Paparo

My father’s paradise lives on

My sister Ana digs a hole to China, 1985. Family album image

In Paparo, the protagonist of our family life was always my father, and when I think of him during the first decade of my life, I see him in shorts and sandals, often shirtless, holding a machete in one hand and an OFF! can in the other. The former came in handy more often than you’d think, what with the brush that needed slashing and the coconut that had to be whacked and cut open. As for the OFF…