Another Cha Cha Takes Me Back

Last night I was watching figure skating on t.v.and I saw that one of the girls skating performed to a familiar tune which I had not heard in a long time. All I remember from the song is its beginning chant: "One two, cha cha cha, three four, cha cha cha..." So I decided to Google in these lyrics and I found that the song is titled "Another Cha Cha" and was released in the late '70s by a Franco-Latin disco group called Santa Esmeralda.

My memories of this song take me back to 1979, the last full year of my life that I spent as a citizen of Ecuador before emigrating to California the following year. The song reminds me especially of my trips to the seaside, an hour and a half away from Guayaquil, the city of my birth. My grandmother loved to travel and enjoyed leaving the city. This was especially true during Easter week, but also whenever she had an opportunity. She would leave my grandfather behind who couldn't easily escape his duties as the headmaster in an all boys orphanage.

My grandmother would take my two younger sisters and I, our travel bags in tow, sometimes accompanied by her "helper" or one of our aunties, but once in a while with no help whatsoever. If we went to the beach communities of Playas or La Liberta, we would rent a little room for our stay. If we went to Salinas, we would stay at my godparents Nancy and Rodrigo's beach condo, a block away from the water.

These trips to the sea were magical for my sisters and I, and I have a feeling that they were also a welcome respite for my grandmother. We would all swim and play in the water for hours, building a nice appetite in the process. I have fond memories of ordering fish and crab, salty green plantains, and drinking coconut water right out the fruit. I remember my grandmother drinking a cold beer and getting a great satisfaction from it. I remember these restaurant stands having palm-leaf thatching for roofs. And I remember Santa Esmeralda's catchy and festive hit "Another Cha Cha" always blasting from a juke box or radio.

Now I can't wait until I go back to Ecuador again! It's been 3 years...