Wall Flowers

Viva La Gloria

Created 2005

Sola

Enrique and I traveled to Sola, in the province of Camagüey, for a presentation he was asked to give about the history of this area when the North Americans settled here over a hundred years ago. The group gathered in a courtyard. A leafy trellis veiled out the harsh sun. Flowering vines descended the bleak cement wall behind Enrique. He spoke of the harshness of the surrounds, the determination of the colonists, and their brief flourishing. How vulnerable, yet resolute, these colonists were, coming to this storm-torn untrained land, bringing all they had, disposed to survive on their own long enough to call it home.

And there it was, playing out behind him as though illustrating his words.