Jaume Oliver (according to his friend, Pedro Moll): "He wanted to be Indiana Jones"

PalmHe says of him that, as a teenager, he was "fun, chatty, funny, and a really good person." They would go out for walks after dark to some of Palma's classic bars: Es Carreró, Sa Font. Sometimes they would also go to Gomila: "And he would chat with everyone, he was very articulate, and he would go from group to group meeting people. Now perhaps he's lost a little of his charm, but he's still a sweetheart," says Pedro Moll, one of the friends the journalist—winner of the Ciutat de Palma novel prize—still keeps in touch with from his teenage years, laughing throughout the conversation. They grew up in Palma and didn't live far from each other: Jaume Oliver lived in the neighborhood near the bullring, and Pedro lived near Blanquerna. Since they became friends in the schoolyard (they weren't in the same class because Jaume is a year older than Pedro), they spent many evenings together. Pedro recounts that the now writer and journalist used to play hockey, in the version that is without skates (but with stickThey played volleyball together for a while, but that didn't last long either. What they did enjoy together was hiking, but don't think they went out every week: "Out of every ten times we got together, one ended up being a hike. It wasn't like it is now. We could improvise much more: the mountain huts were open, you didn't have to book, you could be more adventurous. We'd make it last longer," the friend recalls.

What Jaime discovered at a very young age, and still enjoys now, is music. "As far as I know, he's never taken music lessons. He and his brother—the musician Joan Miquel Oliver—are self-taught." Jaime started writing songs: he called himself Jaime Capital. "They were funny, parodies of political situations." And when he wasn't singing, in his room you could hear artists like Lluís Llach, Fito Páez, Sabina, and Mike Oldfield—"he doesn't like the latter as much anymore"—and also groups like Los Rodríguez and Pink Floyd, recalls Pedro, who adds that, on television, they watched things that no one else watched: "Quedàve Spenserwhich aired at one o'clock or twelve in the afternoon. When we talked, nobody knew what the story was about!" At that moment, Pedro reveals to us that Jaume was "a huge Indiana Jones fan." Perhaps he studied History because "what he would have liked was to be Indiana Jones."

Regarding Jaume's character, he mentions a few interesting things: "I'd say he's not a very detail-oriented person, nor does he notice certain things, but if you ask him for help or something, he responds." He also says that Jaume is someone who trusts that things will work out, that he shouldn't plan too much. And he recounts an anecdote: "He always hosted toast parties at his house for San Sebastián, and he'd ask people to bring something. One year I asked him if he didn't have to organize who would bring sweet and who would bring savory. 'Trust that chance will balance things out,' he replied."

Regarding Jaume's writing career, his friend Pedro isn't quite sure what to say: "I know he's taken some trips, like to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, to do reportage, and I knew he was interested in reading and also in journalism. I don't know if I was surprised when he published A disordered chronicle of Old CityBut it's true that I didn't know he wrote creative fiction."

What he does remember is that Jaume was the first to get his "pink slip of paper," his driver's license, and that he was in charge of driving the group of friends to local festivals: "He drove slowly and timidly. When he saw the town sign, he'd park. We asked him to drive closer to the center, but there was no way!" What he does enjoy, however, is cycling, a vehicle he rediscovered in his late twenties. And, from time to time, making a meal (because he's a terrible cook) with friends like Pedro, to reminisce about old times.