Fun Facts About Cuba🇨🇺

Discover these fun facts about Cuba to enrich your travel experience with hidden stories and fascinating details!

  • Literacy Rate: Cuba boasts an impressive literacy rate of 99.8%, which is almost perfection.
  • University of Havana: Established in 1728, this institution has stood the test of time, becoming a beacon of knowledge and enlightenment.
  • School Uniforms: Every Cuban student wears a uniform, symbolizing unity, discipline, and a shared future.
  • Rural Courses: The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education offers courses for rural workers, a gesture of hope and progress for those who work the land.
  • Latin American School of Medicine: This is a gift from the Cuban state to the world, where international students are trained to heal and return with life-saving knowledge.
  • Electrical Outlets: Cuba uses Type A, B, C, and L outlets. Make sure to bring a good travel adapter for Cuba.
  • Refugees: Over a million Cubans have fled to the United States, seeking freedom and better opportunities, a critical commentary on their homeland.
  • Cuban Music: Since the turn of the century, Cuban music has become a global sensation, touching hearts worldwide with its soulful rhythms and melodies.
Cuban musician on the street

  • Healthcare: Cuba has universal healthcare, a rarity in today’s world, with the highest doctor-to-population ratio globally, making care a right, not a luxury.
  • Taíno and Ciboney: Before Columbus landed, the Taíno and Ciboney people called this land home. Their spirits are still felt in the earth and sky.
  • Caribbean Spanish: Cuban Spanish is infused with Caribbean warmth, sharing a musical kinship with the languages of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
  • Cuban Sandwich: The delicious Cuban sandwich was actually born in the United States, a tasty irony.
  • Special Period: After the USSR’s collapse, Cuba entered a time of extreme economic hardship. Adult Cubans lost between 5 and 25% of their body weight due to food shortages.
  • Colón Cemetery: Havana’s Colón Cemetery is among the most beautiful and historic in the world, rivaling Recoleta in Buenos Aires and Père Lachaise in Paris.
  • Domino: Dominoes is Cuba’s national game. The clatter of the tiles is like a rhythm of the Cuban soul on every street corner.
Cubans playing dominoes on the street

  • Bee Hummingbird: Cuba is home to the world’s smallest bird, the bee hummingbird, just 2.24 inches long and lighter than a coin.
  • Pico Turquino: Cuba’s highest mountain, Pico Turquino, stands at 6,476 feet in the Sierra Maestra range.
  • House Sales: Cubans could only buy or sell homes starting in 2011 after the Cuban Revolution.
  • Travel Restrictions: Until 2013, Cubans couldn’t leave the country without prior government permission.
  • Che Guevara: Che Guevara, the revolutionary icon, smoked cigars dipped in honey to soothe his asthma.
  • Indigenous Peoples: Cuba is home to two major indigenous groups: the Taínos and the Guanahatabeyes.
  • Taíno Words: Many words we use today, like “hurricane,” “barbecue,” “canoe,” and “hammock,” come from the Taíno language.
  • Monte Iberia Dwarf Frog: The world’s smallest frog, the Monte Iberia dwarf frog, is a tiny marvel found in Cuba’s forests.
  • Baracoa: The first city founded in Cuba was Baracoa in 1511, a cornerstone of Cuban history.
  • Hemingway’s Cats: The cats of Ernest Hemingway and their descendants still live at his former home, Finca Vigía, in Havana.
  • Baseball: Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 1860s by Cubans returning from the U.S. and American sailors, quickly becoming a national passion.
  • Fidel and Batista: Fidel Castro and former dictator Fulgencio Batista both came from the same province of Holguín in eastern Cuba. Two enemies with a shared origin.
  • Playa Pilar: The famous beach Playa Pilar on Cayo Guillermo is named after Ernest Hemingway’s boat.
  • Castro’s Survival: Fidel Castro survived over 600 assassination attempts, mostly by the CIA, living a life of shadows and conspiracies.
  • Clean Havana: Havana is remarkably clean, with little trash on the streets.
  • Education: Cuba spends 13% of its budget on education, one of the highest rates in the world, investing in a future built on knowledge.

Those were some fun and interesting facts about Cuba. Do you know any more? Let us know!

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