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has the Río Almendares, which cuts through the heart of the city. Both programs are beginning to show positive results. Sulfur emissions from oil wells near Varadero have been reduced and environmental regulations for developments are now enforced by the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. Fishing regulations, as local fisherman will tell you, have become increasingly strict. Striking the balance between Cuba’s immediate needs and the future of its environment is one of the Revolution’s increasingly pressing challenges.

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GUSTAV, IKE AND PALOMA – AN UNHOLY TRINITY

The year 2008 was Cuba’s worst hurricane season in living memory, with a triple whammy of summer storms – Gustav, Ike and Paloma – pummeling crops, destroying infrastructure and wrecking more than half a million homes. From his sickbed, the normally cool-headed Fidel likened the hurricanes’ combined force to the strength of an atomic bomb. Yet, miraculously, only seven people were killed and as few as 30 injured – a glowing testament to the Cuban government’s well-organized hurricane evacuation procedures.

Gustav arrived first, a lethal Category 4 storm that slammed into the Isla de la Juventud on August 30 before tracking north through Pinar del Río province where 225km/h winds ripped roofs off homes, downed electricity pylons and destroyed half of the normally lucrative tobacco crop.

After a respite of just seven days, Ike raged in on September 7 causing a devastating storm surge in Baracoa (the whole Malecón was leveled) before making landfall as a Category 4 storm in eastern Holguín province a day later.

The urban centers of Banes and Gibara bore the brunt of the carnage with over 70% of the towns’ colonial houses flattened or severely damaged. The storm then blasted southwest cutting a swathe through Las Tunas and Camagüey provinces before regrouping off Cuba’s southern coast. The nightmare wasn’t over. Amazingly, Ike swung back to the north and slammed into Cuba a second time, hitting the already crippled Pinar del Río province where it caused widespread flooding and power outages.

Cuba’s third 2008 storm was a rare late-season hurricane that pitched into the southern shore-line of Camagüey province on November 8 causing a massive storm surge that took out 435 houses in the small fishing village of Santa Cruz del Sur in one hit. Miraculously, Paloma was downsized to a tropical storm a few hours later before fizzling out over the Oriente, but the hurricane had already wrought its damage, adding a couple more digits to a crippling cleanup bill that ultimately cost the Cuban government US$8.4 billion.

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Cuba Outdoors

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DIVING

CYCLING

FISHING

SNORKELING

BIRD-WATCHING

HIKING & TREKKING

HORSEBACK RIDING

BOATING & KAYAKING

ROCK CLIMBING

CAVING

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Culture is Cuba’s traditional tour de force. But behind the infectious music and cerebral museums lies 5746km of coastline, six Unesco Biosphere Reserves, more than 20,000 caves, three sprawling mountain ranges, 350 bird species, the world’s second-largest coral reef, and hectares and hectares of unspoiled countryside.

Adventurers who feel that they’ve had their fill of rum, cigars and all-night salsa dancing can break loose on a bike, fish (as well as drink) like Hemingway, hike on guerrilla trails, jump out of an airplane or rediscover a sunken Spanish shipwreck off the shimmering south coast.

Thanks to the dearth of modern development, Cuba’s outdoors is refreshingly green and free of the smog-filled highways and ugly suburban sprawl that infects many other countries.

While not on a par with North America or Europe in terms of leisure options, Cuba’s facilities are well established and improving. Services and infrastructure vary depending on what activity you are looking for. The country’s diving centers are generally excellent and its instructors of an international caliber. Naturalists and ornithologists in the various national parks and flora and fauna reserves are similarly conscientious