Last Wednesday, Lucio, his parents and I hopped in the ol' pick up truck and headed west with final destination Barreal in mind. It was so great to get to see the Argentine countryside west of Córdoba by means of a car and not a bus. We gave ourselves plenty of time to stop and see the sights along the way, including gorgeous views of the sierras, churches, small towns, and a crazy museum in a town called Nono. This museum has over 20 thousand artifacts from all over the world, including an Incan mummy, old cars, photos, masks, and even a statue of Chief Seattle. Crazy!
We spent that night in a tiny tiny town called La Toma in the province of San Luis. Then we spent Thursday driving to Mendoza, where Lucio's two cousins live and go to school. Their names are Pancho and Santiago, and are brothers of the cousin who had the Quince. Pancho and Santiago live in this really cool house where they cure their own olives. Next door to them lives Santiago's girlfriend in the most beautiful house I've ever seen. Her family makes their own wine, so Lucio and I helped the two of them clean, fill and cork the bottles. It was so cool! I felt very mendocina. We also went to a winery called La Rural. Yum yum yum. Here is a pic of me, Lucio and his brother Charly, who met us in Mendoza.
After spending the night at the cousins' home, we took off for Barreal, which is this tiny tiny town in the San Juan province wedged in the Andes. The population is just around 5,000 people, there are spectucular views wherever you turn, and it apparently has the clearest skies in the world. The whole time we were there I don't think I saw one cloud.
This is the home of Lucio's Tia Celeste and Tio Fernando, the parents of Belú, who had the Quince. Everyone on Lucio's mom's side of the family came here to celebrate Belú's 15th birthday party. The whole weekend was full of food, celebrations, and a lot of singalongs around the guitar, thanks to Lucio's Tio Javier. I met so many wonderful cousins, aunts, uncles, family friends, the family priest and even the mayor of the town. It was a lovely group of people and I was very honored to be there celebrating with them!
Saturday was the big day of the Quince. We had a long, delicious lunch of chorizo and wine, and then I played some soccer with Lucio's cousins Lucas and Agustín. Everyone was really impressed that I, la yanqui, could play and could play well! That night we all got dressed up and went to the Quince. Quinces are huge celebrations that every argentina has when she turns 15. It reminded me a lot of all the bar and bat mitzvahs I attended in middle school. There was good food, good family, good wine, good dancing. One of the most touching moments was when Belú danced, one by one, with every man in her life. First her father, then her brothers, then uncles, friends, cousins, and her boyfriend. It was really sweet!
Here is a picture of the family. And Lucio and Belú. What a good looking group!
I had such a great time with the whole clan, and I'm so thankful I was not only to experience a true Argentina Quince, but that it was spent with a wonderful group of people!
Now I'm in San Juan city, and there's more to say and more pictures to upload, but that will have to wait. Thanks for reading!
1 comment:
hey! we went to the la rural winery too!!! cool. can't wait to see you.
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