The birth of a baby of a good friend coincided with the preparations of my vacations. Someone may ask about the connection between these two events. And there is no connection.

In the midst of phone calls, cancellations, high prices, negotiations, etc., I always think that this will be the last time I endure this, that next year I’ll have my vacations in the nearest town and won’t consult any cold troublesome catalogue which prevents me from taking the vacations I like. Regarding the subject of babies’ births, I have overheard women on labor and in pain stating that this will be the last time.

In both cases, people forget bad moments in a record time since good moments have the power of erasing the discomfort and pain of delivering a baby and —putting aside the difference, of course— the strain of preparing the suitcase for a trip.

Once more I will promise myself to prepare everything in advance and plan one thousand things more and again I will shout while preparing the suitcase and miss everything all over again pon return.

Life is no doubt full of contrasts. In February, we have the world of carnival filling up the streets with colorfulness and dancing. And in April, Holy Week takes recognition, devotion and, in many cases, sacrifice to many corners of the world.

The Caribbean is just another case in point of these differences that coexist in either harmony or ignorance. We find luxury, poverty, perils, innocence, beauty, disappointments and we have to accept all that because such is life: good and bad, beauty and ugliness.

For us, the Caribbean was never the perfect all-blue, always-sunlit myth where perfect couples traipse down lovely white beaches.

The Caribbean is like just any other tiny thing on this planet, with its two faces. Thus, there are countries that thrill us and others that leave us indifferent. That’s the way we have always tried to showcase them, in depth and with all shades and contrasts that breathe life into them.

In this 21st issue, we bring to you the explosion of the carnivals, the peacefulness of the Cuban countryside with the breathtaking beauty of its scenery, the historic testimony woven through centuries in Campeche and a smaller commercial area dedicated to the world’s major fairs.

All this much combined is what actually lures us; the different, the unknown and distant world that even though it loses its magic when it’s close at hand, we do have the marvelous time of dreaming of its perfection and pursuing it till we get there. Let’s continue pursuing the Caribbean and its myth and if someday one of those myths fall out of grace, let’s then reach out to the next. The world is nearly endless.

Consuelo Elipe

The world is green and blue in Excellences 22. Blue because the Caribbean is like that, big and blue and this is the image that we portrait in our minds when we listen that mythical word. And green because nature is virgin still in many countries of this area. Our aim in this issue is provide you with examples of these colors, to dive on the south of the Caribbean; this is the deep blue, then Western Cuba with Pinar del Río and Viñales; this is a more intense green found in an area of this country that will be a surprise for many that thought that everything has been seen in Cuba. Nevertheless, the Caribbean is an endless colorful palette, as has been stated by all the countries gathered in New York. And I think that in all the conclusions reached, there is another color that shadows the rest because of its strong light: Internet. Does anybody know the color of cyberspace? I don’t have the answer now, but once more perhaps the Caribbean depends on the color of the glass with which one looks through, on this occasion is green-blue, next time, issue 23 will tell us...

What does the Caribbean has, but savor? An intense and special savor, that any palate will for ever remember.

And as every exquisite dish, has so many tastes!!! We have prepared a spring menu that by the way starts from the sweetest: the sugar cane, but why not to draw mad and lose so many absurd rules worked out by such an orderly world. In the Caribbean everything is possible and to start from dessert as well. Then we continue with something with volcanic force, but softens with the mist and the green color of St. Pierre and as a main dish, Santiago de Cuba, an explosion of color, music, passion for life that reaches us from any corner or at any glance from a Santiago citizen, always proud of his city.

An unforgettable gathering is not only made up by food, but by details as well that fill the spirit with the joy of living and also with the pleasure of a good cigar, an unequal symbol of the force of the Caribbean.

Consuelo Elipe

Here in Europe, it’s very hot during these days. Yes I know that in the Caribbean is also hot, but a different hot, a blend of water, music and the warm of the peoples found in the streets. I have always thought that summer can only be pleasant staying in lost paradises, near the beach shores of white sands with the wave sounds as a background and I still abide by this way of thinking. Isn’t these dreams of escaping from the block-cities what keep us alive? The Caribbean is that dream, never out of fashion, preserved as a mysterious myth, despite the fact that one travels more and more and the mass media provides plenty of information on different topics. But still the Caribbean has the ability to make us think more of it, as long as we know it better, much is left to see and if what we have lived is not so paradise-like, is because much of these worlds of dreams still remain to be seen farther on. We are at the last stage of this urban summer. Another step and the fresh breeze of the Caribbean Sea will surrounds us. For those who cannot make it this year, the recipe is to submerge in our web sites near the fan and stick to the eternal hope next time that will be possible.

Consuelo Elipe