END OF YEAR IN PUNTA DEL ESTE.A HAPPY ENDING,

END OF YEAR IN PUNTA DEL ESTE. HAPPY ENDING.

  We approach in the car to the rambla of the Mansa beach in Punta del Este. The car parks were already occupied by luxurious cars and others more discreet.

   A crowd had taken over along the entire path.Some families had even brought small tables with their respective chairs and ate the refreshments and drank the drinks they brought in small frigo bars.

  We sit on the grass behind a small palm tree. It was already about 11 o'clock and at 12 o'clock they were launching the fireworks, a tradition that the Hotel Casino Conrad Hilton inaugurated. I worked in Punta del Este when they hotel was opened. I was in my first two years in Uruguay.

 Now a crowd was crowding along the long path very near to the beach. There was a soft and fresh breeze that allowed to be with light clothes.

  My son-in-law, my daughter and my princess Juli we sit down calmly. Ale opened the small frigo bar we were bringing. He took out bags of fried chips, cider bottles, beers and an orangeade without sugar for me.

  Juli was happy and danced in her mother's lap on the verge of excitement.

  I started watching the audience around. I saw a large group of girls and boys dressed all in white and I asked my son-in-law:

  - Those are members of some religious sect?

  -Do not. They are brasucas or Brazilians who want to appear to have a lot of silver "cache".

   - And those fashionable dresses with Nike shoes and Adidas shirts?

  -These are "Fats" of Maldonado that arrive on their motorcycles and claim to be of superior class.

  - And the women dressed in white in transparent coats?

  -They are "Argentas" tourists who want to differentiate themselves from the Uruguayans, who wear closed black to differentiate themselves from the Argentines.

  - And the millionaires where are they?

  -In the balconies of those luxurious buildings.

  - I looked and observed that all the buildings were illuminated and several people looked at the panorama at their feet, also waiting for the twelve o'clock and the sky to be lit with colored fire.

  Suddenly it was midnight. Explosions of fireworks filled the air. The sea reflected the multiple colors. It was a beautiful show.People, without distinction of social barriers, began to embrace and kiss each other, strangers with strangers, an immense happiness united us all.

  For a few moments this reminded me of some of the final verses of the Rock Group song "Led Zeppelin" "Stairway to Heaven"

  "When all are one and one is all"

  I carried my granddaughter in my arms, I squeezed her in my arms and I began to cry with emotion.For all the people who were now one. 

  For my little family. And for those who had left in Cuba.

  I embraced a Cuban-his accent betrayed him-He said:

  -If I had known before that in Uruguay they were like that, I would have come a while ago.

  I wanted to tell him that things were not so simple, but I abstained. 

There was so much rejoicing in everything in the whole crowd. It was not time to talk about the issue of an emigrant, far from his beloved island.

                              Dr  Orlando Vicente Alvarez: end of 2018.

cuban uruguayan ,genius