DOMINOES, FROGS & HITCHHIKING

■ THE main island of Cuba is the largest in the Caribbean (and the 17th largest in the world).

■ BASEBALL is the most popular sport because American sailors played it in the 1860s. The Spanish banned the sport in 1869 because of the U.S. connection but this just made it more popular.

■ THE biggest exports are tobacco, sugar and nickel.

■ CHRISTMAS was officially banned from 1969 to 1997, but was allowed again after Pope John Paul II visited.

■ CUBA is home to the bee hummingbird, the world’s smallest bird (at about 6cm or 2.4in in length).

■ IT IS also home to one of the world’s smallest frogs: the Monte Iberia dwarf frog.

■ DOMINOES is the national game.

■ HITCHHIKING is commonplace.

■ COCA-COLA cannot officially be bought or sold.

■ THE literacy rate is 99.8 per cent.

■ MOBILE phones were banned until as recently as 2008.