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8.4.15

GUAGUA & GRAFFITI - A-Z Challenge


GUAGUA – pronounced wa-wa – is the colloquial Canarian word for a bus. In an old restaurant in Santa Cruz I found the explanation.
Apparently an English company called Washington, Walton and Company Incorporated set up the first bus services in Cuba, and the abbreviation Wa & Wa Inc which adorned the buses found it’s way back with Cuban immigrants to the Canaries. 
Or so they say.


GRAFFITI - As in the rest of the world, our graffiti ranges from the quick scrawl to the artistic. The animal liberation front couldn't quite fit their long word in before the little window on this old house, and these colourful pictures adorn a wall in Las Galletas carpark.


GORDO – Fatty – obviously has an admirer, and this one on the school wall is so romantic - assuming I've translated it correctly -
 – I love you Miuida because I was born to close my eyes beside you. Alba. 

12 comments:

  1. Hi and thanks for visiting my blog! I featured Tenerife as my T word in last year's challenge - we had a lovely time there a few years ago.

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    1. Hi Anabel - I'll have to pop back and look at what you said! Where did you stay?

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    2. We stayed in Guimar and then Garachico. It was a walking holiday.

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  2. The bus naming is hilarious! :D We had something similar in Hungary with a brand name that sold building tools. Took me forever to figure out.

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
    MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

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    1. One firm in England was called Snap-on Tools. It really did sell those, but 'tool' is also a euphemism for part of the male anatomy, so it caused some comment!

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  3. Oh, that last one is LOVELY!! Bristol of course is well-known as the home of Banksy and the graffiti around Bristol is varied but always fabulous. Lizx http://www.lizbrownleepoet.com

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    1. Romance always sounds more romantic in another language. Hearing my Italian friend in full flood talking to his baby is a delight.

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  4. I had a good chuckle at Wa & Wa Inc = GuaGua.
    Depending on the usage, graffiti is a powerful art form for promoting, amongst other things, social/cultural awareness issues.
    Happy A to Z'ing!

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    1. Thanks Michelle - with the close integration of the Canaries and South American countires, the Guegua theory is plausible.

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  5. Love the graffiti - doesn't always look very nice but lovely sentiment! Glad to have found your blog through the A-Z Challenge :)

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    1. Hi Alison - the gaffiti I really wanted to photograph was far out of reach - amazing that more graffiti artists aren't killed!

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  6. Love 'good' graffiti!

    marion

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