In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures
San Antonio Ibarra, Imbabura, Ecuador
The two set off, each one to encounter his own luck for that day, a Colombian from distant times, and a contemporary Frenchman from the opposite side of the ocean and the flip-side of the culture; each of them with their personal motivations and things to do.
Jean Marie kept pondering on these matters, and his head reeled a bit as a consequence.
“I find this conversation with Jon Jairo quite revealing. In an effortless way, even for me and lack of Spanish, he has described how this vast region was settled. Way back in school, they seldom mentioned the existence of Latinamerica, much less, talk to us about all these topics. I can hardly imagine myself, walking behind mules carrying all my material belongings, in search of a new life.”
Crossing the park, he stopped to watch a pair of tables on the side, where they were playing chess. A boy, maybe around eleven-years-old sat at one of the tables. He was playing against a quiet, older man with a crop of white hair. After carefully observing the chessboard, Jean Marie concluded: “There’s no doubt that youth will succeed over experience. There is no way the older man will win this game!”