“I have been working my whole life, since I was little. I came from Valle Tabares when I was five years old with my mother, because we went to wash at the Las Negras Fountain but when there was no water we came here, because my mother washed clothes for rich people ”. This is how Guadalupe Siverio, 73, recalled yesterday her beginnings as a laundress, a job that she relived for a day, together with some colleagues, within the framework of the V edition of the Ruta de los Lavaderos, organized by the Neighborhood Association of the Historic Center of La Laguna and the International Center for Heritage Conservation (Cicop).
After the stoppage in 2020 due to the pandemic, the water and the washerwomen returned yesterday to the old Tanque Grande laundries, located on the Las Peras road, one of the few that is preserved in good condition in the municipality, although the building that The houses have been closed for more than 30 years and currently cannot be visited. However, from the area of Historical Heritage of the Lagunero City Council is working on a project to reopen them to the public and create in this environment a Water Interpretation Center.
Thus, the washerwomen met again yesterday around the tank and recalled what that hard work was like, also sharing many memories and laughter together with the participants on the route, as well as with the family that accompanied them. “Before, everything was hand washing, with the toilets at the helm, we came from in the morning and we left at night. It was hard work because you were wet all day, from morning to afternoon, and with the cold, now at least it is clogged (the tank) but not before. And there (in a corner) we had a little kitchen to heat the food and knead gofio and watercress, because there was no food, “said Guadalupe, who was going to this tank to wash until 1979.
María Anselma, at 87 years old, was another of those present who did not want to miss this day, in which she remembered her beginnings as a laundress when she was between 14 and 15 years old. “I was going to wash at the Fuente de Las Negras and here with my aunt, when we were 14-15 years old we came to wash the clothes of my eleven siblings. And after I got married I also came here to wash. ” “Life before was very bad, my mother had some land and we planted wheat and potatoes and we had milk from cows, so we didn’t have such a bad time, but there are many people who had a pretty bad time,” he lamented.
Matilde Pérez, better known as Darquis, began to wash older. “When I was little, I didn’t come here to wash because we had water at home, but I knew all these people because they passed by my house and we greeted each other. Those who came here were because they did not have water in their houses. I came here because I got the job of washing clothes for the Hespérides football club, this would be in 1975, I was about 58 years old. He was sacrificed because he had children, a husband … and I had to get a little for the house. There were 16 pieces of luggage and I was there for two seasons ”. “It was tough, yes, because it was white pants and you had to get the green out of the grass. When I left him he would come alone to wash something big and they would help me twist it, but then I had a washing machine ”, this 80-year-old neighbor recalled as she laid out the clothes she had washed in the sun.
Some of the washerwomen who returned to the Big Tank yesterday. Fran Pallero
Some of the washerwomen who returned to the Big Tank yesterday. Fran Pallero
Some of the washerwomen who returned to the Big Tank yesterday. Fran Pallero
Some of the washerwomen who returned to the Big Tank yesterday. Fran Pallero
Meeting and dialogue point
But the laundries were also a meeting point and conversation with family and friends. “You had a family problem and you talked about it and here it stayed, nothing came from here. And there was no TV, no radio, or anything, and here we talked with the elderly, and the things we learned were from what they told us, ”Guadalupe explained.
During the day, which was also attended by the Councilor for Historical Heritage, Elvira Jorge, the washerwomen received a souvenir diploma and the Los Verodes group put the final mark on such an endearing morning.
