CubaPLUS Magazine

All peoples of the world have their legends and Cubans are no less. There are many popular stories of this island that pass from generation to generation and are perpetuated through all time.

One of them is the Bainoa Donkey (Burro de Bainoa), a town that currently belongs to the municipality of Jaruco in the western province of Mayabeque and, according to the stories of its inhabitants, the popularity of the small town lies in that donkey.

There are several versions about the donkey's celebrity. Some say  he walked loose in the streets, apparently without an owner, although the residents considered him just another of its inhabitants. Other people affirm he walked behind his master as if he were a pet, while some versions indicate his was the nickname given to a stevedore at the railway station who carried barrels of butter on his back and supported them like a donkey.

Others refer to the fact that a wealthy man of the area, when he went to the rooster fence to witness the fights between these little animals, he lit his cigars with 10 or 20 peso bills to show off his wealth, they then nicknamed him El Burro, perhaps for considering him stupid.

According to studies carried out by late Osvaldo Correa, historian of Jaruco, a family from the area with the surname Alentado acquired a large donkey specimen, to use at work in an area very close to the platform of the town's railway station. People traveled by rail from Havana to Matanzas, at the beginning of the last century and they saw the donkey when passing through Bainoa.

Hence, they began to identify the animal with the name of &Burro de Bainoa", until one fine day it disappeared. Although, surely, the origin of the phrase is not known exactly, in one way or another the real reason for Bainoa's fame is because of the fable of the donkey, which has remained in history and has transcended all of Cuba, so  when someone does clumsy things, or something stupid, it is usually said as a joke: "He is dumber than the donkey of Bainoa".