march 30, 2008

once upon a time at the beginning of the last century a family lived in this finca in the centre of the little island. Esther has been visiting as a child, because it was the house of her grandparents. Unfortunately there was no future at that time for the family, so they abandonned the finca and moved to the neighbour island that offered better opportunities. When we visited this little island last week, Esther wanted to go back to the house of her grandparents. She had not been there for at least 20 years and the last time she saw it, it was already in bad condition since nobody lived there and nobody took care of the property.

This is Esther´s family, her grandfather, her grandmother, her father and his siblings who grew up and lived in this house until they had to move away.

¨Look, Esther said.´This was one of the bedrooms. And over there the stable. She walks through this place like in a dream. She wakes up the walls and memories are starting to dance.
"Do you recognize me?" the ceilings and the floors are calling.
Every stone starts murmuring an endless story of voices and steps and laughter, of work and love and hardship, of joy, birth and death, of summers and nights.

in the distance the mountains are glowing. Every fiber of the finca beams of history. There seems to be a gratitude to be acknowledged, similar old people have it when you come and listen to their stories. Do you remember, the corners ask? The dialog between Esther and this house is intense. Her consciousness is like a magic touch. Like the castle of sleeping beauty after 100 years the colors wake up and everything starts to vibrate.

I collect little pieces that have a song and represent something of this past.

All of a sudden somebody appears. "Mi casa", he claims, but his step is unsure and his eyes are full of fear. Esther talks to him quietly. "Don´t worry", she says, nobody chases you away. Don´t worry." They agree that the house belongs to Esther´s family, but that the man and his brother have been living there for a long time.

Manuel agrees to show us the room he is living in. It´s the mill with no windows, but the roof is intact. Two beds, his slippers under his bed, the floor clean. We give him some money. " Please take care of the house for me", Esther tells him. "I cannot be here now, but i will come back in summer and i need you to take care of everything for me." Manuel has tears in his eyes. " It´s not for this," he says and points to the money. " It´s because of your heart" and now he cries and Esther comforts him and tells him that he is a good man and that he is doing a good job.

I find an old pot, an other little thing that for me carries the energy of the place and is part of the history.

There must have been chicken here at one time, or pigeons or rabbits?

some more pieces of memory that i take with me. A little pot full of songs of a foreign time. Nothing is gone, everything can connect you and can give you all the secrets and colours.

adios, Manuel, take good care of yourself, cuidate.