Argentina A-Z: A for Adriana

My experience of Argentina and especially Buenos Aires, where I lived for six weeks, has evoked so many mixed feelings that it is probably for the best that I am writing about it now. Now that it is behind me, I will complete an A to Z so I can show you the things that made the biggest impact on me as well as things of general interest, and I am going to start with A which is for the most important find of the trip: it is A for Adriana, who was my landlady in Buenos Aires and is right now in my heart, as one of the most amazing people I’ve met in my life.

When I met her the first day we were both feeling something between nervous and excited: me with my trembling Spanish and she with her weak English, we wondered what sharing a house was going to be like, but we kept smiling. Adriana appeared to help me with my suitcase with her round tall figure, smile as big as the vitality of her presence, with curly honey coloured hair and light green eyes, which take about ten years off her actual age. The flat was beautiful, a real example of how even small houses in Buenos Aires are very aired and luminous, and this was decorated ad hoc, not only matching the city’s powerful tones and vibrance, but also the ones of the owner. My room was indigo blue, with a big vintage mirror and a comfortable single bed by a window that faced the garden. The other window, above a big print of the Beatles, let the sun stream in each morning so I’d awaken with a grateful thought...umh yes, good old sun.

Like my room, the whole flat was decorated with tasteful bright bold colours and lots of images of South America, souvenirs of travels, and, especially in the kitchen, a large variety of mates with their own bombilla. But I will explain more about mate on another occasion.

Like good flatmates, very quickly Adri and I built a routine where we both had our own space with plenty of moments to share and as my Spanish got better, she soon realised she could speak with me and opened up a bit more. A chemical engineer working as a Defensora del Pueblo (ombudsmen), she always had interesting stories and information regarding the environmental situation of Buenos Aires citizens: a woman that truly had a passion for her job, something very refreshing in my eyes. But mostly, what really amazed me about Adriana until the very last day of my stay was the passion she had for life and the joy she would put into every action of the day.

Like most women who end up being role models for me, Adriana’s characteristic was independence. She had a marriage and kids and made do and mend with what she could when the divorce came. As a hard worker, she earned her part wholeheartedly, going through good and bad with energy and now found herself alone. “It takes so much work to keep a couple, a family, children close to you, but at the end everything goes”. But her being alone was not lonely. She was not the sad kind, you’d see her trotting off to get ready for the next tango class, or English class, getting up early for pilates, after some ChiGong practice. Too full of life to waste time with sadness, too bright to let the shade of lifedim her smile.  Adri became my most solid friendship in Buenos Aires and every time we would go out I would enjoy her company a bit more. I would get hypnotized by her stories, told slowly so I could not miss anything, enchanted by her eyes that always lookedup straight at you, looking for your humanity and making it feel understood. She would chat to the waiter, flirting a bit and blushing; in her hand movements and glances she showed how sex appeal doesn’t have shape and age, it’s just an evident force that reaches your senses without need of an explanation.

I loved her because, even after knowing a bit about her experiences and her relationships, I could tell in her speech and conversations that she believed in love. Love in relationships, in people around her, in family. Her joie de vivre moved me and made me see her as a mentor, although she never treated me on a different level. What a woman! It was hard to say good bye, we both turned our back drying a tear, but smiling knowing we had a new precious person in each other’s life.