Thousands of Cubans lined the streets of Havana Wednesday morning, some sleeping on sidewalks overnight, to bid goodbye to Fidel Castro as his ashes began a four-day journey across the country he ruled for nearly 50 years.

A caravan carrying the ashes was scheduled to leave the capital’s Plaza of the Revolution after 7 a.m. for a journey from Havana to the eastern city of Santiago. On Tuesday night, tens of thousands of Cubans jammed the plaza as the presidents of Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and South Africa, along with leaders of a host of smaller nations, offered speeches paying tribute to Castro, who died Friday night at 90.