Tata was Raul’s mother, Melodia’s Ecuadorian grandmother, and the person I eventually learned would be my best friend and partner in crime while I was living in Ecuador. Our beginnings as in-laws were awkward and sometimes painful, for both of us. I was naive and in love with her son, and Tata was a devoted […]
Ecuador
GIFTS FROM HER FATHER
Melodiaʼs father, Raul Mendoza, was a musician, a very good musician. He was a self- taught Latin percussionist who specialized in Latin Jazz, Salsa and Latin Ballroom. He played beautiful rumba, mambo, samba, cha-cha and bossa nova, and this is what first attracted me to him. Eventually we married and had our daughter, Melodia. Raul […]