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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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2 c$ o; U+ _7 d) v- F1 i+ K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& n& d% K! b- i
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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.: V/ V- t; a7 ~# w4 E+ \6 j: D

4 p; D- \7 k3 J8 g6 ?& R0 [( {( L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./ ^$ R( E  B, p7 p+ }
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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.

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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
' ^6 P, }0 H* y( L; Dinteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we: l. O' t# L& M6 V& p2 u% I, J
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
4 \6 p! A( G( k$ ~) d
# c: U- w- Y0 r) g: s2 p, zIt was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,  j: ^0 S6 W1 U
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in* B, h6 k! i- e9 l4 s
a very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
5 {% }2 x' Z: W. D$ [possible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort5 E" x, f& I6 r$ v5 H0 J
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep
& v5 u. f( E' E% a5 k7 ]4 P/ |! J$ fbetween the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the5 S$ T2 p- s# M8 a" g( K
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,) F  C# Y- e5 m' l5 i) o
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.
5 l; }4 j  b2 R8 e6 z& s People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
2 J" i, u5 h( ?. w1 h; u1 u9 Nnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
0 r4 [$ M; [. R, {5 iexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
" H. ?" Q) n1 K$ _flight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
1 X2 E8 n6 h* h! T4 f6 m8 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,: p, J( R' R' u0 ]5 k
low 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool
7 y# u* J* {% K7 W6 Z7 ](when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top7 z) d0 K  x( C6 k
of the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the/ F2 c$ y: d  ?; h% f
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from
" a8 `8 z7 M; t& a49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes6 Y2 Y: ^4 v6 |! r0 d* d% `$ |
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
4 x9 b# e# v# g% Efingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.
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- ?) P" G6 l" Y5 r) BThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
5 A$ y3 D* e$ wjust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made! h+ b! _+ C/ I& v! C* P4 O
for us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
, n! h  ^# X: L: z! Z0 ?4 Btourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having
/ O: Y( Y9 H3 @a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China% R$ `: P& @9 ?* v) I+ ^& Y7 h
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# N9 I3 B# ^9 H+ c6 W/ N6 K9 }! N
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
$ P9 k/ N& v: }  ~3 n. }& zon a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,% T; t1 t% b5 [! W6 H" F. f  X
"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
0 g, ~# g/ s$ M# m& Z8 vanswers to our pointed questions.$ |& R9 J1 \5 P$ e$ K2 K+ v/ V( g4 x/ {
% q! L1 y- l, I& j( F
The racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,
* G5 {0 v9 ^  m" {% J* Y45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand& e7 E# h% S8 |1 H  j
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is0 [& v8 W( @) Y2 ]" Z  A
free all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
/ p- E: z: Z) o) m' [to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are& L8 S0 r" @% S7 X
medical schools.
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8 f# P4 z% E& F3 UEvery university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the$ p. x/ R9 G% x1 V8 N2 p
government before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
' T: f4 T7 ~0 _: `to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years  P2 G3 c5 K) m' g
assigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba! ~9 Q* p0 B' V& ?- }$ ?5 Q
is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to2 `4 T  g: G; y4 s& l) O3 E2 e
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There4 a% u) f  Y- g4 ^) V
seems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and* ^% o9 s* U, j7 V
mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
3 \  V' f6 K" Qshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
( c- u3 `/ `- I# l% jsugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.* t0 o9 s; R' X3 S8 u( i

$ {$ o% q. Z( H; sThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no1 B! q# Y( Y2 t# Y% n: G
private real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
& Y- w" e- Q( c1 k6 _supplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
2 q. {' v$ {, ~$ }0 J, X5 fhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good2 T/ M8 v8 ~0 H' g
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby
; Z0 I7 _3 P2 }" Q1 Esitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
* Y9 a* G9 J4 B3 f" mdivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.& D$ u* Y8 E7 z) C6 P' U
Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
/ r4 f9 S7 F2 J6 W6 Xa lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only
, o5 n7 m! q, Z- icharge the fee defined by the state.4 {. r6 `* @# L- L
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get
" K1 U$ d2 t* ron), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
8 [0 V) q8 d  x- n. s* b- W2 q" tof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big
: v' X) z& ^/ T: |2 c8 V( xtruck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel
4 t0 ?) k$ n+ |$ b: ^seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the
$ m! H' s, ~1 z  U, W2 W0 `2 Hworking class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on
" o5 J+ K0 X  w+ m8 Pschedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if
3 r" F! G+ A0 @you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people" V6 T0 z: J# d& m
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch0 C+ B" H( v) P
hiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that* Z8 k! Q8 s5 X, k
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want) D& M+ g# |% V5 q2 U2 ~
to go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or7 I# I4 V6 h6 |; U0 h/ S
buses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
' o0 {4 d8 H. Y: W4 Hare spaces.
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi$ m& p9 [( [3 L9 [, N* S
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they
$ p' N% n8 F4 ?, s% g8 K2 i" Iown a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the
& F( B+ o% a- h40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different
, A4 x  P* Y& x, v* C" s8 [2 y) Y& hparts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the
. U0 x4 w' s) ^3 vbest and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few/ |0 B" f6 t' P. c: M
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of& s# J  j4 X- m+ l/ X
car license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it  g7 z* ^+ ~9 L1 g* B
is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.( `( f9 X4 S, d% P: f
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
( }( e1 ?4 e! R5 ^" {8 V9 ]: cspots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
4 H, s# ]1 o' H6 cthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very
0 W* s: Z. L- alimited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep  l' _9 V. D1 l& f2 ^" Q7 w2 @# [
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
$ b" d+ e: D1 Esupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
' F- R9 s5 d7 ]% Ythem are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms
2 V+ x) D5 [( A8 w1 t, Ohave no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the% o! C5 M& D% e$ R4 c5 g8 a) ]
tourist area.- z9 F) y4 i, L  P+ d- c2 `5 N
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One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's3 _* a4 E5 [$ D, u
pictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara).. T& c' A' x- q9 S, L2 _1 q1 I
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
- R" H5 }2 H( d( E: Yeverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps " S# N7 F& t+ _0 q9 P
less leader-religious.8 V4 Q* e" u4 u
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba- v& o: Z# d% V$ o
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big7 B# X3 H" x- f8 S  J
black flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US
) h: H' W6 d5 I' |- G. Iembassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).8 k$ x% `: j' p, v+ N/ w

3 o  S  w( Q% p; T1 L2 zWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the
6 G" c% f, X2 u# l  l$ m* D1 O) |parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not3 P6 J. J) v, d+ l
the normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1) ]* P5 T/ Y! U( j& l* U
convertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
8 r1 k  Q* q# bforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars0 e! C0 D. l, d6 O) K8 T
(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we
; o" w1 o' u3 b& x' |" Sprobably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the0 @5 l, W3 L9 ~- K
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.% I4 X; z5 p( n. K
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local* k  F( i7 M9 p, g2 G
or visitors.
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9 w3 J. p; T2 U2 t--  The End --

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