The 6th Panamerican Games in Cali

That was a memorable year in Cali: the city had been selected to be the seat of the 6^th Panamerican Games and went through a fabulous transformation. The sports arenas that Cali has today were built at that time: the Panamerican Swimming Pools and Baseball diamond, the Bicycle Velodrome, the Pascual Guerrero Stadium already existed and the Gimnasio Evangelista Mora next to the Football Stadium completed the sports installations.

 (In the back of the photo, written with a delicate hand by Leonor Cuervo:
Cali, Julio1971
"La pareja tricolor"
Uno de los ensayos previos a las justas panamericanas")

 The student residences at Univalle were converted into Olympic Village, the fountains and parks on the Fifth Avenue were constructed, the whole city vibrated with energy, renovation, growth and joy. A totally new traffic police corps was formed:Los Guardas Bachilleres, they were high-school graduates all in their new nifty blue uniforms.

We were, of course, in the middle of it all. My boss was in charge of providing the city the group of bilingual personnel that would be employed as interpreters and translators at the different events. Both my brother and my boyfriend took the training, for some reason that I don't recall, I didn't. It may have well been that I didn't feel confident enough with my Spanish at that time. I sat with Fabian in the classes and even if I didn't get full credentials I still had a badge and the sleeve with ”Interprete Oficial” written on it. We were att he initial Press Conference with the delegates from different American countries; we were interpreting for people from Barbados and I remember understanding only about half of what they said. Then we all got our assignments, some people got sent to Lago Calima for the sailing and yachting competitions, my brother was assigned to the Country Club for the shooting events and we went to the newly built velodrome with a track made of wood imported from Africa. We were assigned a booth right next to Radio Todelar and the Colombian TV. Fabian announced all competitions and the results in Spanish, I did the same in English. The media people sent us food and soft drinks hoping to be first to get the official results before their competitors, nothing was allowed to go out before we said it. It was a lot of fun and totally exhilarating to announce the new Panamerican records made by Martin ”Cochise” Rodriguez and hear the whole velodrome, all 20 thousand people jammed in there burst into cheer and applaud. I was complemented a lot for my good media voice and diction.(perhaps I should have chosen to study to be a journalist anyway, like I had initially planned when graduated from high school).

On our free time we went to every sports event in town, the swimming competitions at the Olympic

Pools, the football matches at the Pascual Guerrero, we didn't pay for the entrance and went before others in the lines. What a summer! In the fall, after the Games were over, Fabian's parents went on a trip to USA and Fabian got to use the family car, a 54 Chevrolet BelAir meantime. It was kept in mint condition of course and he had promised to take good care of it. We went for picnics and rides, visited the neighbouring towns and villages, drove to Pereira where he had studied industrial engineering at the Technological University but had quit because he was sick all the time (bad climate) and saw naked Simon Bolivar statue. The car broke down, though, and he started a frenetic race to get it repaired before his parents's imminent return. He believed that they would never let him have the car again if it was broken at their return. The mechanic screwed in the last new part the day before mum and dad came home.

Fabian had been teaching at Colombo, mostly in high schools and also as Spanish teacher before the games; yet Colombo had decided NOT to give their teachers leave of abscence to work as interpreters at the games, probably out of spite because it was the competition, Donald Harris who obtained the contract to provide this personnel. People took time off anyway for the games and my brother was eventually re.-hired, but Fabian decided to look elsewhere. I spoke with my boss and Fabian was hired to teach English at Harris Institute together with me.