5 to 11 February 2016
Mar de Plata is known as the beach town where all of Buenos Aires decends upon during the summer months. As such you can hardly walk at the beach and people lay like sardines next to each other. Behind the beach you have high rise buildings. So not necessarily the place that you have to visit as a foreign tourist. I still went there and had quite a different experience.
After we had met 14 years ago in a memorable holiday in Mexico, I saw my friend Lavi again, who now lives in Mar de Plata. In 2002, she had fallen in love with Bernardo, an Argentinien, in Puerto Escondido in Mexico. My sister Lena and I had been hanging out with the same group of Argentinian surfers back then. Interestingly, out of this connection, Lena met her current partner, Juan Pablo, years later.
Bernardo and Lavi have been unseparatable since. They married a year later. Their beautiful children, Iñiaki, 12, and Nicole, 9, were born in Mexico, but the family moved to Mar de Plata a few years back. Iñiaki takes after his father with his surfing skills and Nicole is the current Argentinian champion in gymnastics in her age group. I hope to see her representing Argentina in the 2024 Olympic Games!
Bernardo and Lavy opened a Tortilleria four years ago, basically producing and selling tortillas to restaurants and in their road side shop and factory. Demand is so strong that they are looking into investing and importing bigger machinery from Mexico to have more tortilla making capacity. Who knows, maybe they can grow into THE tortilla provider for Argentina?
It’s been wonderful to see Lavi again. We had much to talk about after so much time. I could stay in the country house of Bernardo’s mum, far away from Mar de Plata’s overcrowded beaches, in the Sierra. I loved the tranquility I had there. No internet, nobody but me in the two bedroom house. Every night I cooked myself dinner and woke up to thousands of birds singing. During the day, I sat in the garden under the shade of a big tree and caught up on my blog. So much so that I managed to finish all texts up to the current day. I went for runs on the country roads and hikes with Lavi, her family and friends. Once I ventured into Mar de Plata, but didn’t stay long. The water at the beach was refreshing, but dirty with rubbish and alges.
My favourite day was Sunday, when a birthday party was held at the country house for Padre Leonardo, a family friend, who has married Lavi and Bernardo. Suddenly, the quiet place was full of people: grown ups chatting whilst the Asado (barbecue) was prepared and children running around throwing water bombs at each other. The meal and wine was delicious and the conversations interesting.
In the evening, after everyone had left, I got ready to go out with Lavi and Bernardo to a big beach rave in Mar de Plata, Circoloco. The only time they will go out for party this year. We danced till the early morning hours, leaving just when the rain started. I slept until 4pm the next day, the rain falling all day. Good job, I had traded the day for the night.
Lavi- me gustó tanto estar contigo. Muchísimas gracias por hospedarme. Eres una mujer maravillosa, hoy como en el 2002. Te quiero mucho. Que Dios siempre te cuide y tu familia!
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