The years also brought with another change: Geoff. My family welcomed him with open arms and immediately proceeded to initiate him through rituals reserved for any man who courts a Nagel woman. "Korta la ..." 

I had no idea that the family grew by one member. Our four-legged sister Petunia ("Petu") was first a bit jealous of the attention her two older sisters got.  

Mama in her new kitchen. Her and Papa have made the cabinets and decorations themselves. They've both become quite the skilled artists. Too bad I didn't inherit any of those genes! 

From our diary: "It's several days later and we are at Lenka´s parents house in Esperanza, Argentina. We were greeted with wonderful hospitality. Being here has been a pequeña (little) Eden. We have settled into a daily routine of feasting, siestas, swimming, heat, drinking, empanadas, y more swimming. Lenka is more and more fluent in Spanish every day, while Geoff is still stumbling through 4 languages intertwining themselves on his beleaguered brain cells". But wait; there is Google for help with translations! Also - notice Geoff's back —and that is after applying SPF 50 lotion. 

Did we mention this is paradise?

This was the pool in Mama y Papa's backyard. A tropical paradise. 

Catching up on politics from the past 15 years. 

Seeing teenagers ride bikes on handlebars brought back memories from my school days in Esperanza. To Geoff, however, it brought on a different kind of fascination. From our diary: We've been taking nostalgic tours of the town, czeching out the local disco where Lenka broke the hearts of young Argentinian boys. Geoff´s mouth has remained open jawed, as we passed by the beautiful South American beauties here, sometimes riding three per bicycle with tight pants and revealing tank-tops. Geoff has joked with Papa that he is a muchos intelligentes man to choose this place in the whole world to live. 

In order to enter the School it is necessary to have suitable clothing (Neither flip-flop sandals, nor shorts, nor tank tops, nor exaggerated decolletes, nor naked torso).

Why?

Because the School is not a beach, nor is it a nightclub, nor a place for a stroll. It is an Education Center. Because here we strive to teach in the values: sobriety, work ethic, austerity, hygiene. 

On the way home from the school, I managed to slam Geoff's thumb into the car door. While the poor guy was recovering from the pain on the park bench, we took a brief walk around La Plaza, the heartbeat of the city. 

Who says understanding doesn't go through the stomach?

When Geoff thinks of Esperanza, the thoughts also include awakened tastebuds of Mama's y Papa's cooking. Shredded carrots in a thousand island sauce. Onions with vinegar. Cole Slaw. And ah... milanesas. Every food ingredient I recognized, and yet every creation tasted wholly new. I learned once again (first Czech, then Spanish), food is the ultimate language teaching device, as long as milaneses and svickovas exist! 

Geoff had experienced Mate from the Chilean side during his Patagonia trip two years back. Sipping with gauchos of Patagonia, however, was a different experience from the northern Argentinian method. The process is steeped with culture -- an anthropologist dream, replete with rituals and refinements. Where do you put the sugar? Is the mate bubbling too much. Who do you pass it to first. What is the quality and customization of the tools? 

Toma, toma Geoff! Taking it all in. 

Thermos with hot water, bombilla, gourd, and mate leaves. A new gaucho is born. 

—The simple pleasures of a bidet and long debates as to whether you sit forward or backwards on it.

—Geoff getting his thumb slammed in the car door by Lenka, followed by a demasculating near-fainting experience. Lenka's Papa prescribed 15 minutes of cute women watching to cure the spell.

—Lenka getting bitten by a bug smaller than a mosquito on her eye, causing it to swell to the size of a pomegranate

—Horned beetles the size of your palm called Escarabajos Candado that threaten one´s confidence

—Siestas, siestas, siestas

—Heat, humidity and tremendous thunder storms. Air as thick as molasses, thunder as grumbling as an old man with a hernia, and heat that a Chinook salmon would feel when left alone in the salt flats of the Mojave desert!

—No shirts, no shoes, and lots of Yerba Mate

—Eating dinner at outdoor cafes with the locals at midnight

—Of course, more culinary explorations, from Pastel de Papa (mash potato + ground beef + olives + raisin casserole), to cooked cow tongues, to pastelittos (deep fried pastries with dulce de leche or marmalade fillings) to milanesa (country fried steaks), to many mendoza wines, to dulce de leche on everything.

Going into the big city Santa Fe for a night out. The afternoon heat in the car makes for a great hair curl dryer. 

Carla and Carlitos are The couple of Santa Fe. We visited Carlos' family's beautiful house before hitting night on the town. 

Consistent with the nightlife hours that we've experienced in Buenos Aires, going to dinner in Santa Fe means actually eating around midnight.  

Burning off the dinner at a local discoteque. The music started playing at 3am and went until sunrise. 

The family tree —which includes a Norte Amerikano girl in pink scarf. 

Our tickets to Iguazu falls and Ushuaia have been ordered. The whole family came to see us off at the bus depot. Carla even dug out a Wisconsin T-shirt from the first visit. To say that we were very sad to leave the Pequeno Eden is an understatement. I struggled with the fact that I am leaving yet another set of people that are dear to me away at such a long physical distance. 

(c) Geoffrey Peters and Lenka J., vnimam.com, 2003. For more information regarding this web page, please contact
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