‘Big Low Family Center: The happiest place of my childhood, totally in ruins... [A Wednesday Walk's Story]
One day you go to the place where you had the best memories, and you had no idea that this would be the last time... Something like that happened with this place: ‘Big Low Family Center’. A place designed for the family and children's fun... Let's say, it was like one of those fairs we've all seen in Hollywood movies, but instead of corresponding to a special holiday or occasion, it was permanent. From Monday to Monday, and where all the people of your city gathered to be happy...
And no, this is not necessarily a sad post, but inevitably a nostalgic one. I'll tell you right now... You see, Wednesday morning I had to go to a post office that is located near where the ruins of the once familiar park once stood.... And upon finishing the errands that took me there in the first place, I decided to go and take a walk. I knew, beforehand, that it would be a tour full of memories and melancholy, too much melancholy.
I still remember my dad, really trying hard to take my mum, my brother and me to the ‘Big Low’ (that's what we called it) ..... It was hours and hours of fun. Hundreds of metres designed for children and teenagers. The buildings had a dreamlike façade, as if from nowhere you were on the sets of the film Aladdin. I remember that some of my cousins and friends who lived in other states came to visit my city and were amazed. They used to say that where they were from there was nothing like it.
You could play video games in arcade mode in a series of shops designed to make us 90's kids beg our parents to take us there. In fact, the first time I remember trying a pink frappé lemonade was at the Big Low.... Oh, the memories... What would we be without them? But well, let's get back to the reality of 2024. That Wednesday, I finished my duties at the post office, and instead of going home and cooling off (the heat was unbearable) I decided to walk and listen to my little girl's heart...
I arrived at the remains of what was once the place where I was most genuinely happy in my life, and curiously enough, what provoked that visit was a raw tear of resignation. For reasons that I do not wish to detail, although I know perfectly well (any Venezuelan knows why what happened in that place) I will not delve into how such a wonderful place, loved by all of us, came to such a horrific and frankly, desolate end.... What I will tell you is that in every building and facade you see in these photographs there is (or was) a positive and extremely important memory of my life.
They are pieces of genuine happiness that today lie beneath the inclemency of all the elements. Funny how the generational issue is supremely relevant.... I ran into several people younger than me, who mistook me for being an influencer; they saw me taking pictures with my camera.... And they had absolutely no idea of the ruins they had in front of their eyes... For those people who are between 27 and 35 years old, who are from my city, Valencia, Venezuela, it is impossible that this place doesn't wrinkle their hearts...
I have no idea if this will go far or not within this community, but I am absolutely sure that every step I took on that site, more than 28 years after the last time I was there, made me be introspective and reflective about the passage of time and how our memories and appreciations work... On the one hand I categorise and hold the Big Low in high esteem but on the other hand, for the vast majority of today's 18 and 20 year olds, it is just a pile of junk and rubbish accumulated in oblivion.... For me, perhaps in a regression to my childhood, it is the corpse of what was once something majestic.