We left the mountains behind and fell asleep as the miles of semi arid desert rolled by and woke up to the Pampas. For many, the Pampas are the heart of Argentina...the economic greenspace with its fertile soil and sunshine. Big machines rolled past our bus, heading out to work the fields as we neared Firmat. The sunshine, this year, has become a bit of an enemy...drought is stalking the area and farmers are hoping for rain before they plant their last crop of soy. In Argentina, troubles never come one at a time.
The bus pulled over at the side of the highway in Firmat and we disembarked and watched as Matias strode up to meet us. We felt like we were coming home again. We walked to the office of the family business just down the block and met up with the family. We were welcomed once again as if we were family and we stepped right back into the rhythm of the Argentine life.
Lunch at home, a siesta in the afternoon, a swim in the pool, a quiet dinner late in the evening - such a welcome respite in our travelling busyness. We talked and laughed and got to know each other. We were introduced to the lovely Laura..Matias girlfriend. We felt so lucky that Rossana and Matias have learned English...Jorge works away at his rudimentary Spanish with their patient help. Such a gift this weekend was..wrapped up with the generosity of this family who opened their hearts to us. We shopped with Rossana´s help on Saturday and Jurg watched Matias play a game of soccer with friends. We ate food prepared by Rossana and some great crepes saved from Horacio´s birthday in order to share with us. Rossana continued with the lesson in how to drink yerba mate...the great Argentinian tea that has much ritual associated with it. It is made with warm water stored in a thermos and is a shared drink. The bombilla (straw) filters out the leaves of the plant and after a turn, more water is added and it is passed on to someone else. I think I could master this at home now.
Sunday was the day for the whole family to gather at Grandparents house...Oscar and Nedia Pelligrini...for the lunchtime assado (BBQ). Rossana and her sister and their families...all the grandchildren are young adults, some with partners and one great grandchild. The only one missing is Paula, Matias sister, who is married and is in Mexico. We shared salads, BBQ´d sausage, different cuts of beef and desserts brought by Venyss (Rossana´s sister) that she had made for her own birthday on Friday. We were so warmly welcomed and I had great fun talking with the young women about their lives...they all wanted to practice their english- thankfully!
We talked about so many things through the weekends we spent with this marvellous family. Political troubles, money issues, parenting, sports, our challenges in our lives..it was absolutely marvellous to feel so close and compatible. It was heartbreaking to hear how in this young democracy ( only 25 years), the government seems to make decisions that have such profound impacts on all. Only last Friday they grabbed all the private pension funds that had been saved and moved them all into the public plan. All the financial advisors running the private plans will now be out of work and no one knows what return they will receive. Argentines are getting accustomed to handling these setbacks.
Sunday night it was time to leave. Rossana, Horatio and Matias gave us special gifts- a beautiful mate cup, a bag of yerba mate, an Argentine picture frame for one of my photos- all so thoughtfully chosen. ...and for Jurg..the most special shirt..from the Atlante football team that Javier their son (brother) in law plays for in Mexico. Jurg will wear it at home when he morphs into "Jorge" and watches the Atlante games and cheers for #2 Javier. The gift of their friendship is beyond measure.
Our bus to Buenos Aires left at 2:30 am and Laura, Matias, Rossana and Horacio stayed up with us in spite of the fact the work loomed for them later in the morning. Matias drove us to the bus and made sure we got our luggage on and waved goodbye as we pulled away...the picture is etched in my mind. What a beautiful young man he is! so good at taking care of others. We can only hope that the family can come to Canada so we can extend the same hospitality to them. Hasta luego!
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