Back in BA now. The concrete jungle. We have been welcomed back by increased temperatures and an electric storm or two to keep us on our toes and in our apartment. The air con is essentially on 24/7 now. I broke out in a sweat this morning just sitting on the couch wearing next to no clothing undertaking next to no physical activity…save the intermittent movement of coffee cup to lips.
It feels good to be back in our old Palermo haunts. I can’t deny though that a part of me felt very content with roaming the countryside for a spell. You are, of course, pointedly aware of the peacefulness which descends outside of the city limits. The noise is constant in Buenos Aires. Even in relatively quiet moments – the early morning (of which admittedly we haven’t seen many) or the middle of the night – you are greeted with a level of noise sitting somewhere between a background murmur to an all-out clash of parties in your immediate neighbourhood…ie: three floors down.
Silence was most convincingly golden in Mina Clavero. I so fell in love with this little town that I will probably ruin the experience for anyone who makes it there by building it up too much. My previous blog post goes some way to summing up the essence of the area but my overriding memory of the place comes down to the people who inhabit it.
It is easy to forget about the kindness and generosity of spirit that humans are capable of. Little middle-of-nowhere towns like Mina Clavero go a long way to reinstating this sense of goodwill. Every interaction was a positive one. More than that, I often walked away from a shop spilling forth incredulous remarks about how sweet everyone was.
- Expecting a grumpy bus ticket salesperson and instead finding a charming interaction with a woman who fell over herself to correct my pronunciation of the Spanish alphabet, all with a smile on her face and the patience of a saint;
- Making daily beelines to a local corner store knowing we would leave with both a bag of groceries and a story from the friendly workers;
- Watching a burly man with dirt under his fingernails hand-tie a ribbon into a delicate bow in order to decorate a present for our landlady;
- Feeling like I spoke fluent Spanish on account of how unintimidating and encouraging everyone was.
Argentina in general continues to surprise us with its good-natured inhabitants. They are charming and spirited and engaging. Good-looking too. Damn them.
I really have no photos to support what I’ve just written. The best I can do is include this pic of the most popular swimming hole in town which goes no way towards demonstrating how generous of spirit they are…nor good looking for that matter.
I’ve uploaded all our photos from Cordoba and Mina Clavero to my Facebook account. Some of you might need to bite the bullet and ‘friend me’ to be able to see them but I promise not to hug or poke you or coerce you into rearing your own virtual pet.
