"Tales From The Plum Corner" - Chapter 1: My Town

in #life5 years ago


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My mother and I don’t talk much, not because we hate or fight each other, we just are people of few words. As such, it is not frequent for us to talk about our childhood, and also because she knows mine very well, but a while ago, by her own will after a memory-filled chat with her siblings, she reunited my sister and her child, and myself, to tell us about the life in the small country town of Las Mercedes, and from that and subsequent reunions, this tales were born.

As I’m kind of a writer (still highly amateur), and with her blessing, I decided to translate them and let people of other cultures see how a small girl grew up in Venezuela’s center plains. I hope you can enjoy.

As a note, everything is in her P.O.V., and as another note, “Plum Corner” is an approximate translation of a neighborhood called “Ciruelar”, in which all these tales occur.

My childhood elapsed in my native town, Las Mercedes del Llano, who by then combined two important parts of the country’s economy: farming and petroleum.

Antonia Tiape, my mother, had came from Santa María de Ipire, land of the miraculous Pancha Duarte, know by her many acolytes as “El Ánima de Taguapire”; my father, Genaro Vargas came from the shores of Falcón State with the intention of joining the Petroleum Company, the same reason why the Holder and the Sivira families did it, them also from Falcón State, which in later years would relocate, alongside us, in the state's capital: San Juan de los Morros.

We lived in Tropezón Street, nowadays called José Francisco Torrealba, from the neiborhood called “Ciruelar”. In Roblecito’s Hospital my siblings were born: Mirtha, Maritza, Zenaida, Fanny and José María. Genaro and Katiuska would be born later, in the state’s capital, San Juan de los Morros.

Our House was the last one in the street, and had a giant backyard filled with big mounds of sand, and maybe that was what my father liked best, because it reminded him his own birthplace and their sahara-like Médanos. In the whole street there was just one lightpole, whose light was yellow and dim.

Our neighbors were the Tiape-Pantoja family: María “Guesito” and “El Flaco” Manuel as parents, and their children: Fernando, Gumersindo, Jesús, Eduardo, Sandro, Luis, Julián, Josefina y Amparo. With them we shared the long days in the plains we called “llano”, always filled with merciless sunlight and burning love for our land.

We played around like the children we were, with whatever little treat and toy our low-income economy allowed us. We played Hide-And-Seek in the banana plantation that seemed to extend until the very horizon. In our backyard there was also a “Mamón” tree whose harvest my grandmother took great care of, and at the base of the tree there was also a barrel in which my grandfather let some Topochos ripen in a special mixture to give us as a prize for doing our part of the housework.

With those topochos mi grandmother Inés made the most delicious “tostones” I’ve ever tasted.

Glossarry (in order of mention):


-Pancha Duarte/Ánima de Taguapire: she was an historical character of the region, field-worker, midwife and all-around merciful and kind. After her death, some legends arose, and she became a popular spirit to pray to, known all around the country.

-Ciruelar: like in the beginning’s note, this is the name of the neighborhood, but also “Ciruela” means “plum”, as in the fruit, so a “ciruelar” would be “a place where a lot of plums are”.

-Médanos: big mounds of sand, sometimes tens of meters high. They are the most well-known landmark of the coastal state of Falcón, and their area certainly resembles a big desert.

-Llano: geographically, “llano” is the equivalent/translation of “plains” as in enormous extensions of flat earth, but we Venezuelans also consider a lot of other things to be “llano”: a philosophy, a way of living and a culture. So, were every “llano” place is part of the plains plains, not all plains are “llano”. This stuff gets quite metaphorical, but that’s for another time.

-Mamón: the fruit of a tree, and the tree itself, also called “Melicoccus bijugatus” by more scientific brains, and “Spanish lime” by others. It’s small and with a green husk, inside of which there is a light orange meaty pulp of sweet flavor when ripen.

-Topochos: a type of banana, not all that good for deserts, but tastes amazing when smashed, fried and sprinkled with salt and powdered garlic, which is when they are called “tostones”.

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Great work. I have doing somethign similar with stories my mother tells me (https://steemit.com/writing/@hlezama/tales-from-my-old-woman-or-bouquet-compadres). She is a talker and I wish I had more time and skills to put down on paper all her stories.
Our families' history deserve to be preserved.
Te felicito.

Algunas sugerencias de voc (luego edito el cometario y las borro )

  • "who by then", I'd use which or that.
  • Had came--- Had come
  • know by her many acolytes ---Known ...
  • them also from Falcón State... They
  • which in later years would relocate --- who...

Como otros comentaron en tu publicación, encantadora historia la que escribiste. ¿Es una serie o al menos ha tenido otras partes?, sería bueno leer mas, y hacerlo a tiempo para darte upvote.
Sobre las sugerencias, las agradezco, hay días que me levanto mas letrado anglosajón que otra cosa, y hay veces que se me olvidan cosas de sintaxis básica y buen gusto, puedes dejarlos, son buen recordatorio de cositas a tener siempre en mente.

Genial. Agradezco la receptividad. De mi vieja he escrito unso cuantos post, algunos disfrazados de ficción en cuentos cortos. Esperaba a partir de ese que leiste hacer una serie más ordenada, pero son tantos los proyectos en mentey tan poco el tiempo que a veces se queda en la lista de espera. Estoy trabajando en algunos otros relatos de sus memorias.

Como dirían por ahí: "de grano en grano llena la gallina el buche", lo importante es no olvidarse de los proyectos, y avanzar un poco cada vez en ellos, aunque no se note a primera vista.

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Buen post

tal vez conoces alguien en Caracas? Buscamos un periodista alemán.

Gracias por qualquier ayuda!
Felix

agradado de saber que te gustó!, lamentablemente no tengo contacto con ningún periodista de Caracas

Hay que pena. Gracias para la respuesta rapida!
~Felix

thanks for sharing your personal story it is very vivid and pleasant to read

howdy there dranuvar! what a fine little story of your home town neighborhood, I bet those tostones were like heaven! Is the old neighborhood still there?

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