Day 1: El Camino del Cimarrón — Sagua La Grande to the sugar mill Mariana (the old mill Flor de Sagua, where El Cimarrón worked and from where he ran)

Part 1 of the 40km first day from Sagua to El Purio

In front of my hotel, at kilometer zero of the Camino del Cimarrón, I look at the stars still sparking inside an obsidian black sky which will miraculously turn azure blue in a few hours.

“So, would you call this a hotel?” I ask the night manager who is seeing me off. His eyes are bright; wide awake and eager.

“No. Not yet. But,” he smiles, “we’re going to start taking in tourists soon. Trying to take advantage of the moment in the hopes that tourist will find their way to Sagua on their way to Remedios. This is just for nationals now. You’re a special case.”

The “hotel” is a hybrid guest house designed as housing for Cuban workers on vacation or training nearby, but currently it is renovating its presentation of self for the tourists that will hopefully begin to explore the island in this new age (2016) of openness with the United States. The place still has a rooming-house air about it, with the bathroom down the hall but my room was comfortable; TV, a good air conditioner, good bed, a table and plenty of windows.

I lean my backpack against my leg and wait for Maykel and Carlos Alejandro, the historian and his friend. Both will walk with me today, helping me on my way from…