El Hombre Caimán (the Caiman Man) is a legend from the Colombian Caribe Coast; it is localized in the village Plato on the river Magdalena and tells about the story of a man whose passion to snoop on nude women condemned him to be converted in a being with a caiman’s body and a human head.

The story tells that much time ago there was a very womanizer fisher who was fond of snooping on Plato women when they were bathing in the river Magdalena. Anticipating that he might be discovered in the bushes, he went to the Alta Guajira to obtain from a sorcerer a potion to convert himself into a caiman (a usual animal of that region), so as not to arouse suspicion among the bathing women and to have the opportunity to admire them at leisure. Once finished his observation, another potion would be applied by a friend of his in order to return him to the human state. The sorcerer prepared both potions: a red one to convert him into the animal and a white one to turn him into a man again.

Saúl enjoyed his expedient for some time, but one day the friend who had to give him the white potion could not accompany him. Another friend went instead but he was frightened seeing the caiman and thought it was really such an

 Statue of the Caiman Man in Plato

animal; so, he dropped the white bottle with the precious liquid. Before spilling completely, some drops splashed just Saúl’s head, but the rest of his body kept the form of a caiman. Thereafter, he turned into the terror of women, who did not return to bathe in the river.

Then, the only person who dared to approach him was his mother. Every night ahe visited him at the river to comfort him and to bring his favorite meal: cheese, yucca and bread soaked in rum. After the death of his mother, who died of sorrow for failing to find the sorcerer who formulate the potion because he had died, the Caiman Man, alone and without anyone taking care of him, decided to allow the river to drag him up to Bocas de Ceniza, as the mouth of the Magdalena River in the Caribbean Sea at Barranquilla is known. Thereafter, the fishermen of the Lower Magdalena, from Plato to Bocas de Ceniza, have always tried to fish him from the river or to hunt him in the swamps of the banks.

The Festival of the Caiman Man is celebrated yearly in Plato. There also are a square and a monument in his honor that are cultural heritage of the town. The legend of the Caiman Man is immortalized by the song “Se va el caimán” (The caiman is going) by José María Peñaranda from Barranquilla.