Ignacio Garrigos Perucha
Ignacio Garrigos Perucha
Always follow what your dad and mom say. Follow what they tell you. They are wise and always looking out for you. My dad was looking out for me. My brothers. I got lucky having so many family members. No matter who is in your house, listen to what they have to tell you. In the end of the day I look back, all the time I disagreed with him, I always look back and know they are always right. They would try to do the best for me. The person you have in your house you always look up to. Try to do the right thing and be patient. Try to be nice to your friends. It doesn’t matter where they come from or what they look like. I have a lot of different friends. I try to get a long with everybody. The more friends you have the better.
Ignacio Garrigos Perucha
My name is Ignacio Garrigos. My family calls me Nacho. The country I come from is Spain. We have names like Joseph and James and then depending on the region of the country your name can be “Nacho”. Normally I introduce myself Ignacio. When I came to the United States I was introduced as Nacho. I didn’t know about the food applied to the name Nacho. I like people calling me Nacho as long as you don’t call me Nacho Cheese.
I was born in the city of Seville in Spain. When I was one year old, we moved to a tiny island by Africa called the Canary Island. I have six brothers and one sister. I’m the youngest. My brothers and I would play soccer and basketball. They would always tease me. Every day after school we would go to the beach and it was always warm weather.
We used to swim on the beach and one of the things I remember is playing soccer on the beach all the time. Playing barefoot on the beach. We would spend the whole weekend on the beach. One time there were baby sharks in the area where we swam. They were tiny sharks. We used to feed them tiny fish. My friends and I, we all did that. That was probably the best part of swimming in the ocean. Also the best part was swimming in the waves. We didn’t do any surfing back then. It was a fun thing.
When I was ten, we moved back to Seville. Bull fighting is a big tradition in Spain. I’ve seen many bull fights. It is very scary. They don’t allow children in there. It’s a very old, old tradition in Spain. It’s a bullfighter fighting by themselves in a ring. Sometimes the bullfighter doesn’t have anything. The bulls are tall with horns. Sometimes people die.
The tradition goes back centuries ago when people tried to dominate the cows or bulls to work the farm. It’s a fight between the two. The human is trying to dominate the animal and the animal is trying to defend himself. The only three countries that still celebrate the bullfight are Spain, France, and Mexico. My grandfather had a house in the country. He used to have cows and one day I was there with my brothers and I was tiny and small. We were turning around and a cow starting chasing us. That was my running of the bulls!
With My Father’s Love
Honoring Ignacio Garrigos Perucha
With My Father’s Love
(Honoring Ignacio Garrigos Perucha)
I was born in Seville
In the country of Spain
On the Canary Islands
Close to Africa, I was raised
There were hardly any roads
We did not have any cars
Along the beaches we rode
On a horse beneath the stars
There were baby sharks
In the place where I swam
We used to feed them tiny fish
Along the beaches we ran
Everyday after school
It was always warm
On the island where I lived
Until eleven years old
There were friends in my class
Who lived in caves
From up in the mountains
Walked to school both ways
Though we had more than they
My father he cared for
Those who had no place to stay
Finding shelter for the poor
There is a time for everything
My father he would say
There’s a time to do homework
To do chores, and to play
From my father I learned
How to do the right thing
How to discipline myself
Like a matador in the ring
And now I am a dad
And my father is no more
I now think of all we had
Along those sandy shores
On the island where I lived
Down the streets of Seville
I now walk with Carmen
With a heart that’s always filled
With my father’s love…
Music by LARRY LONG. Words by LARRY LONG with Mrs. Hudson’s 4th grade class of Fair School Crystal (Crystal, Minnesota)
©Larry Long 2010/BMI