I’ve been to some pretty nice bookstores by now: LA, San Francisco, Boulder, Oxford. But man, Books & Books in Miami is amazing. The size of the joint, the crowds they get in for their authors, the fine little coffee bar, and this quiet courtyard where you can get carried away on caffeine. For an independent bookstore to pull this off is no small feat, not these days: http://www.booksandbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

Wonderful crowd. We joked, laughed, I told stories, I answered questions. Even made one chick blush, and since she was Hispanic, I found that very interesting. I was also invited by a couple of women to return for an Arts Initiative in October. Apparently they want me to conduct a seminar. Sounds good to me.

In South Beach yesterday, after I was done with the bike paths and the beach and walking for miles past pastel-colored hotels, I holed up in a Cuban cyber cafe. It was quiet, with a good view of the boulevard, good coffee, and a breeze coming in off the Atlantic. Family owned, I dug watching the kids come in after school, jabbering in Spanish as their folks served them a soda and tended to business. As the afternoon wore on, the whole clan showed up: grandparents, aunts, cousins… They all gathered on the front veranda to talk and sip coffee and watch the evening come on. The unity among them, despite whatever strife there might on occasion be, was apparent. Lovely to watch as I worked on various projects.

I had only seen this before in Spain and Italy, almost never in WASP America. But then Miami ain’t WASP America.

Something else? The Carribean Blacks are among the friendliest people here. Doesn’t matter whether they’re Jamaican, Haitiian, Bahamian, or whatever. Nor does it matter whether they’re working at a toll booth, gas station or bank, their kindness seems universal. Do you suppose it’s because they’re so damn glad just to be in this country? If so, that should give the rest of us pause.

Rose early this morning and boogied down to the Everglades, just to watch the sun rise there. Peaceful, flat, covered in grasses and pines, and absolutely full of birds and alligators. On one hike alone I must have seen fifteen freaking gators, all of them lying in the sun or slowly swimming through a swamp, and all of them completely indifferent to me. Very cool, as was all the water, and the endless varieties of tropical plants. Hard to believe that Miami, with all of its traffic and overcrowding and cosmetic surgery, is just an hour away.

Last signing tonight, Barnes & Noble in Fort Lauderdale. Home tomorrow. Ready.