It turns out that, as my grandmother used to say, he who seeks, finds and that is what happened to me a few days ago, although I was not exactly looking; rather ordering papers and documents that I hoard until sometimes they are useless.

I found something that I had kept for many years, and I confess, I didn’t even remember I had it. It is precisely a paper, quite yellowish by the way, where some important places are listed in the life of Nicolás Guillén, our national poet, here in his hometown, the one he loved dearly and never forgot.

Special order

The document in question had its origin in a request made, by the Office of the Historian of the city, to someone who was a great friend of the writer, and when he came to his land, they became inseparable; with the purpose of locating them and, perhaps, at some point they could be used for future projects.

Who is it? Undoubtedly the journalist, playwright, and teacher Manuel Villabella, who was kind enough to give me a list containing the order, typed on a typewriter, in a page with the stamp of the Adelante newspaper, of whose work collective he was part until his retirement.

Remembrances and memories

And chance, which exists, and conspires many times, both to resolve issues, as well as to aggravate them, made this appear for the days that were two years after the physical disappearance of the journalist, who on October 12th left us, and from which I keep countless memories and teachings, because as I have commented on other occasions, everyone always learned something from him and was a beneficiary in each sustained conversation.

Then I also remembered, that he commented to me about the times when he walked with the poet, and they had to stop at every step, since the greetings were constant and they were called spontaneously from here and there, to which they both responded with their usual politeness and smile, even if they were in a hurry; The walks on foot were compulsory on each visit to their homeland and, on occasions, they even had to wait for them for some institutional matter.

Such was their friendship that they are often mistaken with each other, here in their Camagüey, where they both left a deep mark that we will always remember, through all time, from generation to generation.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García