There is a park in El Ejido the place nobody performs right this moment and the youngsters shout a reputation that sounds acquainted to all of them. Guido, the Dutchman who spent the afternoons there together with his solely two companions, a guitarist and Blanca, his canine. Now it is gone, and all of the songs that this homeless man gave them for 5 years have change into a disgrace.
“He was a free soul,” says Vanessa Martínez, one of many neighbors who mourns his loss right this moment. Since he left the Netherlands, Guido van Loo, 41, had traveled to numerous international locations, together with Italy and Morocco. However, it was within the south of Spain the place he discovered a spot that he fell in love with. And so he spent the spring and summer time in El Ejido and the remainder of the 12 months on the coast of Motril.
“Here I had discovered associates and a household,” says Vanessa. In the morning she was all the time across the Bulevar de El Ejido space. She there she obtained some cash in trade for her songs. She then went within the afternoon to the park subsequent to the sports activities pavilion and there she little by little gained everybody over.
Some of the dedications to Guido.NIUS
“I met him three years in the past in that park,” says Vanessa. Her son Rubén loves canine and he or she came to visit to say howdy to Guido’s. “We began speaking and though I used to be expectant as a result of they did not know him in any respect, the second you bought nearer he gave you peace and gave you a smile.”
Vanessa’s son befriended him, and different youngsters adopted in his footsteps. “Many afternoons Guido would play the guitar and you’d see all the youngsters forming a circle round him,” he tells NIUS. Each one referred to as him another way: Guido, Guijo, Uncle Guido… however all of them needed to have him shut after they arrived on the park.
Like each afternoon, final Thursday, Rubén, Vanessa’s son, approached Guido to speak to him, however he didn’t reply. She instantly referred to as her mom that she realized that she had handed away. Since then, the park the place she slept and spent her afternoons has change into an altar the place the residents of El Ejido bear in mind her with pictures, candles and dedications.
Candles and flowers in reminiscence of Guido.NIUS
One of the households that went to see him on the park continuously has stayed with Blanca, his canine, and Vanessa has situated Guido’s household within the Netherlands, who arrived in Almería final weekend. Grateful to see how the neighbors have turned to him, his mom and his sister are collaborating within the tributes and attempting to gather images and movies of Guido’s years in El Ejido to take them as souvenirs.
The post-mortem has licensed that Guido’s demise was on account of pure causes and tomorrow his household will proceed to the cremation. Guido’s ashes will journey to the Netherlands, however first they need to say a remaining farewell to him in Almería from 4:30 p.m. to six:30 p.m. on the funeral dwelling within the city subsequent to El Copo.
“As my son says, his mission was to make us all smile and glad,” Vanessa says, “and when he is accomplished that he is gone elsewhere.” But there, within the park the place Guido spent his afternoons and nights, it is nonetheless laborious for him to smile once more.
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