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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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# d5 \' N: v: |& i" m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. ' e8 L! X6 E! o: q

+ ^- I: F  l/ G% D( _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.- `( X. F2 e* ^: s% U
+ F, [( @2 w, Y  m4 E4 ^
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
$ M; T/ \7 h7 j! P  P0 o, Linteresting, but we never had a sunshine vacation before and also we' X9 Z. f' n  y: }0 L% W
wanted to see and learn a bit about Cuba, if possible.
) f1 S/ Z! f- P8 Z" Y% u+ u% C/ z6 j* N( ^8 s8 L
It was a mixed bag of people on our plane and in the resort: 20% young,- r4 V  H2 L/ x
30% old, and 50% in between, also quite a few single men.  People are in
7 T- x  ]. P1 C0 y0 wa very different mode in the resort, lots of them dress as little as
5 z: V' C; c2 f2 r2 wpossible and drink as much as they can, stay up very late (resort6 g' d. @) r4 v; n
show/dance music is very loud and runs into 1am daily), and sleep) _' N' F  [5 G, R# ?- }
between the meals on the beach, beside the swimming pool, and in the; k3 n5 D" j6 C- L. C. P; P5 ]
lobby.  The resort lobby is really used as a family/living room for all,7 A  M* {) B9 i! d$ x1 J+ K1 s
with people doing all sorts of things and nothing is too strange there.( {2 ^  ?! G, Q8 v& }
People on vacation are even more friendly then they are in Canada, but
: i1 k' k; E: h7 a# [  D, vnames (especially the last name) seems to be one thing that not
2 d5 E& _. Z5 s6 @) q5 kexchanged much.  It is interesting to see people change color in our
3 a3 G1 I) h8 x/ Sflight at the beginning and at the end of our trip, like peanuts through
5 a% X* P) w( o, oa roast oven - white before and roasted afterwards.
5 n8 j- a9 C7 [# [8 V9 z2 S1 b2 U. H: h5 I$ a" e' J) a9 t' ]
The weather was beautiful during our stay: mid to high 20s in the day,
; ~5 B5 @9 ]2 z4 Glow 20s in the night.  We did sea kayak, swam in the ocean and the pool! Z" P0 v$ P' ?' m  H- O/ v& D7 [
(when it was too windy), went to town by bike, and saw the island on top
6 y$ M6 C2 s! s1 eof the hop-on/off double-decker bus, walked along the beach, watched the$ p7 a# w% G( d! s, K" k; j0 M8 G! H+ v
stars (note the sky at 23 degree latitude looks quite different from% `  _5 F7 P& F" Q+ i5 A) h
49), played ping-pong everyday after lunch.  Em even tried 20 minutes. ?  H* M, B. B
Cuba neck-back massage that felt like intensive cha-cha dancing with
  i" e: {" \5 y. x  b& X) `; c  y; mfingers, palms and fists; very different from what we have in Canada.  v+ P3 i3 |' v" m) Q

# [! a- p+ |, a$ C( BThe resort staff are mostly very good, some do so for tips, but some are
$ y& }' M$ a& ?( `' Djust very nice, like our room maid (see the pictures of the bed she made
$ U$ P( z( n$ z; m$ gfor us).  The resort looks to be owned by the government, as Cuba
" ~' _  b8 x5 Wtourist industry and most other things in general.  Watching them having# `2 O7 N% `1 P! d6 J+ Y: z
a staff meeting with the Cuba flag up, made Em think about China4 C/ R4 l: A+ J1 G1 c
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% C2 X% |8 f$ Q7 c2 j. M3 E8 l
standard and government control wise.  To see and know it more, we went
" J& ?/ O" l* J. `on a day trip to Havana ("La Habana" in Spanish).  Our tour guide,
+ I" y1 x0 |3 V"George" seems to be very knowledgeable and, as we pushed, he did give
; A. ^# M$ u$ p6 ianswers to our pointed questions.
# Y+ X# k' c8 S- _! v* H8 ]
0 {) |. j8 F3 c# z+ l0 fThe racial mix in Cuba is very diverse, with about 40% white, 15% black,/ o! _6 f7 |7 W3 N- r% G; I
45% mixed (aka mulatto), even about 1% Chinese, so no one would stand) S9 s9 U+ y" F, Q3 i& }& `
out too much here (especially after you got a sun tan).  Education is
( A& f7 ~. p, F  k5 v0 vfree all the way up to University level (need to pass competition exams
7 K/ c5 R) }0 n; r: y7 @to get in), and it sounds like close to half of the Universities are0 q; ~9 T, C4 i, g
medical schools.1 H2 q; }+ F( M

, A  S5 j+ q$ ^  e' @Every university graduate needs to do 3 years service assigned by the
2 ~; W5 Y7 b% ?7 xgovernment before moving to the job/place they want, and if anyone wants
( ]% |: S& K; R1 p5 p* ]to go abroad afterwards, he/she needs to do an additional 3 years
5 L5 H( f6 i1 ^7 }# t/ nassigned service before leaving the country.  The salary range in Cuba
; [# S# h& |  R; i4 }is from  $200 Cuba Peso (~$11 CAD) per month (minimum state wage) to# d) `- W2 _/ o8 s: I5 C
over $600 Cuba Peso (~$32.5 CAD) per month (for medical doctors).  There
. d' m# c( o6 Y7 |$ R! {  Cseems to be no big issue with food, as most basic foods are cheap and
( V; ~3 [+ ~  U7 i) j# H; ~mostly supplied/rationed by government. Though they do have a milk
" g1 L3 ^& S5 s0 cshortage which the government is addressing by converting some
2 R+ D( Q) H* L4 W1 Isugar-cane farm lands into cattle lands.0 }& x; T; U5 F' B3 ^9 y8 O$ ]

# g0 q9 H* u# l9 P. P. ^% h9 r# cThe main issues are housing, transportation, and clothing.  There is no
; H7 ?& K$ Y/ y3 t, Tprivate real estate in Cuba, as all the housing is controlled and
+ Z8 j6 `: E' E5 z# }* y; F8 @% Qsupplied by the government, and the supply is so tight that young people
1 q, q1 @( X2 Vhave to stay with their family even after they are married.  The good9 Z' D. T! p: z0 y3 }. Y
thing about this is that there is always someone in the house to do baby9 {+ F$ b. B# |" s% R
sitting and care for older/sick people, but bad impacts include a high
7 Q+ f* f& d7 Edivorce rate: over 50% newlyweds go separate ways within two years.
2 H! W6 |$ h/ p5 P' |Divorce is very easy: 15 days waiting period and $4 Cuba Peso fee.  When
( f: `. P" x8 [3 r8 Ta lawyer is involved, the fee is $15 Cuba Peso, as lawyer can only4 G, ]/ ]5 M4 y8 K6 d
charge the fee defined by the state.' {* {! V2 l/ R7 {5 z! G
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There are three main types of transportation: taxi ($20 Cuba Peso to get& k8 C/ V5 S- _1 }7 J- i/ J) x
on), bus similar like what we have but made in China, and a special type
. n6 c) V' a" q  N1 O6 uof bus called Camel (see picture) which has two "humps" and the big8 U$ h) E& |* E1 I
truck head of the bus comes from NFLD (used as we were told).  The Camel' a. I; H* X  [; z
seems to be the main transportation for most Cubans, especially the/ E1 ^/ F5 N, j% H( _8 o
working class people, 20 cents per ride, but it is often not on5 f/ @) f3 V/ a& Q% R+ q
schedule.  No one knows when the Camel will come to a bus stop, so if( R9 \( _, q8 {7 _% O( _; B
you ask, people say "maybe today, maybe tomorrow".  We saw some people. A. N8 g% j) L' O5 N
trying to hitch a ride in quite a few places. George mentioned hitch
, ^0 `) c% Q; X0 l$ xhiking is very common in Cuba due to transportation shortage and that% k6 j+ x4 J) j4 j
people have developed a sign language to indicate cities where they want
9 k; ]" n6 ?; N" ]! J' Lto go.  There are places that government officials would stop cars or
4 t' W1 B' w& ~% L& v; z. I; vbuses owned by the state and order them to take hitch hikers if there
" e( H) K9 c( ?# v6 s' Tare spaces.! O$ E; e. i8 u5 Z$ h/ e
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There are private car owners, and some of them use their car as a taxi, @6 y! A6 b4 [0 {
to make some money, people call them "the thinkers" (that is why they. N* J- z8 }6 k2 G0 n
own a car).  Due to US blockade, most American cars here are from the1 S# T' J! e& f
40s and 50s, but most of them had lots work done inside (all different& y; Z8 k4 y& j8 W- [
parts including homemade) to keep them running, so Cuba probably has the  E' \. c; L- `+ r8 ]1 q/ \  ?
best and most innovative auto mechanics in the world.  We also saw a few+ m) h8 y: c9 w5 m" r
nice new Japanese and Korean cars.  We asked George about the color of
( u; L0 _( T, f' B5 xcar license plate when we saw a nice new Audi - he said the red means it
  B7 i  P$ r7 h9 ^is a rental, the yellow ones are private, the blue ones are state owned.# f0 _2 k1 t; ^
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. @) ~0 ?1 _" x6 N2 W* t8 O
spots.  But in general, it is quite run down. We felt very sorry for all
8 F3 v0 j, ~9 _9 z) F* cthe nice colonial style buildings near the ocean front. With very7 k% T. Q; ~9 P2 F  N9 R+ {
limited resources, especially still recovering from early 90's deep) \0 L: k& N) J2 k6 Z
recession after Soviet Union collapse (Cuba lost its $30 million per day
; E; T. `' C& _+ f6 csupplement), little has been done to maintain/restore them, and some of
: U4 Z: Q0 m. ]! K! }them are already gone.  Shops have very limited goods, public bathrooms% u1 S6 [  H# R& p
have no running water (and you pay for paper of course), even in the
. X# a* y( Z$ L. X3 X" W! Y9 X, S8 V7 Btourist area.
: ^1 _0 N/ C, J* o) c# n1 z/ ~9 P) `. f) C. ]# e' h
One thing quite interesting is that we couldn't find much of Castro's
4 R$ |5 f$ t7 H9 g3 e1 h7 Xpictures or statues in Havana at all (although lots of Che Guevara)./ k' o2 X) z8 P' @: _) }
Compared to China in 60s and 70s, Mao's pictures and statues were
& U) J2 z& b+ T5 h2 {2 ~% C4 p! F! Feverywhere. So although Cuba is very poor, it seems more open and perhaps 9 p, W- ]  C9 W+ s
less leader-religious.
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About 6 months ago, the old US embassy building put up some anti-Cuba4 A* f# q* c& l- a4 i
government slogans in their top floor window.  Cuba then put up 138 big
/ o- f% z5 Q* ~6 eblack flags in front of the embassy to block them.  As the result, US  A! ^; R: p% A
embassy lost their nice ocean view (see picture).
2 ]! Z- _! C. K0 v2 i/ K' k
* K# E2 D; Z6 _3 F1 c8 d0 qWe did have a nice vacation and felt very relaxed.  But we only saw the1 p7 Q3 Z6 F3 I
parts of Cuba as what we could, even the money we used in Cuba is not
* v4 Q' ^* |6 t" F8 @5 u2 ethe normal Cuba Peso used by Cubans, but a convertible Peso ((like 外汇卷 in China before) $1
5 ]  T$ T& v& X* ~( O- Qconvertible Peso = $24 Cuba Peso = $1.3 CAD = $1.25 US), and things for
& |! H  d3 P9 r8 N5 L6 R) u1 Iforeigners are in similar price as in Canada, except Rum and Cigars
4 B/ Y! d+ ^. s# ?* T8 i( {(less than half).  If we could speak Spanish and could stay longer, we& U6 t& d3 I& o0 l6 t
probably could wander around and talk to locals to know more about the3 ?& K; x% ?% f: K/ r
real Cuba, as ordinary people here seem friendly and very easy going.* N2 t/ H) x6 F
And it seems the tropical weather can really make people happier, local
  D# u# N8 D( M' qor visitors.- `0 k# Y8 q7 J4 Z( M* L
7 b, v+ ?0 Y. {! @- ?
--  The End --

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