Walking Cuba: El Camino del Cimarrón

Day 4: Remedios to the Caves of the Cimarrón

I came to hide in a cave for a time. I lived there for a year and a half. I went in there thinking that I would have to walk less and because the pigs from around the farms, the plots, and the small landholdings, used to come to a kind of swamp just outside the mouth of the cave. They went to take a bath and wallow around. I caught them easy enough, because a big bunches of them came. Every week I had a pig. The cave was very big and dark like the mouth of the wolf. It was called Guajabán. It was near the town of Remedios. It was dangerous because it had no way out. You had to go in through the entrance and leave by the entrance. My curiosity really poked me to find a way out. But I preferred to remain in the mouth of the cave on account of the snakes. The majases are very dangerous beasts. They are found in caves and in the woods.

— Esteban Montejo

The earthy smell of coffee in the morning always makes me smile, especially when I am resigned to hitting the road without it. Joel is the owner of the hostel where I spent a restful night. It bears his name, brightly painted in blue on the metal garage door. A colorful bandana wraps around his head and he has coffee on the stove. He hands me a cup of steaming espresso.

“Drink as much as you want,” he says. “I can make more.”

Two or three demitasses later, I stand on the street, fueled by the coffee, ready to go. Alexis arrives…