Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez spent his second day in a Havana schoolhouse yesterday. Hundreds of classmates, invited to greet him on his return from the US on Wednesday, returned home to Cardenas, a picturesque colonial town close to Cuba's eastern seaboard.
The returned children spoke excitedly of their trip to the capital, and the emotion of watching Elian descend from a plane. "He looked frightened," said one gap-toothed seven-year-old girl. "He should be left alone now."
Couples strolled in Cardenas town's central park, enjoying the late evening sunshine and looking forward to the carnival next week which annually turns the town into a three-day Mardi Gras. "We're ready for Elian but it seems he isn't ready for us," said one woman, sweeping dust from outside her home. "It's only fair his father takes that into account."
The residents seemed disappointed that after so much activity in advance of the boy's return, the same crowds should be "switched off like a tap" instead of celebrating. "He (President Fidel Castro) is the one who decides all that," said one elderly women, with the same tone of resignation that greets most questions about Dr Castro's 41-year rule.
Cardenas is called Ciudad Bandera or the "patriotic heart of Cuba" where the island's distinctive flag was first flown in 1850. Horse-drawn carriages add a regal air to the old streets, but a general atmosphere of abandon exists, as elsewhere in Cuba. "This house needs repairs," said Mr Jorge Miranda, pointing at a leaking roof. "But you need money, and even if you have money you still need to find building materials."
Elian will return to his parent's modest two-bedroom home, a far cry from the luxury surrounding his stay in Miami, where well-wishers plied him with computer games, Batman outfits and trips to Disneyland.
The nearby mangrove swamps and sudden gusts of sea breeze make it ideal territory to launch boats to the Florida coast, a journey which takes 24 to 48 hours, depending on conditions.
It was here Elian's mother, Elizabeth Borton, collected him from school for the weekend last November, as agreed with the boy's father, Mr Juan Gonzalez.
When Elian failed to turn up for school on Monday, Mr Gonzalez raised the alarm, little knowing that bad weather had prevented them from sailing until that very morning.
The ill-fated journey ended in mid-ocean, when Ms Borton and 10 other passengers were swept overboard, leaving Elian clinging to the rubber raft and watching his mother drown. Elian still asks after his mother and occasionally suggests that a dolphin may have taken her away to safety.
In Cardenas the Gonzalez family has kept a discreet distance from inquiring journalists. Elian's father enjoys the minor privileges afforded by his job as a cashier in Josone Park, a holiday centre in nearby Varadero, the heart of Cuba's multi-million dollar tourist industry.