-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Burke
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 3:04 PM
To: Dan Burke
Subject: So Monday was a holiday...


I hope you all had fun. Feel free to make fun of me,
repeatedly, for not knowing it was a holiday.
Honestly, I don't even have a concept of what month it
is right now, so please permit me this one error.

I am the last man standing.

I sit here alone, left to finish out the last leg of
the trip by myself. Erica went home today after a
whirlwind shopping trip all over town. She climbed
into a cab just after noon and I could see the sadness
in her eyes as she pulled away from Hotel National,
away from Cuba, at least until the next time.

We had a brilliant breakfast on Plaza Vieja this
morning before hitting the only screen printing shop
in town. The light in Plaza Vieja is soft, really soft
all day. There is a primary school there on the square
where kids in uniforms play kickball under the chins
of 1700s mansions restored to their full majesty. The
square is proud, and the people who pass through it on
their way to work, or home from market are proud too.
And nothing seems too important to bypass a smile.

There were no cell phones ringing, no one pushing
there way through the crowds, no one spilling hot
Strarbucks coffee on themselves, or someone else and
scowling at them as if they did it.

Little dogs with short legs spread out in the morning
whistle. Workers hung from a high story hotel chipping
away the wrinkles of yesteryear and we could see the
square growing younger and younger every second.

I hasn't even been two full weeks. This is hard to
believe. Every day has been a miracle here. We have
met two of the most famous people in Cuba, and they
have been just as generous as the poor people we have
talked to on the streets, on the beaches, at the
Maracon.

I have about 48 hours left to decompress before I head
back to San Francisco. I plan on taking it easy and
doing some writing. In the morning, Ill visit to
Partigas Cigar factory, then head back to Plaza Vieja
for the day to just sit and dream.

I'll think about you there.

Love and kisses from Cuba,

DB