Walking Cuba: El Camino del Cimarron

Day 3: Vueltas-Remedios (21 km)

El Palenque

The next morning, at 5:30, I meet El Químico along with an eager group of his students at the gazebo in the park La Libertad. The park sits at the start of the street that we will take out of town on our way to Remedios.

There are six students; four boys and two girls, all dressed casually. No uniforms. All talking at once, standing around El Quimico as if he were a totem.

“That one there,” said El Quimico as we headed out and the students surged ahead. “The tall blond guy. He’s the son of the owner of the paladar where we ate yesterday. They do ok. The economy is helping them. Here if you can’t get in the new economic current, the tourist and things like that, or people who help you from abroad, you’re swinging with two strikes.”

The private sector in 2016 Cuba was growing but only in selected geographies and in specific economic arenas. Restaurants and bed and breakfasts (paladares and casas particulares) led the budding entrepreneurial pack. If you are lucky enough to have a private restaurant that is well stocked, the hungry world will beat a path to your door.

But keeping it stocked is no easy feat. It requires establishing a broad network of food informants that will facilitate the…