Valero Madness

I can still remember my first acquaintance with a “valero.” A new friend of mine, Adriana, had invited me over to her house for lunch one afternoon with her family. Adriana is the social worker for the Oficina de la Mujer (Office of the Woman) in the Municipio (City/Country Government). She had asked me to help facilitate the formation of an association of social workers in town and help them get some direction on project identification and formation. I was happy to be included and share my experience and knowledge.
Adriana is a great woman, she lives in her own house but has invited her parents to live with her, likewise, her 3 nephews live with her as well because her sister, she tells me has made mistakes and just doesn't know how to manage her life let alone her three boys'. These three boys were my first window into what would sweep Bahia as a phenomenon only to be known as “valero madness.” It was these three boys and the constant “klip klop, klip klop, miss, klip, miss, klop, klop” sounds that would soon become the soundtrack of the bus stop, the bus, the comedor, any activity with the jovenes, it would drown out the sweet sound of afternoon birds from my bedroom window and the rhythm of the waves at the beach. This first afternoon, my first encounter with the valero, I turned around mid-sentence to get a better look at these noise instruments of diversion, and Adriana commented: “when the toys are cheap, we buy them for everyone.” And so it was, at 50 cents a pop, everyone could afford a valero, and within a week, every person under the age of 23 had at least one.
The valero instantly became an obsessive albeit annoying past time. At any point that a child or young person is sitting idle, they are valero-ing. “Klip Klop, Klip Klop” Trying to get the cap on the stem as many times as possible without missing, and when one misses they get right back on track without missing a beat, like its all just part of the game and process. Watching a young person valero is like watching a zombie; there is absolutely no attention put into what one is doing, they just Klip Klop way for hours on end. I have seen a brand-new valero at noon on Tuesday and seen it a dented, used up mess by Friday. These kids are relentless! Valeros are naturally prohibited from school, Thank god. We try to keep the same rule for the refuerzo program with the kids for them to focus on their homework, but that is easier said than done...the valero is ever present.


(The Vera Sisters, Ana Lucia and Patricia are valero-pros! Here they are posing with their toys.)

I find the valeros mildly amusing. Yes, I tire of the ever present clanking they make at times. But I also find myself in awe at the tricks and speed these kids can valero. I am more apt to cheer a kid on than threaten to take it away, but I also, not so secretly, want to learn how to valero myself. Little by little I am improving. I refuse to purchase one; maybe before I leave for a souvenir of the phenomena I bore witness to, but I just can't bare to own one yet because I know I would be clanking away every waking hour! Not everyone has the patience that I have for the valero, Natalia for example. Natalia is now infamous in the parroquia for her overreaction to a valero incident. Now bear in mind this is a young woman who had come to Ecuador for 5 months to volunteer and open a special needs school. She is not religious in anyway, and really wanted nothing to do with church, catholicism, mission, anything religious. And here she was living in a church, woken up every Saturday and Sunday at 8 am by people preparing for 9am mass, and listed to mass every other day, minus Monday at 7pm. The house of the church is a public place, numerous meeting are held there, and numerous people pass through daily to meet, work, and socialize. We'll say it is a Thursday. Maria and Natalia have been up since 6:30, rode the bumpy Tosaguena bus 30 minutes to and from the community at the 20th Kilometro, they have taught 4 hours in their special needs school to a group of varying ages and differing abilities, they are tired. The two cozy into their beds ready to rest, as Natalia almost falls asleep she hears the klip klop begin. The valero is keeping her from falling asleep. She decided to read a bit, but soon finds that she can't concentrate on what she is reading because all this klip kloping is getting in the way. She storms down the hallway to find a group of jovenes upstairs in the church, Rene with valero in hand she states: “whoever is playing with that (insert bad word here) valero better put it away because the next time I hear it I am going to shove it up your (beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!!!!!!!)!” In this moment, Rene has klipped, and as Natalia finishes, his valero klops. She screams and storms away. All of the jovenes quietly exit the church... Bear in mind that this event occurred after probably 3 months of daily valero-ing in the house.
Like any craze, I think that the valero phenomena will taper off with the promise of resurfacing again soon. I keep grabbing the valero when I get the opportunity and one day soon, I secretly hope to be a valero master like all of the kids and jovenes I work with in Bahia.