El Hombre Caimán

El Hombre Caimán is a legend of the Caribbean region of Colombia. It takes place in the town of Plato.

Plot

The Alligator Man is a legend that develops in the riverside population of Plato, Magdalena, on the coast, in the Colombian Caribbean. Tells the story of Saúl Montenegro, a man with a passion for spying on naked women who was condemned to become a being with the body of an alligator and a human head.^[1]

They say that a long time ago there was a very womanizer fisherman who was fond of women who bathed in the waters of the Magdalena River. Anticipating he could be discovered among the trees, he went to Alta Guajira so that a sorcerer could prepare a potion that would temporarily convert him into an alligator so that the bathers would not be suspicious and could be admired at pleasure. The sorcerer prepared two potions, a red one that turned him into an alligator, and a white one that made him a man again.

Montenegro enjoyed his wit for some time, but on one occasion, the friend who gave him the white potion could not accompany him. In his place was another man who, seeing him as a alligator, was frightened to believe that it was a real and dropped the white bottle with the liquid that would made him man again. Before spilling completely, some drops of liquid splashed only on Saul's head, so that the rest of his body remained turned into an alligator. Since then, it became the terror of women, who did not return to bathe in the river.

The only person who dared to approach him after that was his mother. Every night she visited him on the river to comfort him and bring him his favorite food: cheese, yucca and bread bathed in rum. After the death of his mother (who died of sadness for not being able to find the sorcerer who had made the potions because he had died), the Cayman Man, alone and without anyone to take care of him, decided to let himself be dragged to the sea by the river to Bocas de Ceniza as the mouth of the Magdalena River is known in the Caribbean, at the height of Barranquilla. Since then, the fishermen of Bajo Magdalena, from Plato to Bocas de Ceniza , are still waiting to fish it in the river or hunt it in the swamps of the riverbanks.^{[2] [3]}

The Festival of the Cayman Man is held annually in Plato. There is also a square and a monument in his honor that are the cultural heritage of the population. The legend of the Caiman Man was immortalized in the song "Se va el caimán" by the barranquillero José María Peñaranda

References