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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).2 A$ G) S) z) @3 M# T: {+ s. Y
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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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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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) [8 O4 n; B7 r6 W: b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 very3 N, E/ }5 P/ V$ n3 `
interesting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we! m0 ]2 l& }" [. D3 q# Z
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
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It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,
1 }# d- P  s9 g8 Z* J6 l30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
0 [. W% m7 R( U' Q' }a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as8 J+ t" x0 k9 B) b% L- C
possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort
+ p  V  E/ p  a, o( Yshow/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
2 ]+ r" r3 D# [1 n) N3 [. _between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the
* q+ V7 U. L6 m1 Dlobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,5 b7 |! ?; c  L( V% K' G
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
( v% O( f& N: ~ People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
& I" k7 ]5 t" Q* j% W$ y# ~names (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not* Q# a: q! b1 U' B9 R" }
exchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
: ~+ q# O9 l! A0 Q2 a. Zflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through: K* M0 P( a5 N5 M# u5 U8 E/ J0 `
a roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.+ J0 B0 F" ?: B% d6 _

; Q5 t  P. N  u8 N; x5 QThe weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
8 a7 Y1 S" @' r  w% Clow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool' U$ O+ M, y/ x4 y
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
/ w  J$ L5 p  @  @1 p5 q2 [of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the
% a; P( {. T+ g& O" zstars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from, j& F+ S1 N2 w# ]
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes
% B6 ]* K2 A5 l2 B" CCuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
3 j) i& \3 Z" z% z2 p* Efingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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% d7 g2 g% i( _% A, _' C1 B* \/ CThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
; C' w* Z) Q0 q" |: n0 T% W# Q- `  i8 @just very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made  o6 H6 _- j" T% j  C, R. s8 m6 e
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba% i& u! J4 t* m8 P  L3 |( E
tourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having" {4 \2 O' l  e* E0 E4 l
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China- V  w' A  @  `* X5 ^0 k
daily 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  t3 S5 J) p8 |( {. d9 ~
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went6 g$ Z1 `0 i% Z+ d* F$ O: S
on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
( E3 d* G2 T' ~4 I  \' n6 J" ?"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give' o- i; g! \; P
answers to our pointed questions./ l6 y  W1 Q5 T; x1 w" O

1 H: D  T4 S; U( k2 X+ W# ]' @/ |The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
# E1 O  C6 p& m- @& _! D45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand2 I, Y4 t. a- m3 s4 ^! T* O
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
1 Q+ i7 K2 ~$ afree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
2 R" Q) n# T, o7 j/ F- b9 nto get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are  z# m5 c7 v6 F9 b8 f. C
medical schools.
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% w% E8 l$ Y5 _; K5 L4 v/ S6 uEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
9 H2 O* Q- S9 Y6 J$ V9 ogovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
) F% t# _1 j3 Q2 Yto go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years2 ^" `3 e. d# D# c* |1 h
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
; H5 ?& ?+ D1 @is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to
, t3 y" l! Z6 F: Q2 _4 ]over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
4 [' [; c8 x# V- [- r4 `3 Jseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and, l. M- l) Y. |' I% h6 r- Q3 k' e
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk# P' E  P# Q- _, c% t% _7 V% o* _
shortage which the government is addressing by converting some
9 [% v* W% y9 I1 y8 c+ L9 esugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.2 o5 v/ t2 G2 C/ U# F: h$ F
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The main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no% B( i2 d7 s! r* a6 S+ q) @
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
9 @0 L  D  z8 ]" h# W( l& o# x& Gsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people- G# X5 v" S* Q( U  X, r! \
have to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good
9 M. T7 c$ [# {+ U! E- c) t2 Pthing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby8 S7 W1 b( W- L8 i
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high0 q+ `; Z9 h+ S0 }
divorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
" b0 n# C9 j' n! s& e" ]Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
- y! D! A7 V. P6 `% {: e. oa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
8 v- F- ?! Z8 \3 s3 l& Ccharge the fee defined by the state.
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
2 z* K$ B; R5 j0 q3 o: [on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type6 ]* x) B+ {; H# D+ j0 L+ `+ {
of bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
( z% A+ ~6 T7 Btruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
) l: n( t! z: @2 w0 f3 h9 {2 A* Nseems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ A2 Z1 `2 l# y, |2 g( }/ U- N
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
4 t7 f  Q/ j# M3 cschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( Q- K: w0 I; D2 q4 R
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people4 }7 g0 k; w6 j/ z. q
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch. k/ k/ n( D+ D3 }9 P" A
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that/ A1 `& }1 {. T4 x( D3 g  r7 S
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
& F5 N% a/ F8 E8 @$ O# `1 j1 Mto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
5 Z- [4 V/ m1 c8 lbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there8 G: `& N  @9 A# L( c5 ^) B( k  J0 N
are spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi
; g5 X) c) p  oto make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
) ^5 K/ p5 t& ]# j" cown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the# K; t6 Q2 P4 A
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
: Z/ S" @* B" Y4 w1 Dparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
6 M- U0 u. m1 U2 ], m, Nbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few
. e9 }( @0 c, _nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of* b  Q0 @: w$ a& [
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
1 F6 a( q2 G4 A, w0 sis a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.+ H; o8 W  X: k; d5 a6 c( p
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
2 S: |7 l, g7 Rspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
+ R- _" ^1 Q0 C# Dthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
& k4 G6 e# V1 P, ~limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep
1 a/ W4 `' u" Q, Srecession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day2 X3 e! |9 p0 y+ ]9 C) F2 i, |
supplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
. X6 W- F* y# o; S, ~' kthem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms( `% ~( o9 V- `# h( D
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
1 X+ s0 Y. A- \* ttourist area.
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's7 d' Y- X! _- O- d+ X, s3 Z4 |
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).7 C* y  b0 [2 t, J$ q. X0 o. l
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
; @6 X! u6 u' v" h  `everywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps
& r1 g# N6 v1 z" a1 N4 |* |less leader-religious.+ z  X* @- A9 f+ U8 [
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba
( o/ j. `7 T4 e2 C/ g) J  o: _2 k$ a' lgovernment slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big! t' l2 Q/ S8 N' H/ b7 s
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US3 z0 ~' U4 c1 r) j& a* [
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).% Z! I' {. ?. |- l. J
5 @0 a7 x) u3 w% @! C  A# Z$ r% k1 B- H
We did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
( F* l) `5 i. N% i: g2 \8 |8 {parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not& n! U, g. a. {% g/ u% v& d
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
' L4 ~- P9 t3 i+ a1 G3 r0 `convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
+ N" N* m  E8 E2 o4 Sforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
# s) Y, I; ~9 l3 L(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we- n' ?5 q0 Q# B  q
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the. Y5 |* R& l3 g( U' \4 S7 ?
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.
7 m' o% ~# T5 P+ VAnd it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local7 X$ Y. E6 ^$ [
or visitors.
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. a$ @$ `9 P! [+ {/ v( x--  The End --

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