Tens of thousands of people are expected to line the route of a procession carrying Fidel Castro's ashes from Havana to a final resting place in Santiago de Cuba, where the first shots in the Cuban revolution were fired. (Reuters)

Tens of thousands of people are expected to line the route of a procession carrying Fidel Castro's ashes from Havana to a final resting place in Santiago de Cuba, where the first shots in the Cuban revolution were fired. (Reuters)

Surrounded by white roses and drawn by a green military jeep, Fidel Castro’s ashes began a more-than-500-mile journey on Wednesday across the country he ruled for nearly 50 years.

Just after 7 a.m., an honor guard placed a small, flag-draped cedar coffin under a glass dome on a trailer behind the Russian jeep. Thousands of soldiers and state security agents saluted the 90-year-old leader’s remains as they rolled slowly out of Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution and the cortege made its way to the Malecon seaside boulevard and east into the countryside.

Tens of thousands of Cubans lined the route of the funeral procession, which retraced the path of Castro’s triumphant march into Havana nearly six decades ago. Many waved flags and shouted “Long may he live!”

Others filmed the procession with cellphones, a luxury prohibited in Cuba until an ailing Castro left power in 2006 and his younger brother Raúl began a series of slow reforms.

The ashes will be interred Sunday, ending a nine-day period of mourning.

1 of 42 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What it looks like in Cuba after the death of Fidel Castro View Photos Cubans faced their future without former president Fidel Castro, who steered their island to greater social equality and years of economic ruin. Caption Cubans faced their future without former president Fidel Castro, who steered their island to greater social equality and years of economic ruin. Nov. 26, 2016 Alejandro Peraza Pena, 21, Yaxelys Pereda Orraca, 18, Noxcy Palacio, 21, and Diana Legar, 23, mourn the death of former Cuban president Fidel Castro after a student rally in his honor at the University of Havana. Lisette Poole/for The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

The procession was the first time ordinary Cubans saw the remains of the man who led a band of bearded young fighters out of the Sierra Maestra mountains, overthrew strongman Fulgencio Batista, faced off against the United States for decades and imposed Soviet-style communism on the largest island in the Caribbean.

Juan Carlos González, 26, the owner of a restaurant that serves traditional Cuban food in the central city of Santa Clara, said that there was a greater sense of uncertainty without Fidel Castro.

“The one who ruled the country was Fidel, in my opinion,” González said. “Now I don’t know how things are going to be.”

Some slept on sidewalks overnight to bid goodbye to Castro after attending a massive Plaza of the Revolution rally on Tuesday night. The presidents of Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and South Africa, along with leaders of a host of smaller nations, offered speeches paying tribute.

The crowds at the rally and along Wednesday’s route were a mix of people attending on their own and sent by the government in groups from their state workplaces.

“We love the comandante, and I think it’s our obligation to be here and see him out,” said Mercedes Antunez, 59, who was bused in by the state athletics organization from her home in east Havana.

Outside Havana, the caravan passed through rural communities transformed by Castro’s social and economic changes. Many residents have access to health care and education. But many towns are also in a prolonged economic collapse.