obscurity of this "period of difficulty. " Their self-styled citize n diplomacy/cultu ral interchange appeals to both the official factions and the economically disenfranchised alike. Mixing and matching mediums and disci pl ines at will, Takuji and CR ruminate on plans to preserve the Arte de Cuba and present it to the outside world. "I have a friend. He knows everything there is to know. I have
been watching you for days, and I understand what you are looking to find. Come ... I will take you to him." Luis the chauffeur had spoken.
The message is a mandate, not an offer. Takuji and CR are escorted into a tiny room
midway up the dusty hill overlooking the fishing village of Cojimar. A gentleman of 101 years of age sits alone, smoking a Cohiba Esplendido inside a stiflingly hot, nine-by-nine room. Simultaneous to their entry, the elderly fellow launches into a continuous, hour-long monologue in which he delineates a life story peppered with incisive folkloric wisdom, social landscape readings, and the precise location of every reef ringing the lost atolls of the Gulf Stream. And with that he is done. "Now you know everything I know." There was no more. He was an old man. He was of the sea. Capitano Gregorio
Fuentes-not a book, not a movie, not a legend. Just an old man. In a small room. By the sea. Takuji and CR asked if there was anything they could give the captain in exchange for his help.
"No," he answered. "I have all that I need. You see, I am Cuban."
Extended coverage of CR Stecyk and Tajuki Masuda's Cuban expedition is published in Super X Media Journal. For more information contact firstpoint@earthlink.net
