El Purio

This was the sugar mills where Esteban first worked as a free man. While the work was not much different than what he suffered as a slave--“The difference being that they didn’t hit you as much as during slavery.” And there were always fiestas to break up the monotonous routines of the ingenio either in the bateys of El Purio or in Calabazar de Sagua, the nearest town a few kilometers to the south. Rumba filled the air in the batey and sensual dances moved the workers; with plenty of “guasabeo y de jaladera” as Esteban told Barnet. The party stopped only at the “toque del Silencio,” the call for lights out to end the day. Folks wanted to stay up all night dancing and singing if they could. But as it was, noted Esteban, people woke up totally wasted the next day.