A group portrait and a few words

A few days ago as I made my way to an outlying sector on Mancarrón, the island I live in in Solentiname, I came upon the characters photographed above talking and sharing stories with one another at Eduardo Arana's house (left). At first, only the men were present as Maria (second from left) was bathing in the lake. I didn't contribute much conversation as I mostly sat and listened to the three men talk about growing old and dying.

Neither Eduardo nor Vicente Gonsalez (right) know exactly how old they are but they estimate they are somewhere between 70 and 80 years old. Pedro Paulo Perez (second from right) was hesitant about revealing his age. When he finally said that he is 45 years old everyone scoffed at him and said that he was lying and that he has to be in his 60s. Anyways, the three friends seemed fixed on the idea that they are all going to die very soon, but the thought didn't seem to scare them as they laughed and joked about different sorts of death. The men also exchanged stories about how different the world is now (Eduardo said that he heard on the radio that there are machines that bathe you, pick out your clothes, and dress you - his friends were amazed) and how the youth are all crazy as the music they listen to is terrible and their lifestyle is abominable.