When They Left

When the colourful icecream van rides through the deserted streets of the village there are no children trailing behind it In Plazuela a peaceful hamlet lost in a mountainous region of Ecuador only a handful of old ladies remain who are all widows In the gloom of their houses photos of those who are gone hang on walls husbands who have passed away a few years earlier children gone to work in the big cities or abroad and grandchildren who have grown up far away from them