High School
Where is it….?
OK, so now its back to trying to figure out what I am seeing. Things have
changed a lot! So much so that for a moment my bearings got a little shaky. But
then I saw the “centrepiece” of Yarina Cocha High School, and I knew exactly
where I was! The building that housed the history room, the math room, and the
English room. Yes, it is still there! Slightly modified. It now has only two large
rooms. And the stairs that went down towards the moto-parking lot / Principal
office is removed. And all the lookers are gone too.
While I am mentioning things that are still there….(with no importance what
so ever…) Remarkably to my amazement, the metal pipe that just came out of
the ground down by the stairs; It is still there! And it is not even looking rusty!
Wonder what that pipe was for in the fist place! Who knows! If you know, please
E-mail me, because I am very curious! (Just click the little envelope icon at the
very top-left corner of the page.) It was completely out of place 30 years ago, and
still is completely out of place today.
1986
1986
1986
2015
Do you remember the tall tree that was standing by the
same corner as the metal pipe? The tree that we climbed to
putt up the “class sign”? It is still there! There are no signs
up there any more. They have of course rotted up a long
time ago. Lets just hope nobody was underneath there when
they came down.
This picture is borrowed from an other web site. (Hope you
don’t mind!) It shows the tree with the sign on as it was back
then.
So what is not there any more?
Basically every other building is not there any more. As we came in from
the field by the Auditorium I was expecting to walk in between the science
building and the Spanish building. They are no longer there. The school
toilets are also gone! It is not that the place is empty. There are now other
buildings on the lot. But not exactly replacing the old ones. The new
buildings are different size, and arranged differently. That is why I was a
little lost at the very beginning while walking in to what used to be the
school campus. It looks so different now. Not only are the houses
different. But the walkways are different, and thus also some of the trees
and bushes. The old mental map of the place just does not fit any more.
The administration building / principal office is also gone. The really big
mango tree (with the killer be nest on top) is cut down. The large stump is
still there. The motorcycle parking lot used to be underneath that tree.
Remember how slippery that place became in mango-season? Sliding
around on all those fallen mangos as we came to park at school.
The private houses between “the track” and school are also history. In the
picture below you see the old building housing the history, math and
English room at the centre of the picture. The building to the right is new.
This picture is taken with my back to what used to be the track, and
looking in the direction of Yarina lake.