Atardeceres, originally uploaded by Marian Florcita.

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We left from Brussels on Tuesday with a 40minute delay which made me fear we would miss our flight connection. After we landed I rushed with a 3 yr old hanging in tow to what it seemed to be the complete other side of Rome’s Leonardo DaVinci airport. We run fast and for long and we made it just on time before the boarding started. We boarded first. Advantages of being a Mom… you go in first.
The flight was fine. We shared our 3 seats row with a nun who entertained Seba -my son- the whole flight, let him stretch his legs on top of her and bared with little cars riding on her arm and hiding inside her sleeve. She blessed our food before we tried it. I insisted to her she shouldn’t waste blessings in such horrible food, but she said “I think we need a blessing or this food will kill us!”. Horrible plane food. I was supposed to be eating lasagna although it could have been a snake and I wouldn’t have noticed.
I don’t know what hormone was unbalanced when we landed but the moment I stood firmly on my home land’s soil, I choked. It had been 3 years since the last time but it felt rather overwhelming. I insist… some hormone.
Buenos Aires seems to never stop growing. At this time of the year, this enormous city with its millions of inhabitants, are already enjoying some balmy 25C -even though it’s not summer yet. This city has parks all over the place. Trees on every side walk and plant pots hanging from every balcony. All the trees are in bloom: waterfalls of jacaranda’s blue flowers and ceibo’s bright red petals in the shape of a bird along with the strong scent of oranges and jasmine’s blooming inundate the city… yes, even over the smells all that crazy traffic emanates.
Elegant and chaotic. Dirty and crowded, spacious and colorful. A city of huge contrasts. But not my destination. Yet another plane to go south. A couple hours flying and we were in the top tip of Patagonia, the southern part of Argentina. My parents were there waiting for us. My mom, who must push weight every day at the gym, hugged and lifted my 20kl little boy and held him tight whilst my kid tried to make sense of the whole thing. New people, new language, sun, wind and the vast emptiness of the Patagonia. Nothing for kilometres… hundreds of km. A huge blue sky, sheep, yellowing grass… a sunset… and then my parent’s home. My big brother, his two bouncy boys wanting to play with my son who, by then, was deep asleep following his old sleeping pattern. I mean, after all, it was 2am european time. We had some empanadas with a nice argentinean red wine, we talked until 2am (argentinean time). So then I went to bed… only to be awaken a few hours later at 5am by my son. And here we are. First day here… and so much has changed… I must go out and explore.

From the southern hemisphere,
xxMariana

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