The Hicacos peninsula, which makes up Varadero Beach, is about 20 kms from the town to the end of the peninsula. There is only one road there and back, the highway.

(Wow, I can't believe I acually brought my inline skates to Cuba!)

This morning I got up early, had breakfast, put on my skates, and headed out. My first trek is to see how far I can go, so I headed out to the end of the peninsula which is about 16 kms from my resort. The pavement was good, acually like the Lachine Canal. The view however is breathtaking -- try to imagine a strip of land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The sound of waves bashing the shore. The smell of salt water...

At first I was a little concerned about being by myself. What if I was run over? attacked? whatever. Nonsense, drivers in Cuba are more cautious than in Canada, it's the tourists you have to watch out for. The people were amazed at the site of me. "Olah! Buenos dias" they would say; there was never a moment where I felt unsafe.

I was chased by a few dogs, but thankfully they weren't very fast, and one guy on a homemade moped tried to race me, but thanks to good technique and the fact that I was just faster, I soon lost sight of him.

The sun did not cooperate the first few days, however the temperature was about 24 degrees, which is what we have in August back home. The headwind was almost unbearable, at times I thought I was skating on a treadmill. The road was relatively flat with a few small hills. Getting to the end of the penninsula was tough, but worth it. Even though the sky was cloudy, the view of the ocean was awesome.

The trek on the highway got a little regular after a while, always the same scenery -- hotel after hotel. There were a few interesting stops. Workers from hotels waiting for their bus would ask me where I was from. "Montreal" I would say (I was wearing my Roller-Montreal skinsuit). They would say "Canada... Is it cold there?" I would say "Yes, it is much colder than here!" They hold their arms like they were shivering, and I would give them the peace sign.

When I got back to my hotel, I decided to go the other way through town. The town of Varadero is a tourist town, everything there is for tourists only. Stores, flea-markets, restaurants,etc -- the people of Cuba can't shop there. They live there, but can't shop there?? They have their own system that is a little too complicated to explain in a report like this.

I skated through downtown on the main street, which is about 3 kms long, then decided to go to a residential area. The kids were off school, so they would stop and watch this crazy Canuck go by on these things with wheels on his feet, some running to try and keep up with me.

I was shocked at the way the people of Cuba lived. The houses are extremely small with very few windows. They have no land to speak of, so gardening is kept to the minimum. Remember this is Varadero, a tourist town, the other towns are not as luxurious. Cubans are not allowed to own their houses, they can live there for their whole life, but the house is never theirs. Forget about television, cable, satelite, playstation, internet. They have none... Cars they can own, but only cars that were there before the revolution of 1959, so you see lots of 1940 to 1959 American models. Which is actually pretty cool!

There are more recent models like Hyundai or Peugot, they are for government workers. Taxis, delivery trucks, etc... everything in Cuba is owned by the gouvernment, everyone works for the gouvernment. They have these huge buses called "Wawa" that fit 300 people very uncomfortably I was told; they're for transporting workers back and forth to their jobs. We the tourists get coach style buses with air conditioning...

Cuba is an underdevelopped country, kind of stuck in the 1950's, but the people are so friendly, very well educated, and respectful. Although they never have left their country they are quite knowledgeable about the world. They like Canadians because we understand their way of life.

Back to the skating, I have certainly skated in a lot of nice places and Varadero rates as one of the best. The pavement has cracks and debris like other places but in general it is good. Because of the tropical climate, there are no big cracks like back home, but there are lizards. I hit one, a small one. I didn't have it in me to turn and look, I just kept on going, but I'm sure I killed it.

I got back to the hotel drained physically but excited, I couldn't wait to tell my adventure to anybody who would listen. After showering and having a cool beverage (or two) I went to the most beautiful beach to enjoy the sand and water.

There were a few more outings, mainly on the highways. I met up with some bikes, a couple of horse drawn carridges, some Vespas but no other skaters. Oh ya I did run in to this guy from Quebec city, he had brought along his inlines, but we could never get together on a trek. I informed him about Roller-Montreal. This summer he will be in Montreal and will look us up. I told him about the greatest event this side of the Atlantic, our 24 hour inline relay, and he said he may be interested. who knows?

All in all Cuba is a very interesting place, and a great place to skate. My wish would be to get some people from clubs across Canada to go down as a group, and skate and enjoy everthing a country like Cuba has to offer. The ocean, resorts, the endless kms of road. I consider myself very fortunate to have skated in Cuba, and would definitely do it again... in a flash!

PS: Maybe one day our American friends will be able to go, now that would be cool!

Pierre Pauw