After driving for 24hrs over two days and never arriving at our destination in Colome', it's a nice change to do next to nothing for a few days. I can think of few finer places for dolce far niente than Fabrizio and Valentina's fine Finca. We watch episodes of Tin Tin (Le Temple du Soleil, of course!), the astounding Human Planet (part of the home schooling curriculum), download The Mission (more on that later...). There's a trip to the ice cream kiosk. Iris and I save a beetle from the swimming pool. For tortoise and hare, here's a stop that might happily have lasted weeks, not days.
I've commented already on the decent cup of coffee, the first of the trip. But it's also refreshing to be savouring home cooking from a simple kitchen. We've had some fine meals in notable restaurants, and lively fare from street vendors and the like, but this is easily the first time we've had anything like a home-cooked meal in South America. And as it's the home of expat Italians, it's absolutely delicious.
I keep meeting fugitives from finance, like the architect who created an aparthotel in Buenos Aires from a stately building in Recoleta. Here's another. Fabrizio sold his wealth management business in Milan to start a tour operator in Salta, guiding trips in LatAm for, among others, big names in Italian fashion. Valentina left her architecture studio in London to manage her elegant Finca and work on other reconstruction projects in Argentina. It's fascinating to hear them speak, as others have, of the opportunities and frustrations of being New World pioneers, of the challenges posed by radically different temperaments and customs. The European gloss we associate with the Argentinian approach to life obscures the local nuances of origin and class. But there's no doubt that opportunities await those with persistence and patience.
But no, for this "Contador" and his family, the intention is still to return to London. But not just yet. For now, we're happy to linger for a few days at Finca Valentina.
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