Playing guitar in Los Jardines Geriatric Center   

Realizing that my wife Belinda and I may one day need living assistance, the Los Jardines Geriatric Center on Cuenca’s west side presents such an opportunity. After relocating from California thirteen years ago, we have made Cuenca our home. Our fifth-floor apartment is a stone’s throw from the Virgen de Bronce shrine and church perched on the crest of a hill along Avenida Diez de Agosto.

To keep active in the community, Belinda creates ceramic mirrors, and I study music and play guitar. In recent years, we have followed the news about friends moving into nursing homes. In the past year, Jean McCord, a fellow member of Cuenca Writers Collective, became a resident at Los Jardines.

Los Jardines Geriatric Center Entrance

In 2024 at the age of eighty-one, Jean published two books. Home Free is Jean’s semi-autobiographical novel about growing up in segregated Georgia. The action in her murder mystery, The Eagle Murders, takes place in the State of Washington.

After a series of hip joint replacement surgeries, Jean could not maintain her Puertas del Sol home and care for her pets. Jean sold or gave away her possessions and rehomed her pets before moving to Los Jardines. Situated in a crowded neighborhood, the care facility sits at the end of a cul-de-sac behind a high gate. Patients live in private or double rooms centered around an open courtyard and an atrium.

Jean McCord, Los Jardines resident

“I have the best room,” Jean tells me. The corner space comes with a private bath and has two walls with windows looking onto a skylit hallway. Confined to her bed, on occasion Jean sees me arrive in the hallway. Rooms and care range from $1,000 to $1,800 per month according to quotes made by my friends. While most residents and staff are Spanish-speaking, I’ve spoken in English with a few of the staff.

Every day is much the same, so to do something different is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Wanting to play my guitar for Jean as a diversion, I asked the center’s staff for permission to entertain its residents on a subsequent visit.

Over the past four years, I’ve participated in our city’s free guitar classes for adults and school students held at its cultural centers. “Profe” Celso Peralta, bandleader of Trio Anoranza, teaches guitar played to the traditional songs of Ecuador. On numerous holidays his classes perform for the public.

Jeremiah Reardon plays guitar at Los Jardines Geriatric Center

When I played at Los Jardines in May, it marked the third occasion playing solo in public. The first time occurred when I played at GM7 Digital, the Azogues’ radio and TV station. My Cuenca friend Rommel Martinez interviewed me about my musical interests on his program Mosaicos. Next, I played the guitar in the studio for his audience.

The second time I played in public was at Fundacion Corazones de Oro (Hearts of Gold), a Cuenca non-profit organization. I played for school children in an afternoon care program. The staff provides them with afterschool supervision and refreshments until their parents get off work.

With these experiences of guitar playing in mind, I volunteered my services to perform at Los Jardines. I arrived on a weekday morning. Thankfully, the weather felt pleasant though the wind gusted. Arriving with a treat from the corner bakery for Jean, I first greeted Henry, the bilingual receptionist who had admitted me after I pressed the doorbell camera.

Jean McCord’s books

I spotted Jean in the spacious courtyard. Wearing a tight blue cap which concealed her hair, she sat in a wheelchair with her legs covered by a colorful Otavalo blanket. “Oh! I’m so happy to see you, Jeremiah,” she said with a smile.

“I’m going to enjoy these,” she said when I handed her the bag of warm baked rolls.

When a gerontologist in a white hospital gown approached us, I explained, “I’m here to play guitar, Doctor.” He suggested that I sit in the center of the courtyard while he notified residents. Seated on a chair, I practiced musical scales on my guitar. Soon, a dozen people including a few nurses’ aides sat across from Jean and me under a covered walkway.

It amused me to see Jean taking the opportunity to eat the sweet rolls while I performed. But her presence gave me the assurance needed to resume playing after making errors.

The first song I played, Anton Tiru riru riru, is a popular Christmas melody. Next, I played Noche de Paz (Silent Night, Holy Night), a song played with arpeggios. My third piece was a triplet finger exercise. Failing to explain it in Spanish, a nurse translated to my appreciation.

The fourth piece started with introductory notes played on my zampona, the Andean pan flute. I played and sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. I then played El Condor Pasa, very popular with Cuenca musicians. A few people then left. Earlier in the courtyard, Jean had remarked, “Some residents stayed in their rooms on account of the wind making it feel chilly.”

I introduced the final song Mujeres Divinas to murmurs of audience approval. I shouted in response, “Chevere!”, meaning ‘cool’. When my little show concluded, I stood to a round of applause. Jean’s aide, Gabriela, appeared to wheel her back to her room. First, the young woman reset Jean’s feet which had slipped off the stirrups of the wheelchair and covered her with the blanket.

Los Jardines presents a formidable barrier behind high walls, but it impresses me as a positive and loving environment. The message “Love is Here” printed on Gabriela’s red smock in English reinforces that sentiment. Having visited Jean in Los Jardines on numerous occasions over several months, I sense that fellowship and love permeate the premises.

When the time comes that Belinda or I need a care home, the Los Jardines loving environment would make our dependent life a pleasant one. Observing how the staff perform simple tasks in a low-key manner or pop into Jean’s room with a cheery greeting assures me that she’s well cared for. Walking through its quiet halls, I note how clean the rooms are. And down one hall, I see folks gathered in a community room watching TV. That morning playing guitar served to boost the good feeling I have when visiting and how Belinda and I would thrive within its cheery walls.