Under the celestial vault of the tutelary hills of Monserrate and Guadalupethe windows of the imposing façade towers shine in shades of brown, beige and enamel green, which contrast with the mural where the face of a man appears looking to the southeast.
According to the criteria of
“Clarita”, as the neighborhood treats her with affection, has lived at ease and with a lucidity that overwhelms her 90 years, baptized in three waters: those of the font of the Church of San Antonio, in Cali; those of Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia, and those of the Jordan River, on the border with Israel. She prides herself on being “a happy single woman with no ties,” which has allowed him to travel to 70 countries on 5 continents. It stores tickets from 47 airlines.
Torres Gonzalo Jiménez que Quesada.
Photo:Ricardo Rondon
Clarita’s apartment is located in tower 1 on the 17th floor, of the Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Towers (Carrera 2ª, Calle 16), embedded in the branches of the mountain range that surrounds the founding neighborhood of Las Aguas, in Bogotá. There, the venerable woman has lived for 55 years, with a privileged view that overlooks a forest of eucalyptus, cedars, pines, beech trees and myrtles.
Because of this magnificent natural lung, and because of the morning chirping of various mountain birds, Clarita wakes up every day recharged with pure air and good energy, to enjoy her happy days of retirement that she divides between her vocation for reading, her walks and meeting with his best friends for years: “few, but true.”
A museum
The 82 square meters of your apartment are distributed with harmonious functionality between kitchen, living room – dining room, three bedrooms, bathroom and clothing space. The tour of the cozy refuge is guided by its owner, because in addition to keeping it as a “little silver cup”, it is a kind of gallery of artisanal pieces, paintings, sculptures and exotic objects, an inventory of her travels around the world.
In the Gonzalo Jiménez Quesada Towers, Clarita Yusti Lozano keeps all kinds of stories.
Photo:Ricardo Rondon
We start with the kitchen, which is a tribute to coffee, with the Virgin included, motivated by the National Federation of Coffee Growerswhere Clarita worked for much of her life, and which, thanks to one of its subsidiaries, the Agricultural Insurance Company, managed to finance her apartment in the first tower, which she set aside with 2,000 pesos of the time, based on plans from the Albán construction company. and Holguín Asociados, and a mortgage of 140,000.
Clarita was located there on May 1, 1969, a stage of urban growth in the center of the capital, when representative apartment units flourished such as those in the Sabana Building, on 19th Avenue; the Barichara and Procoil Towers, the Coopava building (of the Avianca cooperative); the White Towers, the Fenicia Towers, the Park Towers (by master Rogelio Salmona) and the Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesad Towers
Clarita has traveled to 70 countries on 5 continents and has tickets for 47 airlines
Photo:Ricardo Rondon
Clarita’s living room – dining room is a charming museum that summarizes her inexhaustible itinerary around the planet. As a hummingbird flies, the good lady reviews some of her prized pieces: a painting of the terraces of Bora Bora, in French Polynesia. Her matryoshka corner, from a trip to Russia. The Himalayan Buddha Collection. An ivory Confucius, from Beijing, and a porcelain samurai, from Japan. The decorative ostrich eggs he brought from South Africa. “I ate ostrich eggs and rode an ostrich. Well, what haven’t I ridden,” she adds mischievously.
Live to tell
Clarita takes out from a side table a series of robust photo albums where a large part of her profitable and admirable life is recorded, which she explains through postcards, congratulatory work letters and testimonies written on the old typewriters, which have been have been her inseparable work tools since she graduated from commercial high school, the same one that prepared future secretaries who were experts in writing, typing and shorthand.
She says that a recent graduate, aged 16, offered to work at Carvajal: “they connected me directly with the Accountant. I introduced myself and told him that I would like to work at their company, because I used and appreciated the products they made, such as the Norma notebooks. , shorthand. I spoke with such confidence that the man, looking at the little girl with braids from top to bottom, called one of the Carvajals and told him that he had the secretary he needed.
With Carvajal I lasted 6 years. First in Cali and then in Bogotá, where they transferred me. I became the management secretary, the same position I held later when I worked with the National Federation of Coffee Growers, which included the Grancolombiano Fishing Consortium (in Bogotá and Cali), and the Agricultural Insurance Company, which lent me money for my apartment. I worked with her until 1992, when I opened my insurance office, until 2000, when I retired to rest.”
-Clarita, if you had gotten married, you probably wouldn’t be telling all the wonders you’ve done, right?
-Since I was a child I had an independent spirit. It was not in my plans to take care of a husband and raise children, but I had many lovers. I did the complete course: I swallowed, cried and bit pillows with gallants who gave me serenades, from the most sought-after ones like those of Silva and Villalba, to the late-night and worn-out serenaders of the Las Nieves plaza. I cannot complain, I have enjoyed life, I have traveled the world, I have enjoyed good theater, good wine, books, bullfights and solitude, which is another of the useful manifestations of the art of live.
-Of all your trips, which were the places you enjoyed the most?
India, for its mysticism. Being in front of the Taj Mahal, that remains in your soul and in your retina forever. The cruise through the Greek Islands is a dream. Australia is a wonderful country. From Italy, I fell in love with Florence and Pietrasanta. And I traveled almost all of South America: Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Montevideo, Valparaíso, Rio de Janeiro, I reached Patagonia. I danced tango and salsa. I have been dancing since I was a young lady, because with my first salary, 300 pesos, I paid for dance classes, I bought gifts for my family and friends, and I had money left over.”
The Half Cake
‘I confess that I have lived’, alluding to the book by the poet Neruda, could also be the title of the memoirs of Clarita Yusti Lozano, a cultured, wise and characterful lady.
Being one of the founding owners of the Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada Towers gives Clarita a degree of admiration, respect and affection from the community; of fraternal neighbors like the Cáceres Hernández family (Don Carlos Ricardo and Doña Inés, and their children Ricardo, Consuelo, Martha and Oswaldo), owners of the Las Torres Drugstore for 52 years, in the commercial sector of the urbanization, and of the memory of renowned figures of art and culturewho at the time lived in the complex:
I complain about the mistreatment and insecurity in Bogotá, because I love it very much, and that’s why it hurts me. If I go down to my friends’ drugstore, the Cáceres family, it is to chat, talk about football and laugh at life.
The actors José Saldarriaga (father) and his sons Ricardo and Jaime (the sadly remembered ‘Seven Women’), Víctor Hugo Morant, Flor Vargas and her son Manuel Cabral, Óscar de Moya, one of the famous voices of radio broadcasting; Alberto Saavedra, versatile actor with extensive experience; the Cartagena writer Germán Espinosa and his wife, the painter Josefina Torres, and the philosopher and writer Adriana Urrea, founder of the first literary agency that Colombia had: ‘La Bicicleta Invisible’, among others.
The central apartment condominium, where the lives of several generations have passed, and which in the last stage houses university students from different regions, is a neighbor of the Media Torta Open Air Theater, of which Clarita has been a regular spectator since the comfortable sofa in your living room: Leonardo Favio, Los Panchos, Raphael, Camilo Sesto, Los Hermanos Arriagada, Los Chalchaleros, Los Visconti, Jesús David Quintana, Fausto, Vicky, Claudia de Colombia, and “all of the old guard.”
-What could be the formula for your admirable vitality?
-Enjoy life with a good temper and without excesses.
-Has loneliness become terrifying to you?
-I’m not afraid of anything or anyone, not even the witches who say there are witches.
-What do you usually do on a Sunday?
-I go out to sunbathe, and have lunch, because I have been a good person. And if it’s time to share, I accompany more than just a tiple.
-There are no remedies anywhere. What do you complain about?
-About the abuse and insecurity in Bogotá, because I love her very much, and that’s why it hurts me. If I go down to my friends’ drugstore, the Cáceres family, it is to chat, talk about football and laugh at life.
-How many “four tigers” shelter her in her bed?
-Ha. I wish I had a tiger in my bed…
RICARDO RONDON CHAMORRO
SPECIAL FOR THE WEATHER
Photos: Ricardo Rondón
In X: @PacoApostol
