The real Domingo

In the late 1980s I lived on the volcanic desert island of Lanzarote. When I wrote The Drago Tree in 2013, I had no idea the story would take me back.

In The Drago Tree I created a character, Domingo, in homage to the real Domingo and the friendship we once had. Call me a sentimental old fool if you will. I had no idea that I would reconnect with this friend who has now grown in me larger than life.

domingo diaz barrios

 

I left Lanzarote in 1990. I was 28 and unbelievably stupid. I threw away a life that made my heart sing, and every cell of me feel alive. I left an island so ingrained in me that I’ve grieved the loss ever since. I had recurring dreams that I’d go back. I played Taburiente and I wept.

view from where i was staying

In March this year I sat at Domingo’s kitchen table. I was there the whole day. By the end of it my mind was aching from the effort of listening to his Spanish. And in the few days we spent together in his kitchen and his studio, I saw something precious. Something I had taken for granted, my best friend all those years before; a pearl, and I’d spat him out like a piece of grit.

domingo’s art

Twenty-six years on and there I was in the company of a man indigenous to the island, an inspired and prolific artist, an ambassador of his culture, embodying all the values I hold dear and a few more besides. Maybe it was the intensity of the moment, the thrill of the reunion, the poignancy of the inevitable parting, the loss of all those years between, but in those moments  I felt twinned, as though he was the other half of me.

one of the numerous momentos he gifted me

While I was on the island I was asked why I chose to write novels set there. Was I profit-driven, with an eye on a market? It was a shocking question. I wanted to tell the questioner, how can I not write about an island for which I feel such passion? Why would I want to write about somewhere else and risk the chance to make the epic journey back there all the way from Australia, a chance to spend a little more time with my friend?

saying hasta luego

Yeah, cool me a sentimental old fool. But we only get one life. And sometimes we just have to reclaim the things that are important to us. I guess I am lucky that I still can. Today is his birthday.

Felicidades Domingo X

http://domingo-har.artelista.com/

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Canary Islands, Domingo Diaz Barrios, Haria, indigenous art, Lanzarote, The Drago Tree