It took me 15 days to participate in this Challenge. First I had to make up my mind and then I needed to get my hands on the photo album. That was taken care of by my Mamani.
She came to visit me recently. She spent - I think - less than 5 hours here because she took advantage of a round trip that a family friend had. And among all the food and other articles she always brings with her, I asked not to forget that memory of my 15th birthday.
Until now I didn't have a title for this post. I think maybe something is coming up because Miss mipiano called us to this challenge 15 days ago.
I've needed courage for this, I'm not going to lie to you. And since I mentioned the word memories, I think I can go down this road.
The year was 1995.
From that time the strongest memories I have are of pre-university studies; however, I don't remember if by then I had already decided that I wanted to study journalism. I remember that I sometimes ran away from school to buy a banana milkshake and to go to the baseball stadium. In this particular case, the television cameras gave us away and when we arrived at the scholarship, the teachers called us to the headmaster's office to reprimand us. One day we also eloped to go on a crazy adventure at night with some boys in a car rented by a friend. I went as a chaperone because I wasn't really interested in that kind of exploration and encounters. I don't remember how many boyfriends I had that year, I think one, and he lasted as long as a meringue at a school gate, but I do remember being deeply in love with a guy who was an ace programmer, so smart, and had Asian facial features. He was so white, looked like ivory, and could hardly speak. His face and smile still linger in my mind. I wonder where he is today and if he graduated from something related to his passion. Of course, it was a platonic love, nothing ever happened.
I'm writing to see if I remember anything concrete from my 15's. Okay, there was no money back then. The 90s, mind you, in the middle of the special period. And I do remember that I had no interest in a 15th birthday party, nor in photos... but my parents always made sacrifices to give me and my sister everything so that we wouldn't be less than our friends. So I had my little photo album and they also bought me new clothes. I don't remember being excited about this, but I was grateful. And in the end, it was fun. To do so, I travelled many kilometres from the city where I was studying to the village where I grew up... Let me tell you this, give me a chance before I share the photos.
It turns out that every 11 days we used to go in buses from the Federico Engels Pre-university, in the western city of Pinar del Río, to the railway station to board a ‘milk train’, I don't know why they called it that, but what I do know and remember is that it broke down a lot and that it never left on time. Hours would go by before that thing would whistle and start moving. In our hearts we carried the joy of returning home, but also the worry about the time and the fatigue that the journey entailed. Because the truth is that I don't remember a single afternoon when the damn train didn't break down, that's why sometimes I used to escape with two friends to make auto-stops on the highway in order to get to my parents' house in Candelaria in less time.
And so the day of the photos arrived and the crazy adventure took place in Artemisa, at my maternal grandparents' house. I remember that a neighbour offered to do the make-up. We brought a box of clothes and accessories for the photo studio and it was so funny that I, even though I hated it, had to laugh at the things that happened while we were there.
This photo can be titled Oh... Zenin. That was the boy's name—the platonic love of pre-university days.
Poor Mamani and Papaenzo, these photos are not even well taken and cost a lot of money.
😩
Thinking about this photo thing, I have almost no photos of myself from back then. I suppose that what little money there was had to be spent on more vital things. I don't remember my mum or dad or anyone else in my family using cameras either.
My sister and I always laugh at the only photo we have because Tita, my great aunt, took us to the Artemisa studio. It's a photo of me and my sister with Yeti, a dog I had at the time, a very hairy dog that looked like it had braids. Ah, that photo was already published in Hive. Check it out here.
Well, I'm already in this mood and I'm going to share one of my favourites. I don't remember whose clothes made me look so elegant.
What I feel when I see these photos is so strange, because this is simply not me. I don't even paint my nails in colours. The most I can do is wear glitter on them. Look at my hair, they put me in rollers or Tita made me do the cool wave, because my hair is sparse and straight.
Ok, I had this kind of photos and they bring back nice memories. At least they were simple and without so much paraphernalia.
And the next photograph I'll share with you is nanixxx in her final year at college, preparing the documentary for the thesis with which I graduated. I'm not sure if I've already posted this photo here on Hive, you'll have to forgive me but I can't remember. There are more than 400 posts written and I'm too lazy to go through them now. What I can do is to bring a bonus snap at the end of this one.
🤷♀
Here I had already had a tantrum and went to a place to have my hair cut, with a machine. Take all this hair off, I told the barber. And I felt free.
Bonus 🤣 Pic/
With my sister 
🙌
Photo books to celebrate reaching the age of 15 is a custom that has been maintained for years. This is done in many ways depending on the aspirations of the girl... or boy, and what their parents or family in general can afford. Photographers or Studios have many options or packages that they make available to their clients with suggestions of locations and even costumes to please the most demanding. Generally, it is a very expensive service. It always has been.
For those who want parties, some people have businesses that organise these types of events and of course, also include photographers to document the whole experience. I found this page with options and prices to give you an idea. I'm not sure if it's up to date.
Original content by 
