The Marengas Women of Malagueta
In the fifties, La Malagueta was still a marengo terrain. Even on summer days when there were a lot of bathers, the fishermen did not give up the land that had been theirs for their previous generations. The marenga’s family knew how to make the most of the summer.
Years in which many young people from Malaga did not have a bathing suit when it was time to go for a clandestine dip, at the expense of their frequent school absences, in the early Malaga summers or during the summer season.
The fishermen's wives offered them the possibility of renting a bathing suit for the whole morning or afternoon.
They were incredibly unsightly bathing suits, made of linen or cotton fabric, which if they were too small were uncomfortable, the large ones when the waves dragged the children, their private parts came out, so they had to be tied to the waist with a small rope, which passed through a hem and its ends showed to make the loop at the height of the navel.
Many of these garments, due to the use and abuse that other users had made of them, lacked a hem, but neither the bather nor the renter of the garment cared, since they were provided with a piece of string used to wrap packages and with it they more than made up for the lack.
For twenty cents you could rent a bathing suit and the price included the use of the fishermen's hut to undress and dress, as well as the safekeeping of the clothing while you were bathing in La Malagueta.
To identify the clothes, a bundle was made tied with the belt, wrapping the shoes in it. There was never anyone who lost anything, or who was missing any of their belongings, which gave a lot of confidence to the deal.
We would have liked to have a graphic document of those children with one of these bathing suits, escaping from class and taking refuge on that beach, under the maternal protection of the marengas women of Malagueta.
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