Noticed my Aunt Dolores’ address book in the
kitchen chest of drawers and thumbed through it quickly. Dolores Corey moved
here from age 62, upon her retirement from a retail job in Glens Falls, New
York and stayed in Sada for the next 33 years (1972-2005) until her death. Many
Hispanic friends listed in her book, not surprisingly, and some with addresses
in the United States. I wondered if Aunt Dolores’ life would have been much
more Spanish, Hispanic in general including friends from South America, than
the rest of our family. I regret now not having visited Aunt Dolores during the
last one-third of her life, the Sada years. She played a significant role in my
childhood and always took a firm stand on my behalf in the realm of family
relationships. Aunt Dolores provided the unconditional love for me that everybody
is looking for and Dolores Corey’s formidable strength and character made that love
a sturdy, enthusiastic, unyielding and joyous force of nature. And all that for
me!
One name I discovered in Dolores Corey’s address
book stood out for me—Carmen Pereiro—and I quickly recalled this was my
mother Beatriz’s girlhood friend “Mucha”. I
noticed Mucha lived on Barrie de la Maza, just like my mother would have for
the youthful visits to Sada, and this confirmed I had the right person. Beatriz
always commented on her joy at seeing Mucha and how they fell right back into
their friendship immediately upon getting together. Mucha, mentioned by
Amparito during one of the Spanish conversations I struggled to comprehend, now
must be 90 years, like my mother, and now requires the services of an
assistant. Little girls become old ladies, such is the way of the world.
Fernando invited us to hear his music chorale at a
building near the beach designed for cultural events. I will ask Beatriz the
name of the building. We were upstairs and had a great view of the Sada beach
from our position near the window. The Cultural Hall, designed simply but with
a nice degree of quality, presented two distinct groups, youthful, female
guitar players and Fernando’s choral group, male and female singers of more
advanced years. Fernando said that finding young adults to fill the ranks of
singers has not been possible. Fortunately the guitar players offered some new
energy to the program—and funny also that almost all the guitar players were
girls. Apparently taking guitar lessons within the formal Sada musical
community holds no appeal for the boys or young men. Despite these limitations,
the program proved very enjoyable. The program included popular numbers, some
from the American canon as I recall, along with Gallego songs. The audience
members knew the lively Gallego numbers and responded with some patriotic pride
and appreciation for the singers preserving the Gallego culture with their
performance. I liked the Gallego music and found the program held together
nicely.
After the concert our little group repaired to the
seaside and a local “Heladoteria”, ice cream place. Amparito and Marisol took
Marisol’s car and Reed, Fernando and I walked along the seaside. The ladies
split a huge sundae of Tutti-Frutti and Peach ice cream. I ordered something
less spectacular, coffee and ice-cream concoction. Fernando had not completely
recovered from the previous day’s consumption at the fiesta and opted out of
the ice cream. Reed kept it simple also with a drink order. I documented the
event with cellphone photos and Amparito and Marisol’s competition around the
ice cream sundae stole the show.
The evening walk or “paseo” past the Sada beach,
with its dramatic change between high and low tides, proved to be the final
highlight of the evening. The golden brown sands change to darker wet sand as
beach sand transitions to the wetter, muddy sands resulting from the receding
ocean waters. The towns across the “rias” or rivers as these ocean inlets are
called added a hilly backdrop and the late hour of sunset, close to 10:00 PM,
results in a golden, silver evening light. The peacefulness of the setting
commands you to calm down. We passed townspeople strolling in the opposite
direction and they inevitably greeted Fernando with a friendly, “hasta luego,”
or the shortened version—“hasta!” They might glance at Reed and me, verifying
our visitor status, before fixing on Fernando, the more familiar local
resident.
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