Cubero, NM

The Villa de Cubero Trading Post is one of the only reliably operating businesses between Puerco and Grants. In 1937, it had a trading post, a service station and ten cottages. It became a popular getaway spot for Hollywwood types, and many famous actors like Jean Tierny stayed there. Today, gas, food and beer are available.

Some people claim that Ernest Hemingway wrote part of The Old Man and the Sea here. According to the son of the owner of the Villa de Cubero, Hemingway stayed at the Tourist Court at the Villa de Cubero for between two weeks and two months in 1951 and wrote much of the book in a cafe' across the street. As the story goes, the mother, who worked at the cafe', didn't like Hemingway. Once when he came into the place, she said "Al viene el diablo puerco" ("Here comes the son of the devil"). Years later, actress Vivian Vance (aka Ethel Murtz of I Love Lucy fame), who owned a ranch near Cubero, brought the woman a copy of The Old Man and the Sea with the inscription "The Dirty Old Devil-EH".

I've heard similar stories about the writing of The Old Man and the Sea in several of places from Montana to Florida, and doubt the story every time. But what the hell, when choosing between fact and legend, it's a lot more fun to go with the legend.