San Miguel, Cajamarca, Peru: Charm and
evocation of small towns
The following reflection
is general, the content has personal meaning for a specific case, the town of
San Miguel, Cajamarca, Peru; therefore, I suggest that each one make his own
trip and locate himself in his town, in his city, that he reconstructs in his
way his "world of memories".
For some, especially those
who live in a city or a large city, and visit a small town, it is boring,
devoid of charms, limited, which can be covered completely in a few minutes and
then you have to return because there are no fun or perversions of a big city.
This perception is valid for those who seek only to be saturated with
superficial sensations and emotions that saturate the spirit, although there
are no significant memories. For those who were born and raised in a big city,
it also has its charms, but in a different magnitude and multiple forms.
For those who were born
and grew up in a small town, the geographical extent is secondary, what matters
is the spiritual, moral, evocative greatness. When, due to circumstances of
life, one must live, work, suffer, enjoy loving, have a family in a big city,
the return to the native town is an occasion for the total renewal of the
spirit.
The town is always small,
but now you walk or walk through its streets as slowly as possible trying to capture
with the memory the images of childhood, looking in every face known, every
corner, every door, every window, every sound, every smell, every noise, and
even the barking of a dog. Everything that is evoked has some meaning.
All these events form a
kind of film that is projected on the stage of our spirit, the energy comes
from our heart, the duration of the film is as long as our will decides.
The great general
evocation comes from the sight of the whole town. The panorama brings us to
memory all life, all occurrences, all experiences.
Then, the details of the
town, the parade ground, its iconic elements such as the Church, the school
where we study, each corner, move us to more concrete, more intimate, more
personal, more intense situations.
The landscape around the
town is part of the immaterial trace of the memory. Nobody lived only among the
streets, all came out to enjoy the landscape and when it is rich in emotions,
images, aromas, greater is the possibility of having in memory an inexhaustible
flow of pleasant sensations.
Running through the green
fields when the cornfields are in the process of maturation, when the flowers
that abound in the month of May turn the earth into a gigantic canvas that
could not represent it with fidelity or the most exalted artist. Fill the sight
and the other senses and the spirit of color, sounds of nature, aromas, sun,
rain, mud; it is in a way, to know a foretaste of heaven, and that is why it is
another pleasant activity that is repeated also when it is returned.
The same people are no
longer there, friends or companions of mischief, maybe even some path or secret
place for children's adventures has disappeared, but the mind has the magical
power to bring them to life or rebuild our "magical hiding places".
Then, before returning,
one last look to reinforce the memories, as if he kept again the favorite toys
in the box until the next opportunity, as ordering the universe of memories.
How to say "see you later" to the world we left behind, but which we
keep in our memory, and we only need the return to improve some details in the
memory.
