igualada

around the time coco was conceived, panzón and i, quite ironically visited the igualada cemetery (http://tr.im/xVye) with our close friend, who everyone knows by loquillo, which means "smallish crazy man", a pretty accurate description. the cemetery was designed by catalan architects enric miralles (http://www.mirallestagliabue.com) and carme pinós (http://cpinos.com), who were married at the time. i had used this quarry-turned-cemetery as a reference for my thesis, that was about the reuse of abandoned industrial sites, but had not bothered to look it up before our visit, which is probably why it surprised me on many levels.

we got in our 1985 red two-door volkswagen golf, inserted the cassette that was connected to my ipod into the radio and began our short road trip away from barcelona. loquillo and i exasperated panzón, as always, by having multiple conversations at the same time, some of them pointless, some of them leftovers from another day, some of them mere parentheses.

after getting lost a couple of times in the cemetery's industrial surroundings, we finally crossed the enclosing gate, which was a victim of oxidation, and were greeted by a handful of delicate blossoming trees, scattered on a clearing. the complete lack of signs and people made us feel like we were entering a forgotten place and our descent towards the main space, enclosed by tomb-lined walls, but open to the sky, humbled us and reminded us of our own earthliness. just then, we saw the presence of the living: horrid benches and cheap trash cans and tacky plastic flowers, and we were reminded that is place is not forgotten.

maybe our visit wasn't ironic at all, maybe we unknowingly took home a lonely soul awaiting rebirth.