11 amazing things most people don’t know about Cuba
Cuba is amazing in so many different ways…Its people, its natural beauty, its wonderful traditions, its rhythms and these are only a few of the things that come to one’s mind when thinking of Cuba. But what about the unknown facts? We gathered a list of the things less famous, but intriguingly interesting about Cuba:
- In Cuba, ballerinas are at the height of stardom and popularity. In fact, they often earn more money than doctors.
- A drink of rum and coke and lime is called a “Cuba Libre” in Latin America except in Cuba. There, it’s called a “mentirita,” or “little lie.”
- On New Year’s Eve, Cubans burn dolls in order to symbolize forgetting bad times and looking forward to new and good times during the New Year.
- Cubans don’t typically write their recipes down. Instead, they are passed down from generation to generation through stories and shared experiences.
- Cuba has the highest doctor to patient ratio in the world. There are so many doctors in Cuba, that doctors are often sent abroad to countries with a great need of medical professionals.
- Cuba has the world’s highest proportion of Spanish speakers in its population – higher even than Spain.
- The uniform color of school children depicts their grade level. Every child between the ages of 6 and 15 is required to attend school.
- Cuba offered to pay a US$270 million Soviet-era debt to the Czech Republic entirely in rum.
- Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world: 99.8%.
- Government vehicles in Cuba are legally required to pick up any hitchhikers.
- Cubans expats are calling, on an average, two times a week their family and friends back home in Cuba.
