Interesting facts about Cuba:
- The symbolic flower of Cuba is mariposa /it means “butterfly” in Spanish/. The mariposa is a gentle white flower picked as a symbol to represent peace.
- 22 % of Cuba’s territory includes reserves and protected areas.
- The tree symbol of Cuba is the crown palm tree. Each part of it comes into use – the trunk is used in construction, its fruit – for fodder, and the leaves for roof isolation.
- The bird symbol of Cuba is called Tokororo. Its stomach is coloured red and the wings – blue.
- The traditional Cuban meal is called „Congri” and is present on the table in Cuba several times a week. It consists of rice and black beans. Sometimes it is served with pork and sometimes it is the main course.
- The average annual rainfall in Cuba amount to 1400 мм. This sum is almost twice higher than that – in Bulgaria /700 мм/
- Cuba consists of the Island of Cuba, the Isle of Youth, and many other smaller islands.
- The USA tried to invade Cuba several times. In 1848 the Americans offer Spain 100 million USD to partake but the proposal is turned down.
- The mango is the biggest fruit tree in Cuba. There are over 114 types of mango.
- Cuba is the motherland of tobacco.
- The Mojito and Daikiri cocktails have been invented in Hemingway’s favourite Havana bars – Bodegida del Medio and la Floridita.
- The Bacardi rum was initially produced in Cuba, however, the brand relocates to Puerto Rico after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.
- Check out here when it is the best time to visit Cuba.
- Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The life expectancy here is the same as in any other developed country.
- Ernest Hemingway wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea” while living in Cuba. It is said that with the money from his first novel he bought a big mansion „Fimka Heminguei” close to Havana.
- The river fish Manjuari, which you can see in the Guama reserve, is found nowhere else in the world.
- No poisonous or dangerous plants or animals have been found in Cuba.
- Cuba is the 17th largest island in the world.
- Cuba is the most populated country in the Caribbean region with a population of 11 million people.
- Christmas becomes an official holiday in Cubа after 1997.
- The favourite sport of Cuba is baseball.
- Cuba receives daily around 100 000 barrels of petrol from Venezuela.
- Cuba’s National holiday is on the 1st of January. The date commemorates the outburst of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
-
- Around 85% of Cubans have Internet access.
- The Cuban summer starts in June and ends in September. For Europeans, it is scorching hot and unbearably humid.
- The second-largest city in Cuba is Santiago de Cuba. This is where the Cuban revolution starts from.
- 2 million Cubans live in the USA and mostly in Miami.
- The Cuban national hero Ernesto Che Guevara was born in 1928 in Argentina and was a dentist.
- On the morning of the 16th of October 1962, the national security advisers inform president John Cenedy that the American Intelligence has detected Soviet missiles in Cuba just 90 miles from the USA. This marks the beginning of the Caribbean Crisis, which almost ignites a nuclear war that thankfully did not happen.
- Cuba is world-famous for its rum and cigars. Tobacco is cultivated mainly in the west part of the country in the valleys of the Pinar del Rio Province.
- 90 % of the Cubans own a home.
- Industriales is Havanians’ favourite baseball team. There are often baseball derbies with the Matanzas team.
- Nearly 22 % of the country is covered with protected areas. The largest of them is Guamа.
- Pico Real del Turquino is the highest peak in Cuba. The variety show performed on the top floor of Havana Libre Hotel is named after the peak.
- The Revolution against Batista and American Colonialism starts with the attack on the barracks Moncada in Santiago de Cuba on the 26th of July 1953.
- Safra for the Cubans is the gathering of sugar cane and one of the main farming activities in Cubа.
- Yucca is a local plant with thick fruits that can be boiled or fried and eaten.
- Bananas are of great significance in Cubа. Here they are called platano. There are different sorts of platano and its fruits are consumed in all kinds of ways. The vianda sort is used for cooking.
- Since 2019 more Cubans have had Internet access.
- The main food in Cuba is rice, brought to the island from abroad.
- There are so many doctors in Cuba that often some of them are sent to countries with lack in this respect. These are mostly the African countries and Venezuela.
- The US Maine ship was blown in Havana bay in 1898 and causes the death of 250 people. The reason for the explosion was aimed at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.
- The 90s in Cuba are popular as “the special period”. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the food and goods import Cuba falls into starvation and deprivation. Electricity is accessible only 4 hours a day. Some of my elderly Cuban friends told me that they used to go to school drinking only water with sugar for energy.
- Cubа is the motherland of tobacco. It takes up 3% of the cultivated land.
- Up to 1993, the Cubans were not allowed to use American dollars.
- The first Independence war in Cuba was led by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes in 1868 and lasted for 10 years.
Between 1899 and 1902, Cubа is controlled by An American military government and before the Revolution, it is controlled by a popular American scheme for