When Esteban Rodríguez Eugenio, illustrious and beloved from Yaiza, passed away on January 4, I was traveling, and when I learned of his sad death upon arrival, I knew that something important had broken in all who knew him and also in all of Yaiza.
He was a good man in the Machadian good sense of the word good. He is gone now. But people live on this earth as long as they are remembered, and Esteban will be in our thoughts and souls for a long time, as long as we have left to live.
He was someone very special, naive and intelligent at the same time, in that difficult mix that occurs only in men chosen to be superior to almost all of us. A shrewd observer, but condescending at the same time, because he only highlighted the best in others, that's why you felt good with him, and everything was good by his side.
He was older than me, but I almost grew up with him, because he never left anyone aside, and he was always attentive to everyone, even to a little one who fluttered around the town square, and whom he could see as a simple brat; however, he attended to him and listened. Later, we remained friends, a relationship full of his always intelligent conversation, of stories and anecdotes, of observations and shrewd occurrences to the most exquisite finesse. That was all him, and that's why everything died a little with him.
He valued everyone, whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, because great men know how to have the right perspective and enrich themselves with everyone while growing in wisdom, and he became that, an authentic wise man, our wise man, from the land of Lanzarote.
He was the official chronicler of Yaiza, and we couldn't have had him better, but above all he was a truly good man, who walked with dignity on this earth and whom we had the honor of knowing and loving.
You will always be in my memory. Rest in peace, my friend.