We are soon at the doors of the famous year 2000, though still no merit has been deserved by it to be so described. I cannot help to keep asking me the same question whenever I get aboard a plane: Why we cannot transport our material bodies as in futurist films?

Can you imagine traveling with no luggage, no concern about what to wear or carry, not to get up early to be at the airport at improper hours, no waiting, no queues, no travelers complaining because your "carry-on bag" was placed first than theirs, no lines before customs...

It would be wonderful simply to contact your virtual agency, close your eyes and be in the chosen destination, without any dark circle under the eyes, the hair well set, no haste, like a diva character of a super production.

Please do not think that I'm in favor of this cold and electronic future, on the contrary, I immediately regret what I wrote some lines before. I still enjoy the inconveniences of the "past" and do you know why? because I'm shy but at the same time, a passionate of the complexity of human relations, I love the direct contact with the written brochures and magazines that open the doors of our imagination to start dreaming, the cup of coffee we drink with another traveler while waiting, the purchases I made in the duty-free shops and the haste for getting the best place aboard.

It's better that films still remain as they are. I won't like at all wearing a galactic outfit, that would be awful, I love making the list of the clothes I will wear each day and the heavy luggage, that weight that I so much enjoy watching it disappearing.

So enjoy "the primitive," keep on reading a magazine made of paper and if you have determined to take steps toward the future, find us at internet. Our work and aim is to create tailor-made suits, either classic or galactic. You choose.

Merry Christmas for you all, in the Caribbean, at home whatever choice you have made and I also look forward that this millenium be accompanied by many suitcases and new friends.

Consuelo Elipe

Every day we face the discovery of life, something that has nothing much to do with what Columbus did many years ago.

Maybe we have a media and communication with which he had not, but we remain just as ignorant on key issues. If at the time believed the earth had to be flat, I think every day that something had to be like is not, and here comes the surprise.

Humans do not cease to surprise us, sometimes in horrific and sometimes feeling so wonderful that we have discovered America when we feel someone touches our hearts, and we can almost understand why this man felt when he stepped on a virgin land or watching a nondescript landscape.

That's the world in 2000, still flat, a brutal simplicity and infinite, and sometimes round, smooth and even by walking. We can re-discover America, but we can discover something that makes us cry Life in sight! And living is so difficult ......

Consuelo Elipe

From this altitude, a country is like a green corner with clouds on the top, an unknown site.

SometimeS, daily life make us consider the Earth, a small place: a street, a bus stop, a room...

It is when you get on board a plane, after overcoming panic, that you realize that the small ones are us, not the land under our feet, that seems to be immense, passionate, completely out of reach.

Sometimes the notion that every small place I discover is nothing compared to the immensity of the Earth and that I'll never get to know nor even a small portion of it, causes me a lot of anxiety.

I fully understand those who has made of travelling a passion because it may turn into something that flows in our veins in a sort of race against ourselves. A trend to desperately know and be in a position to state: "I know a part of the world".

But it is not true, for every place we discover, there are a hundred that we nor even think of its existence.

Perhaps this is the reason behind some of us publishing travel magazines or reading them so as to capture the places on the pages, in fonts, they thus belong to us and we can make a cross on the "I've been there" column.

I can only say that if you are one of us, if you experiment the same sort of madness, welcome to another issue of this magazine, to this planet and do not forget that the Earth is under our feet, waiting for us.

Consuelo Elipe

Turn your eyes into the past may sound as the lyrics of a bolero and also a practice we all do as human beings once and again along our lives.

This mental state towards the past, this feeling of imagining how a place looked like a thousand years before, to guess who their inhabitants were, may be simply experimented just by looking at a beautiful place.

This happens in the Caribbean, just by sitting on the sea bank and looking around, making you feel that everything is as Christopher Columbus saw it one day, one can imagine what his eyes saw and what his hands touched when landing, what the vegetation and the fauna that formed the Caribbean 500 years ago looked like.

It is true that sometimes you have to pay close attention to an advise: Never look behind, because civilization grows on our backs and this dream of discoverers can crumble when you see that a hotel emerges from the sand.

However another dream is just to play with thoughts, to return from the past and take a comfortable shower and enjoy an exquisite dinner. Beauty and comfort are perfect companions on a trip where you only need respect towards the natural wonders that this area offers us.

Get on board this trip toward adventure and loudly shout: "Sea on Sight!" when you discover the Caribbean Sea.

Consuelo Elipe

This issue with which this season begins is a very special one for us since with it, we made our official introduction in the Dominican Republic in the 23th edition of CTC ( Caribbean Tourism Conference).

and though this may sound extremely serious, and it does, for us is like wearing a formal dress for the first time in life and for a special occasion, because this coincides with the youth of the media where we work, the illusion for the life ahead of us and on occasions, innocence in a rather complicated world. For all this, we feel like adolescents before a new adventure.

this conference seems to us the most relevant occasion since the efforts of the region to strengthen the union between regional producers and the tourism industry is highlighted in this event once more, i. e. the respect for the indigenous characteristics and products of all member countries, but placing the emphasis on the emerging tourism industry.

and if this adventure were not enough, our magazine Excellences starts another path, speaking in another language, German, introducing to you Karibik, aimed at reaching more readers so that the Caribbean be a region known all over the world, our Caribbean, this set of elements that goes beyond the typical and superficial image.

students go back to school and we are ready, our pencils are sharpened and our minds purified so that today begins for us a life entirely devoted to the publishing world.

Consuelo Elipe

The Cuban people, advances day after day with its hardworking thrust. These last years of admirable transformation that the Cuban people has made possible the preparations to be one of the major tourism in the Caribbean region where it belongs, in less than 5 years, Cuba received over 400,000 tourists and 2000,000 are expected to come this year.

But to see the future, we only have to raise our eyes before the efforts being made to recover the architectural heritage. For instance in Havana, Eusebio Leal, the Historian of the City and a man of an admirable strong willpower and thrust is achieving that Old Havana recovers step by step the beauty that used to characterize the city.

During these days, the 480th anniversary of the founding of Havana city and the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of States and Government are going to be held; the latter will be one of the most significant events in the world.

FIHAV99 seems to achieve this year the largest numbers of exhibitors since its foundation, therefore, the end of this year apparently poses the challenge to Cuba of achieving in the last year of the millenium the definitive take-off of its economy and that in the year 2000 starts the beginning of the millenium with the success the Cuban people deserves for the efforts and sacrifices made.

José Carlos de Santiago

It’s true that life is so short as a dream and not always pleasant, a bit of a nightmare at times because we all spend some hours doing what we dislike: rushing, working, listening what we don’t want to hear, regretting what we failed to do...

Excellences does not offer solutions for life problems, but provides some suggestions like a trip that may result in an exciting dream, at least for a couple of days. Guess where?

THE CARIBBEAN.

It’s possible to escape to one of the destinations we propose. Simply say yes, choose a destination and make the luggage.

Not everybody has in mind the same picture, so we also propose another completely different destination: Merida in Yucatan, Mexico, where we may either become archeologists and discover fabulous treasures or simply have a good time visiting unique sites and people.

A different tour we can do a different tour in Europe discovering every thematic park where we can go with the kids and dream together.

I f still you need to make up your mind, have a cup of coffee while mentally touring the many cafés found in the Caribbean and the Americas or sip a mojito at La Bodeguita, in Havana, to celebrate if you have finally made the right decision: COMING TO THE CARIBBEAN.

Consuelo Elipe