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The
Centennial Man and the Sea
by Simon Chacon |
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In 1998, Simon’s friend James Vogt traveled in Cuba and met Gregorio Fuentes, the man who was the inspiration for Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. James’s recorded interview with Gregorio is the basis for Simon’s article. |
| Gregory
Fuentes is a man that we will remember forever. He was the man that worked
for Ernest Hemingway for twenty-seven years. And he is the character for
the book The Old Man and The Sea. They both met in Cojimar, a town
just within minutes outside of Havana. In 1934 Hemingway asked Gregorio
to become his boat captain. As Gregorio said, “Papa was always very clear
to me, since the beginning of our friendship.” “That day, when he asked me to become his captain, he told me that he didn’t want anybody else on the boat beside him and me. And if one day I decided to leave, he would do the same and never return to Cuba. I agreed with him and we worked together for twenty-seven years. We had a few problems, but they were not the end of the world. We would always manage to work the problems out. The only time that I was about to leave was a time that he insulted me about something that was not true.” “That morning I was unloading the boat – or El Pilar as we name it – when I saw an American boat full of people. They waved at me and I smiled back. The next thing I knew was that Papa came into the boat a little bit drunk and yelled at me. He asked me why was I giving the fish away. I told him that I wasn’t doing that. Then he told me what the Americans had told him and that they didn’t lie. I got so mad because he was accusing me of something I didn’t do. That day I asked him to pay me the salary I had earned and that I was going to quit. He told me that would be okay and that he wanted to have some drinks with me before I left. I agree and we decided to go to a bar where we used to go almost every night. There he asked me three times if I was sure about my decision. I answered him, ‘Yes I haven’t changed my mind.’ Then he went outside and a few minutes later came back in again. He went outside three times and then came in again to ask the same question, and my answer was still the same. The last time he came in he asked me to go to El Pilar with him to get my money because he had forgotten to bring it with him. There he broke down and with two tears rolling down his eyes asked me for forgiveness. I looked into his eyes and told him that they were small things and that it was okay. He came to me and shook my hand. And with that he gave me a happy smile.” Gregorio Fuentes was born in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. His mother died at childbirth and he had to live with his father. His father decided to go and live in Cuba, and six years later, after Gregorio’s mother died, they both boarded a ship and went to Cuba. As they traveled to Cuba, his father got a job on the ship as a cook, and during the trip his father died in an accident. When Gregorio arrived in Cuba, he arrived by himself and didn’t know what to do. Gregorio arrived in Casablanca, a small village near the Bay of Havana. There he grew up and went to school for captains and, at seventeen, he graduated. Gregorio worked as a captain and after he had saved enough money, he went back to Lanzarote in search of the rest of his family. There he met aunts and cousins and, for the first time, he met his cousin Dolores. As Gregorio said, “Dolores was a beautiful young lady and I was a young boy; I couldn’t help it and fell in love with her. She came back to Cuba with me and we got married. We lived here for seventy years. We had three beautiful girls and that was our life. The only thing that still makes me sad is that she died very young, she was only eighty-eight years old.” Gregorio is now one hundred four years old. He still lives in Cojimar, and he still smokes his cigars. Gregorio used to drink with Ernest Hemingway and he still drinks his shots of rum. Since a lot of people know about him, they stop by all the time to visit. Gregorio has about half a dozen guest books. A lot of well-known people stop by as well. Gregorio just sits in his house to tell the story to those who want to hear. Hemingway named his house La Vigia (the lookout house). His house is now a museum containing most of his things, such as nine hundred books and the clothing he wore while he lived there. The museum also contains his boat, El Pilar, and many other things that he used while he lived in Cuba. Ernest Hemingway left the boat as a property for Gregorio Fuentes, but after Hemingway died, Gregorio gave it away to the museum. And Fidel Castro himself came to take the boat and, in return, he gave a TV set to Gregorio. Thanks to my friend James Vogt this story was made possible. He is one of Hemingway’s fans and in 1998, he met Gregorio Fuentes by surprise. James went to Cuba and hired a tour guide. When James and his tour guide came into Gregorio’s house, James was shocked to actually meet the old man. That is how he learned all this information. |
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