Almost 60 years without seeing each other and they made it happen. They are former students who are now on average 70 years old who went through school and high school in Guía. Carrizal neighbor Fernando Amador Ramírez, who also studied at this school, recently honored in his town, managed to reunite them in record time. “It was something I had pending and wanted to do.” Two other former classmates joined this challenge that started in February. 18 friends in the gang, 13 were able to meet face to face and talk for five hours, which wasn’t enough time. Those who were absent have already passed away and only two couldn’t attend due to difficulty in traveling. The meeting was on Friday at a restaurant in the capital.
There were a few tears and laughter and even a confession of a crush from one of the group to one of the guests, who had never found out. It ended up as just another anecdote and almost all of them recognized each other immediately.
They are former students of Las Dominicas school for girls and the then called Instituto Laboral Santa Santo Tomás de Aquino María de Guía, reserved for boys.
They were beside themselves. Summing up 57 years of life in five hours was difficult, but recognizing each other after more than half a century without knowing practically anything about each other was not so hard. However, the experience was “unique, intense, and moving. Today we have given ourselves a gift by once again valuing the authenticity and purity of childhood friendships.” This is how the organizer of the gathering, Amador Ramírez, who now lives in Carrizal de Ingenio but studied at this institute since he was 9 years old, summed it up. His friend Luisa Aurora Torrens and Jenaro Cancio, who couldn’t attend due to health reasons from Lanzarote, immediately joined the initiative. They searched and moved heaven and earth, used social networks, and even WhatsApp groups to find the gang. They succeeded in just two months.
Luisa Aurora Torrens; Olga Miranda, Pepa Sánchez, Blanca Estrella Vega, Mercedes Sánchez, Paqui Álamo, Lola Domínguez, Pepe Miranda, Nano Alduán, Paco Vega, Mari Carmen Alonso, Paco Jiménez and Fernando Amador. From the same gang, Pedro Forteza, Pedro Torrens, Nacho Arencibia, and Juan Luis García Cortí have passed away. Only due to illness, Jenaro Cancio and Pedro Afonso could not attend. Among them, there are chemists, a former mayor, mathematicians, philosophers, doctors, some honorary doctors, former councilors, head of Education Inspection, teachers, comedians, and athletes, among other professions.
Luisa Aurora Torrens was ecstatic as she recounted, “we spoke freely, and it’s curious because you erase the previous image and only see the person now, who is the same.” Torrens, very jovial and happy, also didn’t forget to mention “the flirty exchanges among the girls from school when the older boys from the institute walked by. Moreover, one of them just confessed to me that he had a crush on me, and I only find out now,” she said laughing.
They talked about what they had studied and professions they had pursued, as they are all retired now. They touched on all subjects but only briefly, as there was hardly any time to discuss who they married, the children and grandchildren each had or the unfortunate loss of a family member. Questions about where they had been all these years, “whether it was Cuba, Tenerife or Lanzarote” slipped in between stories of when they were a gang of 18 and glances at the girls in the town square and at parties.
They brought up, for instance, the participation of some of them in the folkloric group Coros and Danzas de Ingenio, recently awarded the Gold Medal of Canary Islands. They traveled to Tenerife to compete and also to get to know an emerging group, Los Sabandeños, who were taking off at that time. Present were Ramírez himself, Paco Vega, and Nano Alduán.
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The common thread was “joy, talking about personal experiences without any social filter and with total naturalness,” described Ramírez. Many comments arose after this gathering of old friends. And of course, they did so through the new WhatsApp group they created during the same lunch. Back home, many reflected on what the experience had meant to them. They wrote messages like: “I think we all gave ourselves a very lovely moment.” Also, “the most important thing for me was sharing a space, a memory, and seeing them.” “Very nice words, a very pleasant time. I really needed a day like today.” “I felt that we were very comfortable, sharing conversation and delightful memories that, despite being present in our minds,” they said. They are already planning more meetups.
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