Un mar de fueguitos, Eduardo Galeano/Latin America Campaign/Uruguay

I hope that everyone of you is doing well!

I'm very happy to share that I'll be participating in the Latin America Campaign.

To get you in the mood, the video that you see as the presentation of this column, is from Eduardo Galeano. He was an Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist, one of the greatest of South America, among with others, and this extract is from the book "El libro de los abrazos". This book is close to my heart.

Please see transcription below Spanish/English.

Spanish:

"Un mar de fueguitos"

Un hombre del pueblo de Neguá, en la costa de Colombia, pudo subir al alto cielo
Y a la vuelta, contó.
Dijo que había contemplado , desde allá arriba,
la vida humana.
Y dijo que somos un mar de fueguitos.
-El mundo es eso-reveló-
Un montón de gente, un mar de fueguitos.
Cada persona brilla con luz propia entre todas las demás.

No hay dos fuegos iguales.
Hay fuegos grandes y fuegos chicos
y fuegos de todos los colores.
Hay gente de fuego sereno que ni se entera del viento,
y gente de fuego loco que llena el aire de chispas.
Algunos fuegos, fuegos bobos, no alumbran ni queman;
pero otros, otros arden la vida con tantas ganas
que no se puede mirarlos sin parpadear,
y quien se acerca, se enciende.

English:

"A sea of tiny flames"

A man from the village of Neguá, in the cost of Colombia, managed to go up the high sky.
And, when he came back, he told the story.
He said he had seen human life
from up there.
And he said we're a sea of tiny flames,
-That's what the wordl is-he revealed
-Lots of people, a sea of tiny flames-
Each person glows with their own light amongst all the others.

No two flames are alike.
There are big flames and small flames
and flames of each and every color.
There are people with serene flames that aren't even fazed by the wind.
And people with wild flames that fill the air with sparks.
Some flames, foolish flames, don't glow or burn,
but others, others burn through life with so much passion
that you can't even look at then without blinking
and whoever get close lights up.

If you have the chance, please join us at these 2 events:

https://cafetalk.com/campaign/lesson/regional/latin-america/?lang=en

https://cafetalk.com/campaign/2022/symposium/spanish/august/?lang=en

I lookf forward to sharing with you all that Uruguay has to offer!

Valeria
xx