Maybe 4 weeks ago things went back to a full swing of action as it hadn’t been since the Christmas break; we re-instated the dance classes, rock-climbing when possible, having a bunch of diners with a bunch of great cooks/food/conversations, drinks and parties, superb ice-walks and ice-skating. .
Photos here (click on it)
(including some stolen ones, thank you dear contributors!!)
Yes, Mauritians like their sea, also with ice! Here’s for the little story: after a few days of sub-zero temperatures I decided to venture there (on foot first) on my own. Satisfied of its thickness/ hardness I went to the local second-hand stored and picked up probably the dodgiest pair of skates you can find – whatever!, they were my size and cost 30 SEK (3 euros)!! As they were not very insulating I decided not to use them right away (didn’t have enough pairs of socks on) – but it was a beautiful day and the ice looked so good I couldn’t resist going for a long walk. Hence, I called Maja as ice-walk partner and we went for it! Direction: Trosso from the University. Although I had seen our friend Maarten skate the same path some days before, we went slow at first, plus we were hearing liquid noises which turned out to be the beers in my backpack!! Spooky, but from there on it went smoothly; had a beer on the rocks facing the university, literally ‘chilled’ on a small island, watched people sailing ice-yachts, and one guy was having a little promenade on a quad bike. An awesome day!
Some days later Canadian ‘floor-mate’ Mark (he lives in my building, same level) and I went for a proper skate. Not quite the baptism of fire but I must have looked like one goofy bastard on these things... anyway we staked from the Island Trosso where we live, to the university - that’s what you get when you study in Sweden! The feeling of gliding on this vast, outdoor, bare surface reminded me on flat-water windsurfing – pure freedom. A guy kiting stopped by us – I’m talking kite surfing kind of kite, on skates: you got to be quite confident because these things are bloody powerful.
A week later a group of us went for a longer distance towards the open water. We ran into an ice-yacht race along the way, them kept going until we could see long cracks on the ice and it was also getting softer under our blades. Big thanks Daniel Nordlund for taking the team out!
The International Skating Squad:
Mauritius, US (Josh), Sweden (Daniel), Canada (Mark & Maarten), Colombia (Alejandro)
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