Family’s things

Alicia Navarro - Fuerteventura

When I was little, I lived within a heterogeneous family unit, my grandparents, great uncles, cousins and great cousins and a long list of family members that we used to know, I even knew my grandparents’ friends, I had not only heard of them, but I had met them, as it was unusual for their friend Luisa not to visit my grandparents bringing millet, fresh watercress and potatoes to make a good soup, as she used to say…

The door opening on the street remained open until the last man of the family was back home, who used to close it. This would happen around midnight and it was customary to ask loudly: is anyone missing at home? Which was answered by a yes or silence, which meant that the door could be closed. It was quite chaotic in my grandparent’s house, and some of their seven sons lived there, my “fun” uncles, some of them were single and used to take the brunt of my grandmother’s sermons, regarding their “special friends”, who were never good enough obviously, but they didn’t care, as the following day, there was another… Others only came during the holidays, from the USA, from Israel, or halfway around the world…

Then, there were the doctors, but they all had their rooms ready, in case they arrived unannounced, such as the ones who argued with their wives and came to talk about it with grandmother, who would bring back some order, and although my uncles took most of the blame, inexplicably, they seemed to be happy…

There was just one instance when they weren’t available, butwe all knew. It waswhen the grandmother was playing the piano and the grandfather was typing on his type-writer one of his never-ending reports for the Primary Teaching Inspection. Outside those activities, my grandparents were attentive and available. The house was always full of visitors, it always smelt of coffee, chocolate, biscuits and aniseed…

Visitors laughed a lot during their conversations, my grandmother was quite a chatterbox, with a dash of sarcasm and a great sense of humour. She was a very clever woman, ahead of her time, and she always did what she wanted. On the other hand, my grandfather was a serious man, excessively, I would even say, and he had no other choice but to accept my grandmother’s “antics” and look the other way or submerge himself in his collection of State Official Bulletins.

She used to say that, in our family, there were two types of people: “the eccentrics” and “those who had been touched by God”, the latter, were her son the priest, my uncle, his brothers, his nephews, his cousins, all priests and also three sisters who were nuns, in total, she had 12 brothers. I received a lot of love from them and a good religious education, which I used in the various stages of my life. During my life, I have come to realise that religions are not just something spiritual, from my grandmother was of course “you are a young lady”, and this was the end of my argument because it was followed with “go on and play with the monkey”. The monkey would listen to me for a while, watching me intently, tilting its head to the side, and making some sounds… in the end, it was a true monologue…

My father also belonged to the group of “the eccentrics” and his younger brother, the psychiatrist, also joined us in this group. The brother who was a priest, made some attempts, with small, punctual “incursions”, but my grandmother quickly got him back on the straight and narrow, as it was very important for her to have a son who was a priest and could guarantee “the salvation of the soul…

The great uncles wrote many letters, with black and white photos, my favourite ones were those that came from Cuba.

I learned to read during the summer before my sixth birthday, and my memories started in September…

Great Uncle Paco was the first one to go to Cuba. He used to say, in his letters, that he had created a Bank that was called “Banco de los Colonos” (bank of the colonists). It must have been a big deal, because when he died, their buried him with great honours, in the Columbus Cemetery, which, although very gloomy, was probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen. I was in charge of filing the photos and letters in chronological order and I would put the stamps separately, in albums. This is when I realised that great uncle Paco had died 18 years before I was born and that the letters that kept on arriving were those of his son, who had the same name. This was the first time that I grasped the concept of death… they are also a culture, a way of life, and a “language” that enables us to communicate with each other within the same parameters.

We, “the eccentrics”, were not as numerous as in the other group, but there were still quite a few of us… and I say “we were” because my grandmother included me in this group, partly because of my conversations with a monkey of the Titi breed, that my grandfather had brought back from Africa. I used to tell it my doubts about things like, why my grandmother used to put the music sheets upside down? Why my grandfather would throw away more paper than the number of letters he sent? Amongst my monologues with the monkey, there were unfathomable subjects, such as why men were allowed to be the last ones to come back home? And why I had to come home before nighttime? The explanation

All this happened until my ninth birthday, the rest of my life was spent far away, from those years, from the lives that smelt like coffee, chocolate and my grandmother’s biscuits… the Columbus Cemetery, which, although very gloomy, was probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen. I was in charge of filing the photos and letters in chronological order and I would put the stamps separately, in albums. This is when I realised that great uncle Paco had died 18 years before I was born and that the letters that kept on arriving were those of his son, who had the same name. This was the first time that I grasped the concept of death…

All this happened until my ninth birthday, the rest of my life was spent far away, from those years, from the lives that smelt like coffee, chocolate and my grandmother’s biscuits…

Pájara celebra el 200 aniversario de Cofete con un programa cultural y festivo

FMHOY - Fuerteventura

Las actividades se celebraron del 24 de febrero al 17 de marzo con motivo de la conmemoración de los dos siglos de historia del poblado

El Ayuntamiento de Pájara ha presentaba recientemente la programación de actos organizada para la celebración del 200 aniversario del poblado de Cofete. El objetivo de esta iniciativa es divulgar y dar a conocer la historia de este asentamiento, conocido como el primer pueblo de Jandía.

La presentación estuvo presidida por el alcalde de Pájara, Pedro Armas, y contó con la presencia de la concejala de Cultura, Raquel Acosta, y del concejal de Patrimonio, Alejandro Cacharrón Gómez.

La concejala de Cultura, Raquel Acosta, resaltó que “hablar de Cofete para nosotros es hablar de los orígenes, de la cultura y de la historia de Pájara en sí” y detalló que “el programa alberga las crónicas de la historia y cultura del poblado y dará comienzo el 24 de febrero, a las 18:00 horas, con la presentación de la novela de la ilustre periodista Rosario Sanz “Nada fue en balde”, basada en la ubicación de Cofete”.