Safe and sound!

Our cars are finally on Argentine soil, the are quietly awaiting under Cesar and the kids loving watch to have some paperwork to be able to leave to Patagonia, which seems to be a long long race. Dayly headache. More of those walls we will have to tear down, tomorrow we will go see for ourselves how the story goes... Container is in and unloaded at port but exporter and importer are trying to get the paper work straighten out after that during our visitt to the imports agent here in town we found a couple of errors on the Bill of Lading...

 Hubcaps gone for eve...

And Clara, that's me, seen doctors while recovering from another Diverticulum attack! (but no pictures on this part will be posted!

Ay Ay Ay! This is taking too long.....
We need to move forward and do it soon!!!

80th celebration for and from Delia!

Great first 80 years!
We had agreat time celebrating Delia's 80th birthday. Thank you Mom! We enjoyed it as much as you did!
Granma Delia (ACA Labudelia) invited all her children and grandchildren to a weekend retreat to celebrate her 80 years of life, That is her three children with their two spouses and five grandchildren.
We all went to the Four Seasons Resort in Carmelo, Uruguay, from Friday early in the AM till Sunday afternoon. Carmelo is only 2.5hours by boat from Tigre (name of the city from where we departed, a suburb 40 min away from downtown Bs As).

 http://maps.google.com.ar/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&geocode=&q=Carmelo,+Departamento+de+Colonia,+Uruguay&aq=0&oq=carmelo+&sll=-38.341656,-63.28125&sspn=35.154406,79.013672&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Carmelo,+Departamento+de+Colonia,+Uruguay&ll=-34.220887,-58.193207&spn=0.582535,1.234589&z=10

What a great relaxing family weekend ! We enjoyed being together most of all. Kids and adults had a great time chatting, playing, walking, biking, swimming, you name it! And the resort was the perfect frame for all that: te company was the most cherished treat of the weekend, the weather couldn't have been better, the breeze from the Rio de la Plata River was the break we needed to forget the city heat, the bungalows were beautiful, the resort service was always acompanied by a smile, the views were really nice; the eucaliptus are the tallest, smoothest and most silvery any of us have ever seen; the food was excelent, the pool and its recliners were the star, the spa... everything was perfect!!
Pictures can tell you more in this case, enjoy them!
And add this spot in the map and to do list for your next trip to this side of the world!

Tickets to paradise.

We met Brigitte and Martín!

Martín is the owner of Millaqueo Eco Lodge and Brigitte, his girlfriend, was the motor that converted an old house into the Lodge they enjoyed running for the last two summer seasons.

For those who know nothing, Millaqueo is the piece of paradise where we will land as soon as we cleared customs for our home-goods and cars here in Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful place located 28 kms from downtown San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro province, on the route to Llao Llao and a couple of kms passing the nice old Golf and Hotel Llao Llao Resort, Bariloche is a nice city by the Andes many Welshes already experienced and we hope many others will have a chance to know well in the near future.

http://maps.google.com.ar/maps?q=San+Carlos+de+Bariloche,+R%C3%ADo+Negro&hl=es&ie=UTF8&ll=-41.088667,-71.440659&spn=0.142836,0.308647&sll=-38.341656,-63.28125&sspn=37.769223,79.013672&oq=san&hnear=San+Carlos+de+Bariloche,+R%C3%ADo+Negro&t=m&z=12

Today we met Brigitte and Martín. It couldn’t have gone better.

They are spending a couple of days in Buenos Aires due to some business they need done for the lodge, so they called us for all four finally have a chance to meet.

We invited them to my Mom’s so they could get as much info about us as possible and they loved the idea. We spent about three hours chit-chatting and talking business but the whole time all four seemed to have felt like spending a fun time with old friends, all of us seemed very relaxed and enjoying the conversation.

Delia said hello and of course didn’t want to interrupt and disappeared before we knew it!

This experience will be a great thing.

They are very nice people!

Honest, humble, nature lovers, hands on, fun.

Open in heart and mind.

Over a year after our first contact, when they thought we were overqualified to cover what they thought it was their needs, they came around to realize we are a great match.

They believe we can take their place when they are not in town and the lodge is not too busy with guests. They now know is better to have someone that can welcome their guests and help them enjoy their stay at Millaqueo just like if the owners were there. They’ve learned that we can bring piece of mind and more when they are away.

Yes, we won’t be their employees, and that’s how we want it to be too.

We will have a home in their land at no cost (well, we will pay for our own utilities) and they foresee that this relationship could last and are open for us to do what we believe it will make our stay more comfortable in the housekeeper’s house. Whatever we want to do…like, as they said, opening bigger windows to enjoy the view, and more, all up to us.

Trust is what is sealing our relationship, and to be honest, if anyone has any doubts, they have much more to loose than us.

We are allowed to live in what seems to be a piece of Paradise.

www.millaqueo.com

PS: we’ve learned today that the pictures on the website show the house before they re-decorated it! It looked pretty good then!

First twenty days back.

I thought this could be, again, a place where to meet with our far away friends and family or everyone curious enough to peek or follow!
This could be the window for us to send out the news and stories around our return to Argentina, and for you to sneak in a piece of our lives anytime you feel like you want to know was sup!
It's been almost three weeks since we landed in Ezeiza.

It has been a big adjustment, I have to confess.

It happened slowly and unnoticeably that I became accustomed to having everything in the palm of my hand and before I needed it while living in the US. It was shocking to be back in the kingdom of inefficiency and bureaucracy. But finally my brain remembered and I started, again, practicing PATIENCE and smiles. Trying to get things done when the government or any of its agencies is involved can break your will, unless you practice patience and smiles.
Here we are, living a city -big crowded city!- life, thankful to be across the street from a big green park -Barrancas de Belgrano- instead of touching noses with the across the street neighbors window. Anyways adjusting slowly to something we both always avoided, big city life!

But, also having the joy to meet again with old lovely things. Things like flavors that marked my childhood or made Robert fall in love with a new way of barbequing, things like a big group of old friends from teenage years that always have a warm hug to welcome us, o things like laughing remembering college stories with who are today my fellow Architects of Buenos Aires!
Family is another pleasure, family is the pillar, family is the reassurance that we are doing the right thing.
Things like the promise of the future we picked as our own, although we can't design it. At least we can continue to work on the draft drawings and get close to what it will be.
And that is how I feel walking this stage.

Drafting, shaping what will be, with patience.

Getting my hands dirty, but firmly advancing against whatever seems difficult now.

It's Okay. It will get better.