MEMORIES

THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE ROOF A MEMORY OF PAPI 1984

The following is a fond memory of the family patriarch, fondly called Papi by all who knew him. He was my friend as well as my teacher of all things Peruvian. Oh how he made me laugh. This glimpse of home life in Peru happened in the mid part of 1984 at the family home in Arequipa during our, after Japan, reunion tour. As was always the case when we travelled to Deysi’s home in Peru, one of the family had to give up their quarters so we had a comfortable place to sleep at home. There was no way that we would be allowed to go to a hotel, even though the home already housed a good size football team, counting all of the brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews that were still at home.

Luckily there was a small apartment in the back of the property and the older brother and his family stayed there. Also on this trip we were accompanied by Deysi’s younger sister and her perspective husband (not yet formally approved by Papi). Anyway it was obvious that there was no longer room in the home for this ever expanding family. Papi therefore decides that he will build another floor on top of the existing house. Pretty easy, you call a contractor and a few weeks later you have a new floor. Hold it, you don’t know Papi, its not going to be that simple!

PAPI AREGUIPA, PERU 1984

Papi finds a builder, a one man show, little bit of a tosspot (liked his drink), about the same age as Papi (say mid 60’s). His tools are in hock after he pawned them for another round of Piscos (local firewater). Papi now has a crew. He decides that between himself, his boys, and whoever else he can conscript, he is ready. The work is cement and bricks, with a little bit of reinforcing steel. All of which Papi had been gathering up and storing at the house. Now all he has to do is get the builder’s tools out of hock. That done he now has a hold on this guy, who starts out in Papi’s debt before he even goes to work. Ok the stage is set. The work is ready to kick off. Of course we are all on vacation and looking for fun things to do and partying in the evenings.

Now Papi has a mission. He starts the work each day at about 6:00am. Where they decide to start work is, at the front of the house. Directly above where Deysi and I were sleeping. Now at 6:00 am this construction work starts. This along with the roof dogs, roosters, street vendors (all with assorted bells, whistles and horns) and about 1000 cars racing up our one way street headed for the city centre. Each and every morning from the outset, Papi calls his crew together (him and his contractor) and up on the roof, directly over our bed, where they proceed to get into a yelling, screaming, cussing, throwing around of Tools (and whatever else is about) and plan the days work.

The first morning, I was brought bolt upright in the bed. I’m thinking that someone had just caught a burglar up on the roof trying to break in. Now I know Papi still has his police service revolver in his box (caja). I was afraid he was going to pull it and take care of whoever he was trying to subdue on the roof. In another room of the house, Deysi’s younger sister goes and gets her beau (also a policeman). Rousts him out and tells him to get up there before the two old guys kill each other.

This at 6:00am, now everyone is up and fearing the worst. Eventually Papi has now had enough of his worker and stomps down off the roof still sputtering and cussing. He is now in a major sulk. The worker starts his daily work and day one is underway. Each and every day that worker is up there, they started the work off with their little planning meeting. Every day they yelled and screamed at each other until, I guess they determined the path for the day.

This only stopped, when one day, the worker pleaded with Papi for some of his salary in order to buy food and necessities for his home. Papi relented and gave him money. Well guess what happened then. Yup, the builder then went on a huge bender and didn’t come back. Well Papi, not being slow about the way things went, had kept the guys tools in event that this sort of thing occurred. Along about a week later. The wife of the builder comes by and begs for his tools, as he cannot go to work without them. Papi, the old softy, relents and gives her the tools. You guessed it! That was the last we ever seen of the builder.

Of course our days now had a new starting time, everyday by 6:30 everyone was out of bed, because even if you could have slept thru the normal cacophony at that time, YOU WERE NOT SLEEPING THRU THE DAILY PLANNING MEETING!

HUMPING THE BRICKS UP ONTO THE ROOF. CONSTRUCTION HAS STARTED

10 Comments

  • Gladys C.

    Hahahaha, I remember my dad always thinking he new more that the constructor, they fought every morning!!!

  • John Aranibar

    Hello Jim
    I tried to find my comment about ajes-Macon. I was not able to find it
    Anyways here is picture. By hand, no GPS, no Laser
    A tunel by hand, With my uncle Berrios and cousin Jose Aranibar (Bertoledo)
    My apologies again, worth the effort
    Ica – Peru

  • John Aranibar

    Yes,
    Photo taken maybe, maybe in the 70s , maybe earlier
    Tunnel carved by hand, no GPS, no Laser
    My uncle Berrios was a pionnner with my cousin Jose Aranibar
    Son of my dad’s oldest brother

    As you properly mention,
    They worked with Bertaledo a Spanish Company back in the early 70s
    Way back before you come to Arequipa

  • John Aranibar

    Christine McVie, co-singer of Fleetwood Mac
    Passed away at the age of 79 (Nov 30,2022, Today)

    It brought some memories
    You came to Peru with large collection of LP Records ( Long Plays ), or were your friend’s? Majes-Macon co-worker?
    We used to play then on our Telefunken Record Player in Arequipa
    I believe (I hope) they still in Palacio Viejo.. the LP’s
    To mencion a few : American Graffiti, Bread, Barry White, Gloria Gaynor and the lovely Tina Charles

    Every Friday, when Lilia came back from Huambo, Arnaldo, Lilia, Gladys and Nono used to play those LP’s and dance
    I was 10 years old or so, I remember it very clearly, every Friday
    Maria, Rosita and Yenny sat quatelly, see them dancing
    I think this is way I am so fond of 70s, 80s music
    Great Memories !!!!

    • Jimbo Red

      I think the LP’s were your sisters. She left them behind after we married. They are for sure old by now, but that kind of music never dies. What a great memory little brother. Your sister says your two brothers also used to buy them. Your mom and dad loved to dance also!

  • John

    I remember it differently, I beg to differ …
    Yes, Arnaldo and Lilia had they own collection. Mostly records from late 70s, early 80s, in Spanish

    My Dad rarely asked my Mom to dance, but when they did it was such a treat
    My Dad had a Sonny SONY TR-730 AM Micro Transistor Radio powered by Double AA batteries
    He used to listen Tango Songs, like Carlos Gardel, and others

    Saturday Morning, weekly routine. Clean his Smith & Wesson Revolver Gun and drink Scotish Brandy
    (Coco Aranibar has it now, a present from his Grandfather, still fully load it)

    I beg to differ, American Graffiti?, Bread?
    No way!!

    Thank you for sharing your memories, I enjoy reading your blog
    Take care

    • Jimbo Red

      Hey more great memories! Thank you little brother. My memories have faded a lot over the years. However, one of my fondest memories was watching your mother and father dance. I seen it often. I am glad you enjoy my blog. Music was never my thing, until I met your sister and all of the family in Peru. ABBA songs in Spanish were my first real love in music.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Translate »

Discover more from Before My Clutch Slips

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading