Over there, far away, the phone loses coverage and the GPS becomes the few people who go up the hill or come down the hill, to whom you ask if they have seen a “little bus” with people in yellow helmets and a ladder on the ceiling.
“Ufffff, son, that one passed by here a long time ago. Every day they cross very early. I saw them up there,” says a man who seems to have traveled several kilometers on horseback and found the yellow helmets somewhere in the inhospitable geography of a part of the municipality of Chambas.
Moreover, that “goes up there” means a few kilometers. The Suzuki bucks like a colt and the 78-year-old woman that we picked up on the road tells her husband with peasant intonation: "Hold on, old man, if we get out of this alive..." The driver-journalist listens and slow down a bit.
Minutes later, I don't know if out of fear or because that was really the final destination, they surprised us with a “we're staying here, thanks for the bottle”.
In addition, we go on. We went up, down and crossed threads of water that, on the way back, with the rain, would turn into torrents with unusual speed.
—Hey! Where is Sitio Molina? —another hiker asked, my co-team member, Pastor, with ample experience in this type of mountain journalism, internationalist missions, adventures...
"Around the bend," he replied.
THE NIGHT WILL BE PARADISE
And we got there to narrate stories —not because they are everyday, but heroic— of a crew made up of men from the Renewable Energy Sources Base Business Unit (UEB), of the Ciego de Ávila Electric Company, and the Copextel Division, in charge to install solar panels in intricate areas of four municipalities affected by Hurricane Irma.
When we showed up, the men of the mixed brigade were at work, sledgehammer, crowbar and keys in hand. This time there were five: Ismael, Osmel, Pedro Ernesto, Jorge and Rosiel Reyes, the latter a mechanical engineer and brigade chief. Only Juan Carlos Sorí was missing, who was enjoying the holidays.
"And how did they find us?" Rosal asked.
"All roads lead to a place," my teammate replied.
Drops of sweat ran like rivers down their faces, while Yaimar Carballeira Lluvero worked on one side of the patio, whose home must now be among the 138 electrified in the province with two-kilowatt panels.
"I was washing by hand, to later pass the iron heated with coal to the child's clothes, because ours...", he let it be understood. In addition, immediately surprised them. “We have been preparing ourselves and when the current is up, we will be able to use the washing machine, the television and I don't have to cook with firewood. From now on, it will be different. We had never had electricity in this area. They told us a short time ago and they complied with us. Now it is up to my husband and me to reverse that by making the land produce. Oh, and for lunch we have conger eels and a little meat that I had saved for this occasion. You can stay journalists!”
Like bees to solar panels
Pedro Ernesto Cruz Broche, industrial engineer and second-in-command of the group, rather of the work empire formed by the specialists from Copextel and the Electric Company, has been deeply affected by the behavior of the people. “People are happy when we arrive, they offer what they have, with pleasure. They have touched the deepest part of our human fiber; He is very humble, he shares.
That deserves respect and we believe that the least we can do is accelerate the task so that they can enjoy the benefits of electrification.”
For Ismael Oliva —we left the place without knowing exactly why they called him El Conquistador— each beginning of the working day represents the beginning of the crusade against darkness, in favor of development. "Let's go forward and nothing will stop us. We already have 138 systems installed, of the 165 programmed for the stage”.
Osmel Hernández Beltrán is diabetic, dependent on insulin since he was born, he walks with a backpack full of dreams, with the medicines he needs, water, a little sugar and the food he always brings from home. “I was born with the diabetes, but here I am one more and so far, with the help of my colleagues, I have had no problems. I don't care about hammer, I grab the pick or the shovel; I pull the cables, I arm the systems”.
Of these men, as nomads in the mountains, entire communities: Las Veguetas, Potosí, El Palmar de Mabuya, La 25, Caracol, Santa Bárbara, Palo Gordo, La Serrana...
"And why the backpack full of dreams?"
—Because you have to take care of country people; the food comes from there and here it has been seen that many have returned, because the current has brought them back and all of us in the gang feel like protagonists of that.
Oralia Broche Sánchez is an 89-year-old woman who has lived in Sitio Molina for 76 years, where she prefers to die rather than abandon it.
“If it weren't for the fact that transportation is the most complicated in these areas, this would be the idyll: living next to the carpenter, the tocororo, the wood pigeon, the majá Santa María, who does not attack; he doesn't do anything, the poor guy; live where food is produced. Now with electricity! Now I would like to be 13 years old when I got here.
“I am sorry that you did not notify me and I do not have a single cup of coffee to offer you. I would have made it in the new coffeemaker, on the electric stove. What a pity it gives me that they have come to visit me and I have nothing to offer them, what a pity!” he repeats and puts one of his hands on his chest.
“At night this is beautiful. Not as ugly as many think. Now, at night, I see, among the bushes, nearby lights, distant lights, and they are the electrified houses, like fireflies in the darkness of the mountain”.
It was necessary to see, at the exact moment of connection, the "illuminated" face of Coralia, who from now on will have to pay 10.00 pesos per month for the consumption of electricity generated by a system valued at about 2,600.00 euros.
TWO KILOWATTS “MOVE THE WORLD”
Rosiel explains that the new systems are more powerful than the previous ones and have a capacity of two kilowatts, which is powered by energy and is provided with six photovoltaic panels of 340 watts each and an inverter (equipment that converts direct current into alternating current).
“Installation —he comments— takes between three and four hours, provided that the holes have previously been dug, as almost always happens. It is the most difficult and time-consuming job: making the holes where the scaffolding will be anchored.
“When they are single women, the elderly, the brigade itself helps, as do members of the nearby community, as happened with the old man from Las Veguetas, in the municipality of Florencia.
“We go out almost every day, because the program cannot be delayed. When the road gets really bad, we continue on tractors, carts, on horseback. People help us. Here in the Ruano area we have installed 10 and four are missing. As a rule, we mount a daily panel, sometimes two and, exceptionally, three”.
Jorge Morales García, mid-level technician in electrical maintenance, from the UEB of renewable energy, in the Ciego de Ávila Electric Company, affirms that with good sunshine and properly charged batteries, the system has the capacity for the rice cooker to work in unison , the Queen, the refrigerator and the television. "And I tell you more: it is capable of starting motors of up to 1.5 kilowatts."
In a few months, at a speed unexpected for most of those who came to the exchange, the quality of life took a 180 degree turn, between the joy and the good of progress.
"Until today we have 138 two-kilowatt devices installed in the province, plus about 400, 300-watt devices that were installed before," says Mario Alberto Toledo Carrasco, director of the UEB Renewable Energy Sources.
HURRICANE WIND PROGRAM
Mario Patiño Franco, head of the Group for the Execution and Control of Investments in Renewable Energy Sources, of the Electric Union, explains that the actions are concentrated in small communities and isolated settlements on the north coast of the provinces of Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus , Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, basically in those communities that were hit by the passage of cyclones.
"This program aims to contribute to the efforts of the Government of Cuba to increase energy resilience to extreme weather events in the regions most affected by Hurricane Irma, specifically by expanding access to renewable energy sources."
The initiative, which in Cuba will benefit 827 homes with isolated photovoltaic systems and the restoration of that service in another 620 homes that currently have damaged autonomous photovoltaic systems, is led by the Electric Union and implemented by the United Nations Program for the Development with the financial support of the European Union.
In the identification and selection of the beneficiary communities and households, families headed by women with more children and those with lower incomes were prioritized.
In total, in the country, the 827 households corresponding to 107 communities located in 62 popular councils of 19 municipalities, with a population of more than 1,300 people, including minors, women and the disabled, were registered.
The project is financed with a budget of four million euros from the European Development Fund for regional cooperation with the Caribbean, and two million 314,660.00 pesos from the Cuban Government and will be complementary to the actions carried out by the Ministry of Energy and Mines to achieve the one hundred percent electrification of the country and the increase in the participation of renewable energy sources in the national energy matrix.
With this modality of electrification, the aim is to increase the quality of life of the Cuban peasantry, promote life in the countryside and, in turn, productive activities related to agriculture and livestock; reduce the exodus of the rural population to the cities, influence gender equity, promote the use of Renewable Energy Sources and energy culture, necessary to confront climate change.
I heard several locals say that, after the solar panel systems are installed, there are almost always parties, guateques or some other Creole food: cassava, congrí, sharpshooters and roast pork, according to the event; but the roast pork thing is not something to be shouted at the top of your lungs, we peasants, who have a reputation for storytellers and exaggerated.