Spanish; Cuba facts

Running head: SPANISH
Spanish; Cuba facts
Name
Institutional affiliation

SPANISH 2
Basic Facts
Cuba is officially known as the Republic of Cuba, a country consisting of an Island of
Cuba. Below is a sample of the map of Cuba:
Figure 1 (from Google Maps).
It is located in the Caribbean Sea, and it is in North America. Its capital is Havana, and it
also has a population size of 101 people per square kilometers (Gebelein, 2011). Other major
cities in Cuba are Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara, Holguín, Camagüey and Guantánamo
including others.
Geography
Cuba is an island located between the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean as
shown from the above map. Moderated by Trade Winds, it experiences tropical climate
(Gebelein, 2011). It has River Cauto which is the largest followed by Rivers Toa, Guama and
Yumuri. River Cauto has three main tributaries, namely Salado, Bayamo and Contranaetre while
River Toa has 72 tributaries, and has also been termed to be the mightiest river in Cuba.
(Gebelein, 2011) Cuba’s lakes are Lakes Laguna de Leche and Hanabanilla. It also has El Nicho

SPANISH 3
Waterfalls, Salto Del Caburni Waterfalls, Parque el Cubano Waterfalls, Guayabo Falls and
Vegas Grande Waterfall.
The mountains in Cuba include Mountains Sierra Maestra, Escambray, Pan de Guajaibón
and Cuchillas del Toa. The rainforest is tropical rainforest like Lush rainforest in Vegas Grande
Waterfall and Montane forest in Pico Turquino (Gebelein, 2011). The country has never
experienced any form of volcanoes with no desert places available.
Culture
Apart from Spanish, the other languages spoken in Cuba are Haitian Creole, Lucimi,
Galician, and Corsican. The national holidays in the country includes the following:
 On July 26- National Revolution Day,
 On July 27- Revolution Anniversary Holiday,
 On October 10- Independence Day,
 On May 1- Labor Day.
The major festivals in the country include Santiago de Cuba Carnival, 26 July Celebrations,
Festival Internacional de Rap, Matamoros Son Festival, Havana Ballet Festival, Havana Theatre
Festival, CDR Anniversary and many other minor festivals (Gebelein, 2011). The most popular
national sport in Cuba is baseball with other sports like boxing, volleyball and trekking.
Cuban typical dress
Cuban typical dress today consist of casual jeans or slacks, skirts, short for women while
mean typical wear loose fitting tops and T- shirts. Though, the most common Cuban traditional
clothing are the Havana shirt, guayabera shirt, cigar shirt and the Mexican wedding shirt (Elliot,
2016).