The main language in Cuba is Spanish but French and English are widely spoken. Religion in Cuba is freedom of Creed, largely Catholic and Afro Cuban.
The weather in Cuba is humid/tropical reaching, during the month of July, temperatures of 30ºC, while in January (being the coolest month) it reaches 21ºC.
The tropical Island is 750 miles in length which is roughly the size of Pennsylvania.
It is a beautiful mix of mountain ranges and plains with over 200 bays and 289 sun drenched beaches.
The elongated island of Cuba
is the largest island in the Caribbean and is bounded to the north by the
Straits of Florida and the greater North Atlantic Ocean, to the northwest
by the Gulf of Mexico, to the west by the Yucatan Channel, to the south
by the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Windward Passage.
The economy of Cuba is based on state ownership with some small scale private enterprise existing at the fringes.
Tourism has become one of the largest sources of income for Cuba.
In 1993 the U.S. dollar was made legal tender replacing a dual-currency system but this arrangement was revoked on 25 October 2004.
The Cuban economy was hit hard in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Comecon economic bloc with which it had traded predominantly.
More recent problems include high oil prices, recessions in key export markets
such as sugar and nickel, damage from hurricanes (most recently an estimated
1 billion dollars economic damage from hurricane Charley), depressed tourism,
and faltering world economic conditions.
In late 2003, and early 2004, both tourism levels and nickel prices increased.
One other factor in the recovery of the Cuban economy is the remittances of Cuban-Americans which constitute almost 3% of the Economy.
Currently, Cuba trades with almost every nation in the world (including the U.S.). However, Cuba owes billions in Paris Club debt to nations such as France, Japan and Germany.
The Flag of Cuba was designed
in 1850 by rebels that wanted independence from Spain.
|
|
|
|
Portugal and Paradores |