When most people decided to go on a tropical vacation, they do not usually have Cuba in mind. Cuba, for years, has been seen as a communist country, with United States embargo's placed against them for political issues. For an American citizen to travel to Cuba, they must first obtain special permission, otherwise it is considered illegal. Those with close family ties or church groups, possibly even schools, are usually the only ones allowed entry.

     We do not justify political reasons, but will show you a country that is full of wonder and beauty. It is not the poverty stricken country that so many of us may have learned about in school but instead an island that offers much to see and much to discover near the Tropic of Capricorn.

            In terms of land mass Cuba is the sixteenth largest island in the world. If looking at a map you could find the island by the coordinates "21 degrees 3N, 80 degrees 00W" (http://www.travel-cuba.org) The coastline of Cuba totals over three thousand and seven hundred kilometers.

            Very little is known about the original inhabitants of Cuba, for they were killed by the conquest of Spain. In 1942, Christopher Columbus claimed Cuba for Spain and in less than 100 years "epidemic diseases, brutality, and forced labor wiped out the peaceful tribes" (Cramer, 2000).