The red pair (a buc)

Calesita

1. f. And., Arg., Bol., Ec., Par. y Ur. tiovivo.

Diccionario de la Real Academia Espñola (RAE)

Often in my blogs I write that perhaps the most human characteristic that we might not share with most animals is our ability to associate. Sometimes I think that our memory is what helps us associate a present with a past.

Consider this large red pear that my daughter Ale bought last week when she was visiting us from her home in Lillooet BC. When I looked at it I associated with another pear, pear in Spanish, pera.

But I was not thinking of the fruit. I was thinking of carousels that as a child I would ride in the Argentina of my youth. I quickly outgrew the thrill of riding one but fond memories remain. In Spain these childhood contraptions are called tiovivos (the live uncle) in my place of birth they are called calesitas. 

These calesitas would suddenly spring up in our neighbourhoods in much the same way as small circuses (where I can boast of seeing a live kangaroo box with a human).

A particularly Argentine feature of the calesita is that the operator would hold a pera (pair-shaped and wooden) that was hanging from a pole near the carousel. He would playfully get it close to the children who would attempt to remove a metal device called a sortija. I am almost certain that the man made it difficult for older children and probably did the opposite for the younger ones.

And if you did manage to pull the sortija from the pera, you were given a free ride.