?The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera Timeline 1. While driving to Havana after giving a lecture, Professor Juan Cabrera remembers a time in his childhood when his family lived on a large sugarcane ranch. This life did not last for long because Juan’s father was taken away so that the Cuban government could sieze the family’s land. 2. Juan and Raul pass through a Cuban State Security checkpoint on their way to the beach to meet up with andres and to begin the journey to the United States. 3. Juan, Raul, and Andres tie 3 rafts together with rope and carry bags filled with food and water and slip into the sea at night. . The next morning, the three men encounter and Cuban gun boat. It is traveling in their direction and they cannot escape, so Andres gets off of his raft and swims over too it while Raul and Juan duck behind their rafts. He tells the men on the ship that the men he was traveling died. The men on the ship shoot Andres in the head and Juan and Raul are terrified. 5. The next morning Juan awakes to heavy rain. They are caught in the hurricane, but manage to stay alive and connected by tying themselves to the rafts. 6.
After the first initial attack from the hurricane, things start to calm down. Then they realize they are in the eye of the storm and prepare for the second wave by securing the ties on themselves and the rafts. 7. After the second wave of the hurricane they have lost everything except for 2 innertubes and rope. The third innertube, the food, and the water are all gone. 8. The next day, Raul gets hungry, so he fashions a net out of the leftover rope. it works for a little while and they catch a fish and share it, and put the leftovers in the net to attract more fish. 9.
Unfortunatle the dead fish in the net doesn’t attract more fish, but a shark. The shark attacks them and Juan swims a safe distance away while Raul tries to fight it off. Unfortunately in eats Raul and Juan is all alone. 10. A few days later, Juan is rescued by a pilot named Alberto. Alberto was flying around looking for him because Juan’s girlfriend, Margarita, had informed him. When he finally found him, Alberto’s plane was so low on fuel that it crashed on the way back and Alberto died. 11. Juan was taken to the hospital and was treated for dehydration and extreme sunburns.
