
About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
9 {4 p4 X' L% N6 H* `government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
, d/ ~& U4 k- \6 rblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US* ?$ m* T5 W. n) i. g5 k% Y& ]; i
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).' ~- U0 o' e9 {3 v! W
' }- }9 M, g2 O8 N0 k
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
* x, u7 \" K5 m/ `8 O; `# `5 E7 Dparts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not! P0 j7 _0 t8 o6 p+ Z2 o! g
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1" k5 Q) o$ i8 I  K" r+ P+ x
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for' G: @. K8 C( h: S( W# V
foreigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars8 ?5 [( J5 m! s: g
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
& b& M: c1 \0 j  qprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the( S# m5 Z) v- D" M+ k  G2 I
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
* ]* l1 z. v/ G- C5 {And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local0 u% Z2 p" }6 |/ z" ~1 R, }- x
or visitors.
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--  The End --

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