There is no need to name them or explain where they are. Every Ibizan has his or her own and as soon as he or she sets foot in it, even if ten years go by, it triggers a burst of memories. Our parents, uncles and grandparents used to take us to this hidden shore. Perhaps they even had a dock with a small llaüt, a boat or a barge where we could go out to fish for moray eels, cow fish and scorpion fish.
As children, as we didn’t get up early, we would turn up on the beach mid-morning and wait for them to return, playing on the shore among the stones, anemones and sea urchins, until our teeth chattered. Before arriving, we sometimes complained about the yearning for the long beaches, such as ses Salines, la Bassa, Cala Llenya or Portinatx, where you could build sand castles, play football, understand each other using signals with albino children who spoke strange languages and run around in the water without paying attention to where you put your feet. Also because of the laziness inspired by the intricate and zigzagging path that had to be descended and climbed back up at the end of the day, taking care not to fall off the cliff.
When we were little, peace and quiet and privacy weren’t valued by us; they were of no interest. The more people and noise, the better. Just the opposite of our elders, who were like we are now. Probably, without being aware of it, they were looking for a connection with that Ibiza of yesteryear that was slipping through their fingers.
The docks in those tiny, lost nooks and crannies, which didn’t even deserve to be called coves, were not mere hideaways for boats, but miniature shelters with everything you needed to enjoy the day by the sea and even spend a couple of nights, if necessary. They had a gas stove, some blankets, duralex crockery, rusty cutlery, coffee pot, pots, pans and some rudimentary bunks made of four badly cut boards, which sometimes folded into the wall to make room for the boat. And if the floor was too steep, table and chairs were adjusted to the unevenness by obliquely pruning their legs to compensate for the lack of horizontality.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.