La Robamaridos
Sophie, Astrid, Mary and I took turns being Princess Leia.
We loved it so much, that sometimes we were all an army of Leia princesses. We
We were playing the bunettes and fighting for the future of the galaxy. Marc, Andres,
Guillaume and Jacob had it easier. They took turns being Jedi knights and
ran up the mountain with their sticks, sorry, their laser swords. The fever of
Starwars taught us to play in French, English, Italian, and many other languages.
languages of the boys and girls who joined our gang, The Super 8, from
occasional basis.
Cap sa Sal was no longer the luxurious resort that had attracted so many people.
celebrity, and which had put the Costa Brava on a par with the Cote d'Azur or the
Italian Riviera.
Now the large building had been converted into private apartments.
where the children and grandchildren of those glorious years used to graze our children and grandchildren.
discovering the secret passages, ghost rooms, photos, photos of the
documents that were signed at the time by high-ranking military officers who,
we fantasized, they could have changed the course of history. All this
along with the swimming pools and beaches were our territory, and although at one time or another
we got a slap on the wrist, or a punishment, in general we were wild and happy.
One afternoon, while we were having a snack at the bakery of the complex, where we
Benita was working, she showed us to the workshop.
- I want to tell you something
He reached into his apron pocket, pulled out a small box and deposited it right on
the middle of the table, at the epicenter of all our gazes.
- You open it, Manuela.
as I finished chewing my croissant, I stood up, stretched out my arm, and
I took the wooden box.
Before opening it, I looked at their eyes
- Benita keeps treasures with stories.
My friends didn't breathe or blink an eye.
I opened the box and found a small plastic ring. It was golden and
had a red stone (also made of plastic) in the middle.
I smiled and passed it to my friends to play. They were puzzled, me,
However, although she didn't know what it was, she was convinced that what she was
The next step was interesting.
- It is Princess Leia's ring.
Begur was an isolated and quiet little town in the late 1950s,
the arrival of a film crew ("all of a sudden, the
last summer") led by its director Joseph L. Mankiewicz , and
starring the spectacular Elisabeth Taylor, revolutionized everything.
She was accompanied by her brand new husband and his children.... the
morbid detail that was not overlooked by the society with limited vision,
fear of the unknown and fascination with the starsystem, it was that the husband was
world-renowned singer and entertainer Eddie Fisher. His divorce from
Debbie Reynolds to marry Elisabeth Taylor, widow of his best friend,
was the talk of the universe, and, of course, of the little one, too.
village on the Costa Brava.
Benita told us how on one of the days of filming, a large crowd of people had gathered in the
group of onlookers waiting to see the actress, who had been waiting for several days to appear
unseen. When she got out of her car, a murmur arose and then suddenly
the shouting started. Benita, who was standing near the fence that day, wanted to
dying of embarrassment when he understood the way the crowd was addressing
her:
"Robamaridos".
Fortunately, the actress was used to the crowds and did not understand nor
a word of the language of those people, therefore, she passed gracefully over her
contempt and headed off to shoot his scene.
While the others displayed their narrow-mindedness by proffering
insults that the diva would not understand, Benita studied from her privileged position
the waving of her hair, the perfection of that female body tanned by the
the sun, and the beauty of the dress. Suddenly the actress must have remembered something because
stopped her dancing and began to take off a ring that she did not want to
to get it out of his hand. At last he got it and made a move to put it in the
pocket of the wide skirt of the dress, but the ring fell to the floor, and no one
he seemed to notice.
The hours passed, the filming was interrupted for lunch, curious onlookers
lost their passion and went home, and Benita managed to get closer to the
exact spot where he saw the ring fall without anyone telling him, and there it was.
For a moment, he was tempted to keep it, but his conscience
would not have let her live, therefore, she chose to approach a young assistant
who was picking up cables not far from her and explained what had just happened. At
apparently he must have understood something because he brought with him the actress's assistant, who
asked her in Spanish to accompany her. Suddenly Benita was walking in
in the middle of a circus that enraptured her. They went down a small slope together
and at last they came to the shade of a pine tree that sheltered Elisabeth Taylor and
to her children, the children of her partner, who was not there at the time.
When the American saw her appear along with her confidant,
he smiled. She smiled back and as he was about to return the ring, the
diva put a child in each hand. The little ones also smiled.
At that point Mrs. Taylor was called back to the set, and both actresses
and assistant, they marched to the cliff. Benita was left alone with the children.
When they finally returned, hours later, the three of them had become very
friends. The little girl went up to her stepmother and gave her the ring that her new
friend had asked her to return it. Elisabeth Taylor stared at
Benita was surprised, and then must have asked her assistant, disgruntled,
if that woman was not the nanny I had requested to take care of the children.
The assistant shook her head and attested to the ring story.
American beauty embraced Benita while laughing and apologizing at the same time.
for the misunderstanding.
During the following days of filming, Benita was the caregiver for
the children of the actress and the singer. She taught them how to make marzipan cookies, to
singing typical songs from there, they made sand castles and bathed in the
sea. On the day they said goodbye, Elisabeth Taylor gave him the ring that she had given him.
had rescued her, as a sign of gratitude, and the little girl also gave him
a golden plastic one of his with a red stone.
Benita wore Elisabeth Taylor's ring all her life (on her finger).
pinky)
The child turned out to be Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie
Reynolds, Princess Leia.
The same faces that surrounded the baker's table on that afternoon of
summer, they came together again today, 30 years later.
Under the same pine trees of Cap sa Sal where we were Princess Leia,
because we had his ring, I summoned my dear childhood friends
around a low table covered with my linens from Lo de Manuela, and everyone
came to my call from different parts of the Galaxy.
We were changed, of course, time does not pass in vain for
no one, but somehow they were still the same eyes behind the same eyes.
that skin already full of experiences. The laughter, anecdotes and hustle and bustle did not
took a long time to sprout and so we spent the whole weekend. We bathed together
on the wharf from where we jumped doing pirouettes that only the
unconsciousness and innocence allows you to do. We returned to the beach, and we returned to
talk about love... what will that beach have? We went back to looking at the stars and
We mourned for those who had left us, and there were many of them. Les
We pay tribute to them by telling their anecdotes and filling our
hearts. We remembered my grandmother, my grandfather, Benita. We went back to
breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner without being separated for a second, as in
those summers, and when the time ran out and I was alone again in front of the
my Mediterranean, I felt very, very sad, but with my chest full of energy.
and the desire to travel again. A strange need to embrace everything.
(cell phone rings)
- Manuela, honey, how are you?
- Well, Mom, my friends from Cap sa Sal just left from when we were
little ones, do you remember? Sophie, Guillaume, Marc, everyone! We are back
to a few days together because ...
- Honey, tell me about it when we're together. I need you to come now
to Istanbul. I have a setback and I need you here.
- To Istanbul! What are you talking about, Mom? I'm emotionally broken, I just
to experience something very...
- Manuela, take my advice. See you at Agatha Christie's hotel, the Pera.
Palace, tomorrow.
- But why? Either you give me a good reason or I won't move a hair.
- Because I have a ticket for the Orient Express and I won't be able to go,
you are going to go.
We loved it so much, that sometimes we were all an army of Leia princesses. We
We were playing the bunettes and fighting for the future of the galaxy. Marc, Andres,
Guillaume and Jacob had it easier. They took turns being Jedi knights and
ran up the mountain with their sticks, sorry, their laser swords. The fever of
Starwars taught us to play in French, English, Italian, and many other languages.
languages of the boys and girls who joined our gang, The Super 8, from
occasional basis.
Cap sa Sal was no longer the luxurious resort that had attracted so many people.
celebrity, and which had put the Costa Brava on a par with the Cote d'Azur or the
Italian Riviera.
Now the large building had been converted into private apartments.
where the children and grandchildren of those glorious years used to graze our children and grandchildren.
discovering the secret passages, ghost rooms, photos, photos of the
documents that were signed at the time by high-ranking military officers who,
we fantasized, they could have changed the course of history. All this
along with the swimming pools and beaches were our territory, and although at one time or another
we got a slap on the wrist, or a punishment, in general we were wild and happy.
One afternoon, while we were having a snack at the bakery of the complex, where we
Benita was working, she showed us to the workshop.
- I want to tell you something
He reached into his apron pocket, pulled out a small box and deposited it right on
the middle of the table, at the epicenter of all our gazes.
- You open it, Manuela.
as I finished chewing my croissant, I stood up, stretched out my arm, and
I took the wooden box.
Before opening it, I looked at their eyes
- Benita keeps treasures with stories.
My friends didn't breathe or blink an eye.
I opened the box and found a small plastic ring. It was golden and
had a red stone (also made of plastic) in the middle.
I smiled and passed it to my friends to play. They were puzzled, me,
However, although she didn't know what it was, she was convinced that what she was
The next step was interesting.
- It is Princess Leia's ring.
Begur was an isolated and quiet little town in the late 1950s,
the arrival of a film crew ("all of a sudden, the
last summer") led by its director Joseph L. Mankiewicz , and
starring the spectacular Elisabeth Taylor, revolutionized everything.
She was accompanied by her brand new husband and his children.... the
morbid detail that was not overlooked by the society with limited vision,
fear of the unknown and fascination with the starsystem, it was that the husband was
world-renowned singer and entertainer Eddie Fisher. His divorce from
Debbie Reynolds to marry Elisabeth Taylor, widow of his best friend,
was the talk of the universe, and, of course, of the little one, too.
village on the Costa Brava.
Benita told us how on one of the days of filming, a large crowd of people had gathered in the
group of onlookers waiting to see the actress, who had been waiting for several days to appear
unseen. When she got out of her car, a murmur arose and then suddenly
the shouting started. Benita, who was standing near the fence that day, wanted to
dying of embarrassment when he understood the way the crowd was addressing
her:
"Robamaridos".
Fortunately, the actress was used to the crowds and did not understand nor
a word of the language of those people, therefore, she passed gracefully over her
contempt and headed off to shoot his scene.
While the others displayed their narrow-mindedness by proffering
insults that the diva would not understand, Benita studied from her privileged position
the waving of her hair, the perfection of that female body tanned by the
the sun, and the beauty of the dress. Suddenly the actress must have remembered something because
stopped her dancing and began to take off a ring that she did not want to
to get it out of his hand. At last he got it and made a move to put it in the
pocket of the wide skirt of the dress, but the ring fell to the floor, and no one
he seemed to notice.
The hours passed, the filming was interrupted for lunch, curious onlookers
lost their passion and went home, and Benita managed to get closer to the
exact spot where he saw the ring fall without anyone telling him, and there it was.
For a moment, he was tempted to keep it, but his conscience
would not have let her live, therefore, she chose to approach a young assistant
who was picking up cables not far from her and explained what had just happened. At
apparently he must have understood something because he brought with him the actress's assistant, who
asked her in Spanish to accompany her. Suddenly Benita was walking in
in the middle of a circus that enraptured her. They went down a small slope together
and at last they came to the shade of a pine tree that sheltered Elisabeth Taylor and
to her children, the children of her partner, who was not there at the time.
When the American saw her appear along with her confidant,
he smiled. She smiled back and as he was about to return the ring, the
diva put a child in each hand. The little ones also smiled.
At that point Mrs. Taylor was called back to the set, and both actresses
and assistant, they marched to the cliff. Benita was left alone with the children.
When they finally returned, hours later, the three of them had become very
friends. The little girl went up to her stepmother and gave her the ring that her new
friend had asked her to return it. Elisabeth Taylor stared at
Benita was surprised, and then must have asked her assistant, disgruntled,
if that woman was not the nanny I had requested to take care of the children.
The assistant shook her head and attested to the ring story.
American beauty embraced Benita while laughing and apologizing at the same time.
for the misunderstanding.
During the following days of filming, Benita was the caregiver for
the children of the actress and the singer. She taught them how to make marzipan cookies, to
singing typical songs from there, they made sand castles and bathed in the
sea. On the day they said goodbye, Elisabeth Taylor gave him the ring that she had given him.
had rescued her, as a sign of gratitude, and the little girl also gave him
a golden plastic one of his with a red stone.
Benita wore Elisabeth Taylor's ring all her life (on her finger).
pinky)
The child turned out to be Carrie Fisher, the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie
Reynolds, Princess Leia.
The same faces that surrounded the baker's table on that afternoon of
summer, they came together again today, 30 years later.
Under the same pine trees of Cap sa Sal where we were Princess Leia,
because we had his ring, I summoned my dear childhood friends
around a low table covered with my linens from Lo de Manuela, and everyone
came to my call from different parts of the Galaxy.
We were changed, of course, time does not pass in vain for
no one, but somehow they were still the same eyes behind the same eyes.
that skin already full of experiences. The laughter, anecdotes and hustle and bustle did not
took a long time to sprout and so we spent the whole weekend. We bathed together
on the wharf from where we jumped doing pirouettes that only the
unconsciousness and innocence allows you to do. We returned to the beach, and we returned to
talk about love... what will that beach have? We went back to looking at the stars and
We mourned for those who had left us, and there were many of them. Les
We pay tribute to them by telling their anecdotes and filling our
hearts. We remembered my grandmother, my grandfather, Benita. We went back to
breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner without being separated for a second, as in
those summers, and when the time ran out and I was alone again in front of the
my Mediterranean, I felt very, very sad, but with my chest full of energy.
and the desire to travel again. A strange need to embrace everything.
(cell phone rings)
- Manuela, honey, how are you?
- Well, Mom, my friends from Cap sa Sal just left from when we were
little ones, do you remember? Sophie, Guillaume, Marc, everyone! We are back
to a few days together because ...
- Honey, tell me about it when we're together. I need you to come now
to Istanbul. I have a setback and I need you here.
- To Istanbul! What are you talking about, Mom? I'm emotionally broken, I just
to experience something very...
- Manuela, take my advice. See you at Agatha Christie's hotel, the Pera.
Palace, tomorrow.
- But why? Either you give me a good reason or I won't move a hair.
- Because I have a ticket for the Orient Express and I won't be able to go,
you are going to go.