The Lost Photo

 

THE LOST PHOTO

1967 - Second Grade of Primary School, School No. 3151.

San Isidro Barrio, Chimbote, Peru.

One morning in 1972, I sneaked into my mother’s bedroom. I headed for the corner where there was a small square table, and on top of it, a black suitcase. Inside the valise were the family’s valuables, such as documents, diplomas, and old photos.

I rummaged through the photographs and found what I was looking for: two black-and-white photos from 1967. Both were taken on the same day in front of the facade of Boys' School No. 3151 in the San Isidro Barrio of Chimbote. In one of the shots, I appear with my Transition class (First Grade) and my teacher, Eva Carbajal de García. The other corresponds to my brother Fernando with his First Year class (Second Grade) and his teacher, Rómulo Salazar Silva. I hid the photos against my chest and left for school.

I remember the day in 1967 when the photographs were taken. Those were the times when we attended school in two shifts: morning and afternoon. Before lunchtime, the school principal, Don Felipe González Olivera, visited each classroom to recommend that the students return from our homes looking “presentable”; a photographer was coming to take pictures of each of the classes.

For my brother Fernando and me, those two shots were the favorite photos of our childhood. From time to time, I have returned to my photograph to look again and again at those children of 1967 and wonder: what became of their lives? Why did some leave us so early? To what extent did those precocious gazes already offer a preview of our destinies? But while I have been able to look at my photo for the last forty-five years, my brother Fernando could no longer see his after that morning in 1972 when I hid the photos against my chest and left for school.

In 1972, my brother had started high school at the San Pedro School. I was in my last year of elementary school at Mixed School No. 89007 in the 21 de Abril housing development. My teacher was Don Rómulo Salazar Silva—the same person who in previous years had taught my brother, and whom we always called “Bigote” (Mustache) behind his back. And on a certain day that year, I entered the classroom with the two photos in my hand to show them to my classmates.

A large group of students swarmed around me. Everyone wanted to look at the images. Driven by curiosity, the teacher approached and asked to see them. He looked at my photo first, and upon seeing the second one, he saw himself in my brother’s photograph. Then he handed mine back to me, walked toward his desk, and tucked my brother’s photo into his record book.

I was eleven years old and did not have the nerve to ask for the photo back. And so the day passed, then the weeks, the months, the years, and the decades. As I became an adult, I developed a special interest in my family’s old portraits; at the same time, a feeling of guilt over the loss of my brother’s photograph nested within me. Then I decided to move heaven and earth to recover Fernando's photo.

From Europe and the United States, for many years, I enlisted several friends to locate the blessed teacher and ask him about the photo. The efforts didn't make much progress, but toward 2010, someone had tracked him down. That year, I traveled to Peru and looked for him, but I didn't have his correct address, and when I finally reached his office, he was away on a trip. Meanwhile, I had to catch my flight back. It was like playing cat and mouse, but I returned to the United States certain that I was already stepping not only on the tail but also on the “mustache” of the teacher.

It was only a matter of time. I coordinated things better for my next trip. I got the "profe's" phone numbers and called him several times from the USA. We talked after several decades, and I realized he didn't remember the circumstances of how he ended up with the photo. But that didn't matter; the most important thing was that he told me he still had it and would make it available to me.

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Peru. I had called him previously, and he told me: “Call me when you are in Chimbote.” I did so, and we agreed on a place, day, and time: Sunday, August 12, at two in the afternoon at his house. I went with my friend Bernardo Cabellos, and right on time, we knocked on the door. Teacher and student reunited after four decades in a long and warm embrace.

Coincidentally, a birthday was being celebrated at his house, and we were invited directly to the table. I finished my plate, finished my drink, and put a pause on the conversation. Then I looked my teacher in the eye and said: “Profe, you know I’d like to have a look at the photo.” “Yes, of course!” he replied. He stood up, walked into an adjacent room—from the sound, I knew he grabbed something—returned toward me, and placed the photograph in my hands.

It only took me an instant to know it was the same image that forty years ago had changed hands and owners.

For several years, the photograph had been searched for in my house, and I never said anything. Through this writing, the truth is revealed. And I offer my apologies for the matter.

A few days ago, the photo was returned to my teacher, but I will have a good copy placed in the very spot from which the original photograph should never have left. Although... if I had never lost it, I wouldn't be writing this endearing story today. In the end, life moves in strange and mysterious ways!

New Hampshire, USA

September, 2012

1967 - Second Grade of Primary School, School No. 3151

01 Rufino “Tribilín” Rodríguez Vásquez

02 Pablo Espinoza Herrera

03 James Dick “Chino” Dongo Quiñonez

04 ... Quispe Cerna

05 Pedro Zavaleta ...

06 Víctor Elías Estrada

07 Wilfredo Zavaleta Varas

08 Henri Enrique “Moco” Herrera Meléndez

8A. NN

09 Jorge Mantilla ...

10 Anselmo “Doctor” Zárate Paulo

11 Ricardo Ponce Varas

12 ¿Lino Rafael García Vásquez?

13 Rómulo “Bigote” Salazar Silva

14 NN

15 ... “Lorito” ... (Vivió en el Barrio 2 de Mayo)

16 ¿Jorge Luis Giraldo Espinoza?

17 ... “Culinchi” Huapaya ...

18 Luis “Cocobolo” Asmat Ramirez

19 NN

20 ... Mateus ...

21 Jorge Luis “Gallina” Jimenez Díaz

22 Víctor Elías "Shilco Shilco"  Blas Estrada

23  Juan “Can Can” Acero Laveriano (+)

24 NN

25 ¿David Palacios Baltodano?

26 Oscar “Gato” Manrique Muñoz

27 ... "Chato" Aguilar ...

28 NN

29 Hermes “Mito” Varas Brito

30 Guillermo “Patillas” Quezada Tapia

31 César Segundo “Chino” Del Río Vásquez (+)

32 Rolando Quito Rodríguez

33 Elmer Alberto “Chueco” Laureano Cornelio

34 José Luis “Borrego” Durán Cácerez

35 Reynaldo “Reyna” Cruz Reyes

36 NN

37 Fernando “Pepe” Quevedo Serrano

38 Yofré “Cheva” Vásquez Chiscul

39 ... Venegas ... (del “Pintor Venegas”)

40 Fernando “Rocotín” Montenegro ...

41 Raúl Martínez Estrada

42 Lupicinio Luis “Pilu” Pinedo Borjas

43 ... Soto ...

44 Dionisio Fausto “Tito” Rodríguez Vásquez

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